Historically, the flow of global capital and ambition was unidirectional in the 20th century. The United States was not just a country; the American Dream heralded a meritocracy for anyone seeking to build the future. However, that gravity has quickly shifted eastward.
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The opportunities to visit Asia with the Milken Scholar stipend have opened my eyes to new experiences and new perspectives. As I was preparing for my second Asia trip and the perspectives I would be learning about I was struck with an epiphany I had while in my first Asia trip.
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My research into postpartum support offered to women in South Korea started at the National Folk Museum of Korea located in Seoul within the grounds of Gyeongbokgung Palace. I was particularly interested in the permanent exhibition on birth and early life rituals showing how Koreans have historically understood pregnancy, motherhood, infancy, and hope for a child’s future.
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As a UX designer at an AI startup, my daily challenge is to bridge the gap between complex machine intelligence and the messy, intuitive reality of human life. In my work, I seek inventive ways to help people help themselves lead productive and satisfying lives. This past month, I traveled through Japan in search of design principles that might inform how we build the next generation of AI. What I found was not simply aesthetic inspiration, but a fundamentally different relationship between guidance, safety, minimalism, and technology—one that offers important lessons for AI design.
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High-speed rail projects have often been viewed as environmentally beneficial and an innovative form of mass transit. In particular, they serve as an effective way of limiting carbon emissions, the importance of which is ever-pressing, given the impact climate change has had and will continue to have on our planet in the coming years. These infrastructure projects can play a major role in improving the long-term environmental health of local communities, one of the primary focuses of the Milken Institute.
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I went looking for authenticity and came back thinking more about where my money goes, what it rewards, and what it quietly replaces.
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Knowledge is one of the greatest gifts we can share and receive from others as it allows us to build on ideas to further innovations and progress within our world. Sometimes we get used to routines, habits and things that feel consistent and stable. Getting comfortable in the status quo can lead to stagnation when there is a lack of innovation. As time passes other aspects of the world are changing whether it be for the good or for the worse and it’s important we are aware and adapt to those changes. Adapting doesn’t always mean giving up what we know as truth and getting rid of it to adopt something new. Often times change is viewed as throwing out the old and welcoming in the new.
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From February 20 – 22, 100+ Alumni Scholars gathered for the 2026 Milken Scholars Alumni Symposium at the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream (MCAAD) in Washington D.C.
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Just a few months into her job as an Internal Medicine physician with San Francisco’s Department of Public Health Street Health team, Dr. Sarah Hsu, MS ’13, is providing healthcare services and interventions for patients experiencing homelessness.
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Continuing our cherished tradition of bringing loved ones together during the festive season, the Milken Scholars Program hosted annual Holiday Dinners for Alumni and current Scholars in Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C.
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When my plane landed in Bogotá, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had come to Colombia hoping to understand the local culture and societal infrastructure. What I discovered was how young people find purpose when opportunity is scarce, and what structures help them stay in school. What I discovered over the next two weeks, traveling from Bogotá to Medellín to Cartagena, went far beyond classrooms. My discoveries ranged from observations of the walls of the city, the rhythm of its streets, and in the choices people make when life demands creativity to survive.
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The armed conflict in Colombia was a nightmarish period that has lasted 60 years, leaving a dark stain and puzzle in the minds of thousands of civilians. With the UN Resolution 1325 and the Colombian government’s admission of the disproportionate violence women endure in conflicts, an enormous bottom-up feminist movement has fought to address the violence women still face in the country. However, there are still effects that are not widely discussed. The Colombian armed conflict played a significant role in the formation of patriarchal systems that, especially with a negligent state, have worked to normalize gender-based violence and revictimization cycles. This has generated a distinct intergenerational trauma.
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