“The fact that we each have a different background and story is precisely what makes us such a strong community,” he said in a statement to the Soros Fellowship program. “It means that we are often in the front lines of the struggle for justice, seeking to improve and uplift the many communities of which we are part. Being a New American means to celebrate the richness of the American experience while also working to enhance and improve it for everyone.”

Oktaba is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Yale University, where he is studying comparative literature with a focus on narratives of trauma, paranoia, and genocide.

As the son of a single mother who came to the United States seeking both opportunity and safety after helping to overthrow the Communist regime in her native Poland, the issue of trauma is personally compelling to him, he said. He was born in New York City and grew up in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where his greatest solace was his neighborhood’s small public library; he’d carry a stack of borrowed books along when he helped his mother in her job as a cleaning woman, reading in whatever moments of respite he could find.

At Fordham, Oktaba studied classics, exploring the ways in which they continue to inform discussions of identity and selfhood. With the help of Fordham’s Office of Prestigious Fellowships, he earned a Beinecke Scholarship and a Gates Cambridge Scholarship during his senior year. The latter scholarship took him to the University of Cambridge, where he earned a Master of Philosophy degree.

In 2018, he was named a Luce Scholar, which enabled him to travel to Asia and continue studying trauma. Focusing on Himalayan Buddhism, he explored storytelling and other forms of witnessing in post-traumatic survival, as well as historical medical approaches toward trauma treatment.

Anne Golomb Hoffman, Ph.D., professor of English at Fordham, taught Oktaba when he was an undergraduate and has continued to support him through each fellowship application process, most recently penning a letter of support for his Soros application.

“It’s been my great pleasure to have been in conversation with Nikolas over recent years and to see the development of his interests over time, in ways that derive from work he did as an undergraduate,” she said. “In fact, knowing the importance of libraries and reading to Nikolas’ development, I’d say those interests have been there, developing since childhood: Nikolas is someone who takes what life hands him and makes it the occasion for productive inquiry.”

Now, as a doctoral candidate at Yale, he’s seeking to combine scholarly research and writing with activism, identifying possible ways to address trauma, holistically and empathetically, beyond the academy.

“My sense now is that Nikolas has fully merged his interests in his program of graduate studies at Yale,” Hoffman said. “Through his experiences in England and his Luce year as well, Nikolas now understands trauma and narrative in broader historical contexts, including genocide. That’s become the larger focus of his work and it will be truly exciting to see where it takes him.”

Founded by Hungarian immigrants Daisy M. Soros and her husband, Paul Soros, the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans program honors the contributions of continuing generations of immigrants in the United States.

A student in Fordham’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) has brought home the University’s fourth Gates Cambridge award.

Jeffrey Lockhart, FCRH ’13, a GSAS master’s candidate in computer science with a concentration in data mining, is one of 40 students who have been selected from the United States to receive a full scholarship to Cambridge University in the United Kingdom to pursue graduate study. He expects to graduate from GSAS in May and begin at Cambridge the following September, where he will get his master’s in philosophy in Cambridge’s multidisciplinary gender study program.

As an undergraduate, Lockhart was a double major in computer and information science and women’s studies, graduating summa cum laude and earning the Fordham Women’s Studies Essay Award for his thesis on LGBTQ ethics. Since 2010 he has been a research assistant in the University’s Wireless Sensor Data Mining Lab, where he works closely with Gary Weiss, Ph.D., associate professor of computer and information science, on the use of smart phone sensor data for activity recognition.

Lockhart has been a National Merit Scholar and Fordham Presidential Scholar. He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi academic honor society and Sigma Xi scientific research society. In 2012, he was one of 75 undergraduates around the country who presented their research in Washington, D.C. at an annual event attracting the attention of Capitol Hill.

“Jeff is indeed a tribute to Jesuit education,” said John Ryle Kezel, Ph.D., director of the University’s St. Edmund Campion Institute for the Advancement of Intellectual Excellence. “He really makes one proud of the preparation our students get, especially from taking our core courses.”

