A composer who has written and staged musicals, an aspiring woman priest, a firefighter, a former trainee in the Israeli army and a Grand Knight of Columbanus are among the 12 George J. Mitchell Scholars selected for a year of post-graduate study in Ireland.
The scholarship winners, announced at the weekend, were drawn from 220 applicants from 166 American colleges and universities, and will study at universities North and South of the Border.
Launched in 1998, the Mitchell scholarship programme aims to bring outstanding young Americans to further their studies in Ireland.
Last month for the third year in a row the US Congress passed a resolution recommending that the Department of State provide $500,000 to the programme, which has bipartisan support.
Administered by the non-partisan US-Ireland Alliance in Washington, the Mitchell scholarships are named in honour of Senator George Mitchell's key role in the Northern Ireland peace process.
The programme is one of the most prestigious fellowship schemes in the US along with Rhodes, Marshall and Fulbright scholarship competitions.
The scholars for 2005 are: Elizabeth Anderson of Swarthmore College, Michigan, who has studied in Cairo, and hopes to become a priest or nun. She will study ecumenics at Trinity College Dublin.
Melissa Boteach of the University of Maryland-College Park, who once did basic training with the Israeli army, will work on equality studies at University College Dublin. Benjamin Cote from Georgetown University, founder of a group addressing gender violence, and a Grand Knight of the university's Knights of Columbanus, will study peace and conflict resolution at the University of Ulster.
Alex Greninger of Stanford University, a student of the international security implications of anthrax and smallpox, will study at the Smurfit School of Business, University College Dublin.
Ms Lily Jeng of North Carolina, one of America's top students in mathematics, science and engineering, will study biomedical engineering at the University of Limerick.
Aaron Rabinowitz of Haverford College, a college baseball captain who wrote his thesis on sporting revenues, will study economics at NUI, Galway.
Brittany Schick of the University of California, a Republican who worked as an intern for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, will study international relations at Dublin City University.
Mike Solomon, a student of music and composer with four musicals to his credit, will study music composition at Queen's University, Belfast.
Geoffrey Swenson of Grinnell College who works for the National Democratic Institute in Washington, DC, will study comparative ethnic conflict at Queen's University.
Richard Waters of the University of North Carolina, who was heavily involved in outreach to Latino students, will study applied science at UCC.
Fireman Markus Weisner, a student of fire and rescue equipment at the University of Virginia will study fire engineering at Trinity College Dublin.
Carolyn Windham of North Carolina State University, former editor of the university's award-winning newspaper, will study the 1968 protests in Ireland at the University of Ulster.