The American Rhodes Scholar

The American Rhodes Scholar is published by the Association of American Rhodes Scholars and is supported in partby the bequest of R. V. L. Hartley (Utah and St. John’s ’10). Inquiries and changes of address should be sent to theeditor, Todd Breyfogle, University Honors Program, University of Denver, Mary Reed Building. 17, 2199 SouthUniversity Boulevard, Denver, CO 80208. ©AARS 2005. All rights reserved.

Volume XI, Number 1 May 2005

The American Rhodes Scholar

District IMS. MARISSA C. M. DORAN

Massachusetts—Williams CollegeMS. CATHERINE J. FRIEMAN

Connecticut—Yale UniversityMR. ANDREW KIM

New Jersey—University of Chicago (also Deep Springs College)MS. ANASTASIA PILIAVSKY

Massachusetts—Boston University

District IIMS. ELIZABETH MASIELLO

Pennsylvania—Massachusetts Institute of Technology(also Wellesley College)

MR. KAZI SABEEL RAHMAN

New York—Harvard UniversityMR. EUGENE SHENDEROV

New York—Brooklyn College of CUNYMR. LEV A. SVIRIDOV

New York—City College of CUNY

District IIIMS. REBECCA E. COOK

North Carolina—Wake Forest UniversityMS. RACHEL Y. MAZYCK

North Carolina—University of North Carolina (also Harvard University)

MR. JASON D. SHELL

Maryland/District of Columbia—United States Naval Academy

MS. MEGHAN E. SULLIVAN

Virginia—University of Virginia

District IVMR. JEREMY D. FARRIS

Georgia—Georgia Institute of TechnologyMR. JUSTIN B. MUTTER

Tennessee—University of VirginiaMS. SWATI MYLAVARAPU

Florida—Harvard UniversityMR. JOSEPH F. PRESTON

Florida—United States Naval Academy

District V

MR. PETER BUTTIGIEG

Indiana—Harvard University

MR. IAN DESAI

Illinois—University of Chicago

MR. CHAUNCY S. HARRIS, JR.Wisconsin—University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

MR. JOSEPH S. JEWELL

Michigan—California Institute of Technology (also University of Michigan)

District VI

MS. MELISSA L. DELL

Oklahoma—Harvard University

MS. RUTH A. FRENCH-HODSON

Kansas—University of Kansas

MS. SARAH J. HILL

North Dakota—Harvard University

MS. ELIZABETH W. PEARSON

Iowa—Whitman College

District VII

MR. NICHOLAS J. ANTHIS

Texas—Texas A&M University

MR. MICHAEL D. APRIL

Colorado—United States Military Academy

MS. SARAH B. SCHULMAN

Texas—Stanford University

MS. CAROLYN WILLS

Utah—Wheaton College

District VIII

MR. DANIEL W. CLEMENS

California—Yale University

MS. JENNIFER E. HOWITT

California—Georgetown University

MS. LAUREL YONG-HWA LEE

Washington—Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MR. TREVOR C. THOMPSON

Washington—United States Naval Academy

American Rhodes Scholars-Elect for 2005(Subject to ratification by the Rhodes Trustees after acceptance by one of the colleges of Oxford University)

The Association of American Rhodes Scholars 3

2005 American Rhodes Scholars-Elect

District VII

Nicholas Jay Anthis (Texas)Texas A&M University: B.S., Biochemistry, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: Biochemistry

Permanent Address3571 Norfolk RoadFort Worth, TX 76109(512) 563-9386(817) [email protected]

Career AspirationsProfessor of biochemistry; science policy advisor

A biochemistry major and Goldwater Scholar at Texas A&M University, NickAnthis wrote a senior honors thesis (on the movement of vascular cells in bloodvessel development) which was awarded best in the biological sciences. He findsblood vessel development fascinating “because it is essential for normal growth,development, and healing, but also contributes to a variety of pathological condi-tions, including cancer.” Nick spent a summer in Adelaide, Australia, studyingassay development as an L.T. Jordan Fellow. As the president of the Honors Student Council at A&M, Nick worked to increase involvement and a sense ofcommunity within the university’s honors program and the exchange of ideasthroughout the university as a whole. Nick’s interest in politics blossomed at A&M,where he was president of the Texas Aggie Democrats, an active member of theBrazos Progressives, and a volunteer for a successful congressional campaign. Nicksees his desire “to discover and communicate knowledge and information” as thecommon thread connecting his diverse interests, and to that end Nick became ascience/technology writer for his school newspaper, The Battalion, during his finalsemester at A&M. In his free time, Nick enjoys “playing piano, snowboarding,scuba diving, and playing ultimate Frisbee.” At Oxford, Nick plans to use nuclearmagnetic resonance to determine the structures of proteins involved in importantbiological processes. Although Nick plans a career as a professor of biochemistry,he hopes to help formulate science policy either informally or formally.

