Contact: Carl Smith
STARKVILLE, Miss.—A trio of Mississippi State juniors are taking their studies across the world thanks in part to an award from one of the nation’s most selective honor societies.
James Chalmers of Cumming, Georgia; Joshua Phillips of Birmingham, Alabama; and Muneebah Umar of Starkville are among 125 nationwide students receiving 2024 Phi Kappa Phi Study Abroad Grants from the nation’s oldest all-discipline collegiate honor society. The $1,000 awards are given based on their academic achievements, campus and community service, the relation of travel to academic preparation and career goals, among other factors.
Chalmers is a mechanical engineering major and will study abroad in Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark; Phillips, a political science and economics double major, will visit the Noor Majan Arabic Institute in Muscat, Oman; and Umar, a biological sciences major, will study at the University of Oxford in England.
“These recipients are truly highly accomplished students not only academically, but also in their extracurricular activities and service to society. It is these activities and the synergy of their study-abroad program with their career goals that made them such deserving recipients of the scholarship,” said Peter Ryan, executive vice provost, dean of the Graduate School and president of MSU’s Phi Kappa Phi chapter. “All three students are most deserving of this award, and I look forward to hearing about their experiences and exploits upon their return to campus in the fall.”
The PKP Study Abroad Grant Program is part of the society’s robust portfolio of award and grant programs, which currently gives $1.3 million each year to outstanding students and members through graduate and dissertation fellowships, funding for post-baccalaureate development and grants for local, national and international literacy initiatives.
To learn more about the Study Abroad Grant Program and other PKP awards, visit .
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