Isabel Ramos ’25 will spend the year after her Pomona College graduation in Asia as a Luce Scholar, expanding her knowledge of ecology, conservation and sustainable agriculture while immersed in a new culture. One of just 16 Luce Scholars, she was chosen from a pool of 442 applicants for the 2025 cohort.
Luce Scholars spend 13 months in Asia, the first two months in intensive language study and the subsequent 11 months in a job placement tailored to their interests and experience. Ramos, who has never been to Asia, has expressed interest in Vietnam, Taiwan and Japan. She will learn in May where she will be placed.
The Henry Luce Foundation established the scholars program in 1974 to provide emerging American leaders an opportunity to gain first-hand understanding of Asian peoples, countries and cultures. According to the foundation’s website, “There is no more effective way to build mutual understanding and cultivate a shared purpose than through sustained, immersive, and in-person engagement with others.”
Ramos, a biology major, notes that the fellowship “is mainly experiential rather than academic.” She appreciates that is not limited to people with interest in a particular discipline but is open to those pursuing all types of career goals.
While the Asian environment will be new, Ramos already has international experience. In a post-high school gap year, she did hurricane relief work in the Bahamas. As a junior at Pomona, she studied tropical ecology and conservation in the Monteverde region of Costa Rica.
Ramos’ long-term goal is to earn a doctorate in ecology or evolutionary biology. “I’m really interested in being a researcher and educator, but I also like science communication,” she says. She has been a mentor for students in biology classes at Pomona. Now, in her final semester, she is enrolled in a class on how to teach ecology to middle schoolers.
Ramos credits two of her Pomona mentors, Professors Wallace “Marty” Meyer and Nina Karnovsky, with nurturing her interest in biological research. Her senior thesis focuses on endangered Hawaiian land snails. She has also studied pollinators such as beetles and bees.
“Isabel was one of the best students I have ever had,” says Meyer. “Her work in my lab has contributed significantly to endangered Hawaiian land snail conservation efforts. I know that whatever she does in the future, the planet and its residents will be well served.”
Ramos is also an ARCS Scholar.