Wheaton chem major becomes first student to win Rhodes
December 10, 2000
[NORTON, Mass.] - Wheaton College chemistry major Miles Sweet, of Fairfield, ME, was named a Rhodes Scholar on Saturday (Dec. 9), becoming the first student from the national liberal arts college in Norton, Mass., to win the prestigious award.
A first-generation college student, Sweet was one of five New Englanders to win the award. The winners were selected by eight regional committees from among 950 applicants who were endorsed by 327 colleges and universities throughout the nation. Rhodes Scholarships, created in 1902 by the will of British philanthropist Cecil Rhodes, provide two or three years of study at Oxford University in England. Winners are selected on the basis of high academic achievement, personal integrity, leadership potential and physical vigor, among other attributes.
A graduate of the Maine High School of Science and Mathematics, Sweet researched the design of hybrid organic-inorganic materials at the Universitie Piere et Marie Curie in Paris, France, this summer with funding from the National Science Foundation and Wheaton's Davis International Fellows program. He is the president of Wheaton's chapter of the American Chemical Society, is active in the Student Government Association and has worked in the college's advising center, computing center and admission office.