Lockhart called himself fortunate to have many members of the Fordham community influencing and supporting his work—in particular his faculty mentors: Weiss; Orit Avishai, Ph.D., assistant professor of sociology; Patrick Hornbeck, Ph.D., chair and associate professor of theology; and Judith Green, Ph.D., professor of philosophy and co-director of women’s studies. He believed that his interdisciplinary background in gender studies and computer science was a big plus in his being awarded the scholarship.

One of the most prestigious international scholarships, the Gates Cambridge award was established in 2000 with a $210 million donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The scholarship goes to 90 students annually (40 U.S. students, 50 from other nations) and covers the full cost of studying at Cambridge. A defining characteristic of the Gates Cambridge scholarships is the commitment of scholars to work for the greater good.

Three Fordham students have previously received the award. They are: Rose Spear, FCRH ’06, who received the award to study biomaterials research; Joseph Clair, GSAS ’08, the first student ever to receive a Gates scholarship in divinity; and Jeremiah Schwarz, FCRH ’03, who received the award in history.

A student in Fordham’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) has brought home the University’s fourth Gates Cambridge award.

Jeffrey Lockhart, FCRH ’13, a GSAS master’s candidate in computer science with a concentration in data mining, is one of 40 students who have been selected from the United States to receive a full scholarship to Cambridge University in the United Kingdom to pursue graduate study. He expects to graduate from GSAS in May and begin at Cambridge the following September, where he will get his master’s in philosophy in Cambridge’s multidisciplinary gender study.

As an undergraduate, Lockhart was a double major in computer and information science and women’s studies, graduating summa cum laude and earning the Fordham Women’s Studies Essay Award for his thesis on LGBTQ ethics. Since 2010 he has been a research assistant in the University’s Wireless Sensor Data Mining Lab, where he works closely with Gary Weiss, Ph.D., associate professor of computer and information science, on the use of smart phone sensor data for activity recognition.

Lockhart has been a National Merit scholar and Fordham Presidential Scholar. He is a member of Phi Kappa Phi academic honor society and Sigma Xi scientific research society. In 2012, he was one of 75 undergraduates around the country who presented their research in Washington D.C. at an annual event attracting the attention of Capitol Hill.

“Jeff is indeed a tribute to Jesuit education,” said John Ryle Kezel, Ph.D., director of the University’s St. Edmund Campion Institute for the Advancement of Academic Excellence. “He really makes one proud of the preparation our students get, especially from taking our core courses.”

Lockhart called himself “fortunate” to have many members of the Fordham community influencing and supporting his work; in particular his faculty mentors Weiss; Orit Avishai, Ph.D., assistant professor of sociology; Patrick Hornbeck, Ph.D., chair and associate professor of theology; and Judith Green, Ph.D., professor of philosophy and co-director of women’s studies. He believed that his interdisciplinary background in gender studies and computer science was a big plus in his being awarded the scholarship.

One of the most prestigious international scholarships, the Gates Cambridge award was established in 2000 with a $210 million donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The scholarship goes to 90 students annually (40 U.S. students, 50 from other nations) and covers the full cost of studying at Cambridge. A defining characteristic of the Gates Cambridge scholarships is the commitment of scholars to working for the greater good.

Three Fordham students have previously received the award. They are: Rose Spear, FCRH ’06, who received the award to study biomaterials research, Joseph Clair, GSAS 08, the first student ever to receive a Gates scholarship in divinity, and Jeremiah Schwarz, FCRH’ 03, who received the award in history.

The Gates Cambridge Scholarship, which was established in 2000 by Bill and Melinda Gates, funds at least a year of study for 100 post-graduates at Cambridge University. It is given to those who demonstrate intellectual ability, leadership capacity and the desire to use their knowledge to contribute to society.

Schwarz, a Richmond Hill, Queens, native who is pursuing a master’s degree in international relations, is the third Fordham student to win the scholarship, and the second this year, along with fellow student Joseph Clair.

In addition, Schwartz will be studying in Asia next year as part of his Luce Scholarship. He has not been told where he will spend his year, but he is hopeful that he will end up at the Lee Kwan Yew Center in Singapore, where he can observe how government policies facilitate economic development.

“I hope to grow, intellectually, personally and professionally,” he said, “both as a human being, a citizen of the world and a future public leader or policy maker.”