Two Huskies Awarded Critical Language Scholarship
In 2006, the U.S. Department of State established the Critical Language Scholarship to enhance American students’ language skills and intercultural competence in languages deemed critical to U.S. interests and national security. Since its inception in the CLS Program has supported nearly 10,000 participants to gain critical language skills and intercultural competence, which are in demand in a globalized workforce and increase a student’s competitiveness across career fields. CLS alumni represent all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
The CLS provides fully funded immersive summer programs for U.S. undergraduate and graduate students to learn languages of strategic importance to the United States’ national security, economic prosperity, and engagement with the world. This year, two Huskies, Matthew Chen and Lily Hyun, were selected among a cohort of 500 for this competitive scholarship.
Matthew Chen, CSSH’26, Data Science and EconomicsMentors: Alexandra Singh, Jeffrey Pan, Gaby Fiorenza-Hagopian, Isabel Pessoa
Matthew Chen studies data science and economics at Northeastern. He is an avid language learner with proficiency in Chinese, French, Hindi, and Portuguese. His passion for languages led him to pursue the Boren Scholarship last fall, through which he studied Hindi intensively in Jaipur, India.
While living with a host family, Matthew was able to experience the lives of Indian high school students firsthand through connecting with his host siblings. He also volunteered at a special education school, where he sang songs and played with children. Through these experiences, Matthew observed two sides to India’s educational landscape — one side characterized by intense commercialization and the other composed of a tireless NGO sector, determined to combat inequities. These experiences fuel his interest in educational accessibility and social policy.
Leveraging his technical background, Matthew aims to research and implement policies that promote community empowerment through expanding educational access. Matthew is passionate about international collaboration and aspires to examine the role of education in cultivating mutually beneficial multilateral relationships.
As Matthew returns to India, he is eager to further research education policy while exploring avenues to leverage his language capacities. He is grateful for his Northeastern experiences, particularly his time as a student in the NUin Portugal program. Outside the classroom, Matthew is extremely involved in the Northeastern Culture and Language Learning Society as an attendee, Mandarin ambassador, and director of media production.
Lily Hyun, CSSH’26, International Affairs and EconomicsMentors:
Lily Hyun is a rising senior undergraduate student majoring in International Affairs and Economics. She was inspired to apply for CLS because of her passion for languages, international studies, economic justice, and climate transition.
Lily loves learning languages. She speaks Spanish, Korean, and a little bit of Japanese and has studied abroad twice during her Northeastern career—once in Spain and once in South Korea. Her new goal is to develop fluency in Arabic, which she has been self-studying since 2024.
This summer, through the Critical Language Scholarship program, she will be studying Arabic in Amman, Jordan. Lily is extremely excited about the program as it offers her the opportunity not just to receive intensive language instruction for 4+ hours a day, but also to live with a host family, practice with local language partners, and go on cultural excursions. Along with language skills, she hopes to develop a greater understanding of the energy policy, history, and politics of the region. Her long-term goal is to work for the U.S. government in a role where she can utilize the knowledge she takes away from this program to support policy on economic opportunity, climate investment, and other issues she cares about.
Lily’s passions are reflected in her involvement on and off campus. For her first coop she worked at the Economic and Racial Justice department of the nonprofit Oxfam America. She has volunteered as a Spanish translator and interpreter for lawyers working pro bono at the organization Kids in Need of Defense and as an ESL tutor at the YMCA of Greater Boston. On campus, she has served as Secretary of the Northeastern University Culture and Language Learning Society (NUCALLS) and as the coalition representative for Northeastern’s branch of the Campus Climate Network. She is currently co-oping at the Harvard Kennedy School Center for International Development.