Two Penn graduates and one student named Schwarzman Scholars

One member of Penn’s class of 2021 and two members of Penn’s class of 2019 are part of the seventh cohort of Schwarzman Scholars. 

College senior Daniel Ruiz de la Concha and 2019 Wharton graduates Shuxi (Shirley) Liu and Heather Tang were awarded the scholarship. The Schwarzman Scholarship is a highly competitive postgraduate program that awards up to 200 scholarships a year for students to complete a one-year master’s degree in global affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. 

This year marks the fifth year in a row that Penn students or graduates have received the scholarship. Last year, four Penn students and alumni were named Schwarzman Scholars.

Stephen A. Schwarzman, a co-founder of the private equity firm Blackstone, opened admissions for the scholarship in 2015.

Ruiz de la Concha, who is from Puebla, Mexico, is a double major in international relations and urban studies. He said that he hopes to work in foreign policy, with a focus on the relationship between human rights, international organizations, and Latin America.

“My dream is to work for the [United Nations] – either representing Mexico or just being part of the secretariat,” he said.

Ruiz de la Concha said he believes China’s growing global influence creates the potential for future relations between Mexico and China.

At Penn, Ruiz de la Concha is the president of the Mexican Student Association, co-president of Amnesty International at Penn, and was recently the membership vice president of Sigma Iota Rho, a journal on international relations. 

Liu, who is from China, was the co-president of the 2018 Penn Wharton China Summit and launched a panel on United States-China relations, Penn Today reported. She interned for consulting and financial firms in the United States, China, and France. 

In the United States, Liu worked in global acquisitions at Roland Berger, an international management consulting firm, according to Penn Today. She plans on studying China’s relationship with the rest of the world and how to strengthen it through international commerce. 

Tang is also a 2019 Wharton graduate and concentrated in management, entrepreneurship, and innovation. While a student at Penn, she was president of the Wharton Undergraduate Consulting Club and treasurer of the Philomathean Society.

Tang’s interests lie in the relationship between social development, public policy, and technology entrepreneurship. She said she plans on tailoring the program to fit her interests because she believes “it’s really what you make of it.”

She has worked in multiple businesses in Canada, including YouTube and Google. Tang is currently working in Canada on Google’s in-platform COVID-19 response measures, connecting users with information about the pandemic through partnerships with local government agencies.

Tang said the program’s unique nature was one of her motivations for applying. 

“I think what's unique about Schwarzman is that it's one of the only scholarships that is based in China of its kind,” she said.

She has been interested in China since high school when she served as a Canada Youth Ambassador to China. During her time as an ambassador, she said she realized that China would have a growing influence on global economics and politics.

“[The program] provided a really great opportunity to continue learning about China’s current state and its long term implications and impact on the economic and geopolitical future of the world,” Tang said.