Rachel Rudacille ’26 Named Truman Scholar
Rachel Rudacille ’26, was awarded the highly prestigious Truman Scholarship. The U.S. Congress established the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation as a living memorial to President Truman in 1975. The foundation awards merit-based graduate school scholarships to college students in their junior year who plan to pursue careers in government or the nonprofit sector.
Truman Scholars must demonstrate outstanding leadership potential, a commitment to a career in public service, and academic excellence. Each Truman Scholar receives a scholarship worth up to $30,000 for graduate or professional school, leadership training, career advising, and special internship and fellowship opportunities within the federal government.
“I plan to attend graduate school for environmental engineering or energy physics while also exploring the way that policy intersects with this work,” said Rudacille, a physics major and environmental studies concentrator from Centerville, Iowa. “I aspire to conduct research in a national lab innovating clean energy and further incorporating it into the existing electricity grid.”
Rudacille has been developing exceptional scientific research skills to pursue their graduate school plans. In summer 2023, they performed physics research on biosensors that can aid the development of technologies like cancer detection or COVID tests with Keisuke Hasegawa, PhD, associate professor and department chair of physics at ֲý. That Mentored Advanced Project (MAP) work is now published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C with Rudacille as co-first author.
“Research presented new challenges that required problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity, and I especially loved the feeling of a breakthrough,” said Rudacille. “The connection between the work that I was doing and its impact in helping people prompted me to consider how I could combine my long-held love of the environment with physics and research.”
Inspired by their goals to contribute to climate change mitigation through scientific research, they proceeded to conduct research on the emission of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) using Raman spectroscopy through an REU with Ana Laura Elias, PhD, assistant professor of physics at Binghamton University. PVDF is a pollutant that may be emitted during battery recycling processes, and Rudacille recognizes how this was their first official environmental engineering research.
“I will be an undergraduate researcher with Robert Brown, PhD, at Iowa State University’s Biorenewables Research Laboratory this coming summer,” said Rudacille. “I will be working with biofuels, studying the hydrothermal liquefaction of wet wastes both experimentally and computationally.”
As a ֲý student, Rudacille’s leadership has reached from the classroom to the local community library and elementary school. In the physics department they serve as a science community leader, member of the Student Educational Policy Committee, and co-leader of the Gender Minorities in Physics group. As a student leader with the Food Recovery Network, volunteer with the Drake Community Library food cupboard, and produce employee with a grocery store chain, they have strengthened their knowledge on food insecurity, food waste, and how to address systems-level issues through public service. Rudacille is also a LINK mentor for an elementary student, spending time each week connecting with their mentee over lunch and recess.
Rudacille is one of 54 new Truman Scholars selected from 743 candidates nominated by 288 colleges and universities. They were recommended by 17 independent selection panels based on the finalists’ academic success and leadership accomplishments, as well as their likelihood of becoming public service leaders. Regional selection panels included distinguished civic leaders, elected officials, university presidents, federal judges, and past Truman Scholarship winners.
“It is a significant honor to be named a Truman Scholar as recognition of a person’s strengths, passion, and commitment to public service,” said Ann Landstrom, Truman advisor and assistant dean and director of global fellowships and awards at ֲý. “Rachel’s academic, research, and co-curricular experiences are a beautiful example of how science and public service unite for very important societal work, as in Rachel’s case to develop renewable energy sources to alleviate climate change.”
“The application process for the Truman Scholarship really helped me reflect on myself as a leader and public servant,” said Rudacille. “After completing the process, I feel much more clarity in my career goals and intentions, and the ways in which I can center public service in my life.”
“I also found a lot of value in the Truman interview day; the other finalists in the Kansas City region had such varied interests but were all so inspiring and spending the day conversing with them was a joy,” said Rudacille. In addition to the graduate school scholarship, Truman Scholars are hosted at William Jewell College for Truman Scholars Leadership Week in May 2025. Rudacille added, “I am very excited about attending the Truman Scholars Leadership Week and having the opportunity to meet even more uplifting leaders and public servants!”
“I feel lucky and proud to have received the scholarship, and I am very grateful to my mother, sister, Ann and Laura at the ֲý fellowships office, and the many professors and members of the ֲý campus and town communities that have supported me throughout the application process,” expressed Rudacille. Their application was supported by Ryan Solomon, director of civic education and innovation in the Center for Careers, Life, and Service; Karen Neal, library director at Drake Community Library; and Kristen Burson, associate professor of physics.
ֲý is allowed to put forward four nominees for the Truman Scholarship each year. Students of all disciplines with an intention to pursue graduate study and work in public service are encouraged to apply for campus nomination in the spring semester of their second year. The nominees form a cohort to complete their foundation applications in a seminar format in the fall semester of their third year for early spring semester submission.
The other nominees selected and supported by ֲý from the Class of 2026 were:
- Grace Cuddihy ’26, of New York, New York, a history and Chinese double major with a plan to pursue a master of public policy to serve as a research analyst and in the future a deputy comptroller to work towards policy reform for the United States criminal justice system.
- Isabella Nesbeth ’26, of Morrisville, North Carolina, is an international relations independent major with a plan to pursue a master of science in foreign service, global politics and security concentration. Her career goal is to work as a foreign service officer on issues related to conflict resolution, democratic governance, and economic development—contributing to global stability.
- Molly Wilcoxson ’26, of Lexington, Kentucky, is an anthropology major with a plan to pursue a joint master of urban planning and a master of public policy. Her career objective is to conduct evidence-based policy research to inform equitable and just policies at the intersection of housing and urban policy.
The Truman Scholarship carries the legacy of our 33rd president by supporting and inspiring the next generation of public service leaders. When approached by a bipartisan group of admirers near the end of his life, President Truman embodied this commitment to the future of public service by asking Congress to create a living memorial devoted to this purpose, rather than a traditional brick-and-mortar monument. For more than 40 years, the Truman Foundation has fulfilled that mission, inspiring and supporting Americans from diverse backgrounds to public service. The 54 awardees in 2025 join a community of 3,618 Truman Scholars named since the first awards in 1977.