Senior named Mitchell Scholar

As a child on St. Patrick's Day, Ryan Hanley would wake up to green eggs, Irish ditties and his father dressed in green, dancing and warbling to his ancestors' music.

"It was his holiday," Hanley said of his father John Hanley, smiling. "He was very Irish."

A grandson of Irish immigrants, John Hanley would paint himself green and sometimes even dye his four children to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

John Hanley passed away almost ten years ago of cancer, but his son hasn't forgotten his heritage: Next fall, Hanley will go back to Ireland as a recipient of the George J. Mitchell Scholarship, an award given annually by the U.S.-Ireland Alliance to 12 students for a year of graduate study at universities in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

"He planted that seed [my love for Ireland] more than anyone else," said Hanley of his father.

The Mitchell Scholars are selected based on their academic record, leadership and community service.

Hanley will study civil engineering at Trinity College, taking classes and researching at the college's graduate program for a master's degree.

He plans to work in seismic engineering when he's done, probably in California, he said.

Hanley, who has been a civil engineering major since he first stepped on campus, grew up fascinated by buildings.

"As a kid I was addicted to sports and legos," he said. "I loved to build forts, and I did it relentlessly."

But Hanley wanted to do more with his life than just building.

"I knew I liked structures and big buildings, but I knew I didn't want to just design them," he said. "[Seismic engineering] takes it a step farther."

Instead, he will research the effect of earthquakes on buildings.

"Hanley always takes life a step farther," said Hopkins senior Leah Blom.

As a freshman, Hanley came to Blom with an idea: He wanted to start a cross-country bike trip to raise money for cancer patients in his father's memory.

"He's a civil engineer, but he has this other side of him: philanthropy," Blom said.

Hanley and Blom became co-directors of the Hopkins 4k for Cancer, a two-month cross-country bicycle trek that has raised more than $100,000 for cancer patients since its founding three years ago.

"This has been the most challenging and meaningful thing in my life," Hanley said. "I'm leading 24 people for 2 months."

The money goes to the American Cancer Society to fund the Hope Lodge, where families of cancer patients are provided with free housing while the patients undergo treatment.

The bicyclists have kept the same route between Baltimore and San Francisco for all three years. They visit hospices and hope lodges across the country to make a difference and to earn money for the cause.

"It was Ryan's vision," said Todd Sullivan, a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society.

The project lets Hanley see America -- from small Midwestern towns with as a few as 200 people to San Francisco -- feeding the lifelong love for travel that he picked up as a child.

Hanley's curiosity drove him to spend a semester in Prague, a region he knew little about before he mounted the plane.

"I didn't know much about Prague, and it intrigued me," he said.

As an engineering student, Hanley had to plan his schedule long in advance to be able to study abroad - this often meant taking as many as four to five engineering classes in one semester.

"It made it a little difficult here, but I love to travel," he said. "I love getting in new situations. It's the reason I'm really excited about this scholarship."

The Mitchell Scholarship is sponsored by the U.S.-Ireland Alliance, a non-profit organization in Washington, D.C., and is named in honor of the U.S. senator who played a role in the Northern Ireland peace process.

Sullivan, who has known Hanley for two years, recommended Hanley for the award and marvels at his "ability to plan something of that magnitude."

But he also said that Hanley was working in his father's memory.

"That's why Ryan wanted to do it: to pay tribute to his father and at the same time fight the disease that took him," Sullivan said.