May 2005, Volume XI, Number 1


4

District VII

Michael David April (Colorado)United States Military Academy: B.S., Chemistry, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: Medical Anthropology

Present AddressP.O. Box 0095

West Point, NY 10997-0095(719) 548-0661

[email protected]

Permanent Address1278 Amstel Drive

Colorado Springs, CO 80907

Career AspirationsPhysician in the U.S. Army

Mike April is currently ranked third in his class of nearly 1,000 cadets at the United States Military Academy where, upon graduation, he will earn a commis-sion as an officer in the Army. Since entering the Academy, he has graduated fromthe Army’s Airborne school in Fort Benning, served as a battalion commander incharge of nearly 500 other cadets, and spent an exchange semester at the UnitedStates Air Force Academy, where he completed the soar-for-all glider and free-fallparachuting courses. Upon finishing his studies at Oxford, Mike plans to attendmedical school and become a physician within the military. Mike’s passion formedicine springs from his own experiences. He was born in Saudi Arabia withWolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, an abnormality in the electrical activity of theheart. Mike attributes his survival to the care provided by the physicians whotreated him as an infant. As a physician, he hopes “to work to preserve humanpotential by treating the injured and ill and providing them with the same oppor-tunities for a full life that I was given.” As an undergraduate, he has interned withdoctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and volunteered with the RedCross. In the Army’s Medical Corps, he hopes to spearhead humanitarian effortsto initiate health care systems in the developing countries to which the military isdeployed while fighting the war on terrorism. He feels that “only by assumingresponsibility for the welfare of the local populations will a peaceful resolution tothis conflict ever be achieved.”



District V

Peter Paul Montomergy Buttigieg (Indiana)Harvard University: A.B., History and Literature, 2004

Proposed Oxford Course: Philosophy, Politics, and Economics

Permanent Address222 Marquette AvenueSouth Bend, IN 46617(617) [email protected]

Career AspirationsPublic service, academia, law

A native of South Bend, Indiana, and proud graduate of St. Joseph’s High School,Peter Buttigieg graduated in 2004 from Harvard College, where he studied Amer-ican history and literature. His senior thesis evaluated the Vietnam War in termsof 17th-century New England Puritan theology. While at Harvard, he served asundergraduate president of the Institute of Politics, wrote columns for the Crim-son, participated in intramural rowing, taught a weekly civics course in an under-served middle school, and received a number of honors, including induction intoPhi Beta Kappa. Peter is co-author of the Institute of Politics’ nationwide study of campus attitudes on politics and public service, and has spoken around thecountry—including a presentation to newly elected members of Congress—onthe topic of reviving youth engagement in American politics. He is active in poli-tics himself, having worked on campaigns in Massachusetts, Indiana, Arizona,and New Mexico. While on break from Harvard, Peter served as an investigativeintern for a local television station in Chicago, and he remains enthusiastic aboutjournalism as public service. He is co-founder of the Democratic RenaissanceProject, which seeks to renew the Democratic Party. Peter enjoys music and lan-guages, playing piano and guitar, and speaking French, Spanish, Arabic, Italian,and some Maltese. He is eager to begin his studies at Oxford, though “as a Mid-westerner” he is “concerned about adjusting to the warmer English climate.”



6

District VIII

Daniel William Clemens (California)Yale University: B.A./M.A., Political Science, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: Comparative Social Policy


New Haven, CT 06520(310) 666-4947

[email protected]

Permanent Address9727 Monte Mar Dr.

