University of Pennsylvania senior Theodore Caputi has been selected to receive a George J. Mitchell Scholarship for graduate studies in Ireland.

Sponsored by the U.S.-Ireland Alliance, the scholarship covers tuition, accommodations, a living-expense stipend and an international travel stipend.

Caputi, from Washington Crossing, Pa., who will graduate from Penn in May with a bachelor of arts in mathematics from the School of Arts & Sciences and a bachelor of science in economics from the Wharton School, will pursue a master’s of philosophy in health promotion at University College Cork. 

In 2014, Caputi founded Penn Leadership Training Institute, a nonprofit organization and the largest student-run volunteer service group in Philadelphia. Caputi, a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and Joseph Wharton Scholar, has conducted research on the ramifications of the legalization of marijuana, authored policy briefs regarding the Affordable Care Act and the Mental Health Parity and Addition Equity Acts and has had several first- or sole-author publications in peer-review journals. 

Last year, he became the youngest student ever named a policy fellow at the University of Florida Drug Policy Institute. Caputi is founding president of Penn Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisors and has served on local, state and federal boards addressing substance use, including the Drug Free America Foundation National Advisory Board, Pennsylvania Commonwealth Prevention Alliance Board of Directors and Bucks County Drug and Alcohol Commission Board of Directors, where he has served as vice chair and treasurer.

Caputi is the fourth Penn student to receive the Mitchell Scholarship since the program’s inception in 1999. He received assistance in applying for the scholarship from Penn’s Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships.

The Mitchell Scholarship is named for former U.S. Sen. George J. Mitchell, who was President Clinton’s special envoy for Northern Ireland and had an instrumental role in the peace process there.