ASU alumnus is university's first Samvid Scholar
After graduating from ASU with four bachelor's degrees and a master's degree and then attending the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, Nathaniel Ross worked in Asia for one year as a Luce Scholar. Now, with the support of the Samvid Scholars program, he will attend Yale Law School with the ultimate goal of working in government or public service, focused on how poverty, education, technology and health care affect those with disabilities. Courtesy photo
Nathaniel Ross was in Laos when he received the news that he wouldn’t need to worry about how to pay for Yale Law School.
“I was shocked,” said Ross, who was in that country doing professional work after spending a year in Thailand as a Luce Scholar.
Selected from more than 1,000 applicants, Ross is one of only 20 students nationwide selected for the 2026 Samvid Scholars cohort and is the first Arizona State University graduate to receive the award.
Founded in 2021 by Samvid Philanthropies, the Samvid Scholars program supports graduate students with exceptional records of leadership and public service. In addition to providing up to $100,000 for graduate study, the two-year program offers leadership development, mentorship and a national community of emerging leaders committed to tackling society's most pressing challenges.
“My work in Asia played a central role in my application for Samvid,” Ross said. “So it felt fitting to receive the news while I was based there.”
For Ross, however, the award represents something much larger than financial support.
“My driving mission is to advocate for the disability community,” he said. "Any accomplishment I have earned, Samvid included, is also a recognition of the potential for people with disabilities to pursue ambitious paths and make meaningful contributions. I hope receiving this award encourages other students facing similar challenges to pursue demanding yet rewarding opportunities.”
The Samvid Scholarship is the latest entry to a growing list of national scholarships Ross has received. In addition to the Luce Scholarship, he has also been awarded the Udall Undergraduate Scholarship, a U.S. State Department Critical Languages Scholarship, and in 2023, he became ASU's first American Rhodes Scholar in two decades.
“Nathaniel is an all-in learner who has found a way to connect the dots and see beyond just the ideas and concepts of subjects to what they mean together,” ASU President Michael Crow said. “This insight produced a multidimensional learner.
“The design of ASU is intended to serve all learner types, from those who want to master piano or physics to those that learn through connections, like Nathaniel. Hats off to him and our ASU faculty and staff for creating such a comprehensive learning environment.”
A graduate of Mesa (Arizona) High School, Ross came to ASU as a Flinn Scholar in 2019. At Barrett, The Honors College, he found an environment that rewarded intellectual curiosity and encouraged students to pursue ambitious forms of service.
One opportunity naturally led to the next, and Ross immersed himself in research, history, public policy and science, eventually earning four bachelor's degrees and a master's degreeNathaniel Ross earned a Master of Science in biology and society at ASU in 2023, in addition to these bachelor's degrees in 2022: biology and society, political science,
Ross credits his achievements to the unique structure of ASU and the commitment of its faculty members.
“Much of what I look back on fondly about my time at ASU would have been difficult to replicate at another university,” Ross said. “What sets ASU apart is the sheer amount of opportunity available, even to first-year students.”
When he started at ASU, Ross had intended to become a physician. Inspired in part by his own lifelong experiences with disability and chronic illness, he believed medicine would offer the greatest opportunity to improve the lives of others. Eventually, however, his work in research and public policy convinced him that a career in law would lead to greater impact.
“I came to realize that many of the barriers I hoped to address were fundamentally legal and policy problems,” he said. “My love of science never went away, so I continued studying biology and applied quantitative science while using that background to pursue the changes I wanted to see.”
Along the way, Ross found mentors who helped shape that evolving vision.
He credits Crow's course on innovation, his work with the Embryo Project Encyclopedia and the mentorship of faculty members Jane Maienschein and Carolyn Compton with helping him imagine new possibilities for his future.
“I am quite confident that my trajectory would not be the same without them,” Ross said. “Both scholars inspire me not only through their accomplishments but also through their commitments to service, mentorship and helping others understand difficult ideas.”
Ross also credits the Lorraine W. Frank Office of National Scholarships Advisement with helping him translate those experiences into opportunities beyond ASU.
After graduating, Ross attended the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, where he pursued an MPhil in comparative social policy. While there, he simultaneously applied to law schools and nationally competitive fellowships, ultimately earning admission to Yale Law School and selection as a Luce Scholar, a nationally competitive fellowship that places emerging American leaders in professional roles across Asia. After a year in Thailand serving an organization called Disabilities Thailand, he was then working in Laos when he learned he had become ASU's first Samvid Scholar.
"Nathaniel's journey illustrates something we emphasize every day in ONSA," said Kyle Mox, associate dean for national scholarships and director of the Lorraine W. Frank Office of National Scholarships Advisement.
"Nationally competitive scholarships aren't isolated achievements. They're the result of years of intellectual curiosity, thoughtful mentorship and a willingness to pursue opportunities that stretch your thinking. Nathaniel never stopped asking what he could learn next, and each experience became the foundation for the one that followed."
This fall, Ross will begin law school at Yale University. In the long term, Ross intends to pursue a career in government and public service.
“My goal is to pursue appellate litigation in government or public-interest practice,” Ross said. “Especially work involving poverty, education, health care and emerging technologies as they affect people with disabilities.”
Ross also hopes to build a public-facing writing practice that makes disability policy, poverty and social mobility more accessible to broader audiences.
“Nathaniel is a person of tremendous intellectual curiosity, passionate purpose and tireless action who demonstrates what is possible with the knowledge and support ASU has to offer,” Crow said. “Our university community feels great pride in his achievements and in the exciting opportunities we create for Nathaniel and other highly motivated learners.”
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