Three New School for Social Research students have been honored with grants for research and study in Germany by the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (the German Academic Exchange Service–the DAAD) for 2008-2009.

Angel Jaramillo Torres, a PhD candidate in NSSR’s Department of Political Science, has been awarded a research grant to study the response of Leo Strauss (who taught at The New School) to the political thought of Martin Heidegger. Mr. Jaramillo Torres is traveling to the University of Munich to work with Professor Heinrich Meier, the editor of Strauss’ complete works.

Philosophy PhD student Rocio Zambrana will spend the year at the University of Frankfurt where she will advance her dissertation research under professors Axel Honneth and Rainer Forst. Ms. Zambrana is investigating the role of the concepts of immanence and transcendence in the dialectics of G.W.F. Hegel. From 2004 to 2006 she served as editor of NSSR’s Philosophy Journal.

Charles McPhedran received a DAAD Study Grant to attend seminars and courses in twentieth-century German cultural history at the Humboldt University of Berlin. Mr. McPhedran is currently completing his MA in Political Science and hopes to use his stay in Germany to prepare for doctoral study. His chief academic sponsor in Berlin is Professor Dr. Christina von Braun.

The awards were made to The New School students on the basis of a competition, which has been run annually by the DAAD since the opening of its New York Office in 1971. The grants provide a stipend of €715 to €975 per month as well as the cost of health insurance and a travel allowance. The competition attracts over 1,000 entrants from the United States and Canada each year, of which only about 25 percent receive awards. The New School is a DAAD partner institution.