Los Angeles, CA 90035(310) 666-4947

Career AspirationsRunning social entrepreneurship/non-profit

organizations; health and education policy

Daniel Clemens is finishing his B.A. and M.A. in political science, writing an Hon-ors thesis entitled “Strategic Bargaining—Direct Democracy at the Crossroads.”Daniel’s academic work on the politics of direct democracy has received severalresearch awards, including the Frank M. Patterson Research Prize in Political Sci-ence, Yale College Dean’s Research Fellowship, the Richter Fellowship, and theRussell Sage Political Science Research Fellowship. These awards have supportedhis analysis of direct democracy and electoral politics in California and otherwestern states and allowed him to study the Cuban health care system. Daniel isalso the author of The History of the Health Supplement Industry in America (pub-lication pending), an analysis of regulation and reform of the health supplementindustry. He was selected to the 2005 USA Today All-Academic First Team. LastNovember, Daniel helped analyze polling data as part of the NBC election-nightnews team. At Yale, Daniel founded Lift For Kids Preventative Health Care (a stu-dent organization which worked with obese children in New Haven), served as anexecutive board member of the Yale Community Outreach Committee, and was aliaison for the Yale World Affiliate Program. An avid tennis player and NCAAAcademic All American, Daniel is ranked 36th in the nation by the U.S. TennisAssociation (20th in the U.S. in doubles), which also gave him the NationalSportsmanship Award. Daniel is “an avid dog-lover,” enjoys meeting new people,and loves “discovering fun night spots, live music, autobiographical fiction, and awide range of movies.”



District III

Rebecca E. Cook (North Carolina)Wake Forest University: B.S., Biology, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: Medical Anthropology

Present AddressBox 6006Wake Forest UniversityWinston-Salem, NC 27109(828) [email protected]

Permanent Address525 Hedgewood PlaceWinston-Salem, NC 27104(336) 768-5999

Career AspirationsPhysician, international health

Rebecca Cook was born and raised in Kenya; her years at Wake Forest Universityrepresent the longest time she has spent in the United States. In her biology majorand international studies minor, Rebecca combined her passion for science with abroader curiosity about the impact of cultural, social and political forces onhealth in the developing world. In 2003, Rebecca returned to Kenya as a ProHumanitate Scholar where she volunteered in the hospital of her birth and con-ducted a community-based research project to improve the health care of pre-mature infants. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior, Rebecca received several awards for academic achievement, including the Elton C. Cocke Scholar-ship (for excellence in biology), the Charles and Louise Allen Scholarship, and the Carswell Scholarship. Rebecca served as the co-founder and co-president of theWake Forest Student Global AIDS Campaign, as a resident adviser, and as thepresident of an interdenominational Christian fellowship. She also volunteered inthe neonatal unit of Baptist Hospital, tutored disadvantaged elementary students,and spent a summer working with CHANGE (Communities Helping All Neighbors Gain Empowerment). Rebecca enjoys “hiking, playing tennis, andsnorkeling in the Indian Ocean”; she can also be found “cooking or tinkering atthe piano.” Rebecca aspires to spend her life “improving the health of children inAfrica” and hopes “to serve as leader in developing sustainable solutions to thehealth crises facing the continent.” Beyond her academic pursuits at Oxford, sheis eager to travel, take up rowing, and “return to a land where football is football.”



8

District VI

Melissa Lynne Dell (Oklahoma)Harvard University: A.B., Economics, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: Economic and Social History

Present Address198 Winthrop Mail Center

Cambridge, MA 02138(508) 878-9698

[email protected]

Permanent Address217 Deer Run

Enid, OK 73703(580) 233-0042

Career AspirationsEconomic development research

and policy formation

A Truman Scholar and one of Glamour Magazine’s 2004 Top Ten CollegeWomen, Melissa Dell is majoring in economics, with a focus on gender and devel-opment in Latin America. Melissa has conducted economic and ethnographicresearch in Chile, Peru, and Mexico, and has published her findings in journals ofinternational relations, history, law, and international developments. Combiningher passions for research and public service, Melissa coordinated impact evalua-tion studies to raise significant funding for two Peruvian microfinance institu-tions which serve over 16,000 women. She also co-founded a non-profitorganization that provides financial and technical support to microfinance insti-tutions serving very poor women. She has led conference committees in Central America on sex trafficking and domestic violence, and her senior honorsthesis focuses on how NAFTA affected female labor force participation in Mexico.Melissa also chaired the Harvard Women’s Leadership Network, served asNational Director of College Matters, a non-profit organization that helps stu-dents apply to college, and was co-managing editor of the College Matters Guide(McGraw-Hill, 2004). Melissa is an avid runner (she overcame a vision disabilityto run Division I Varsity track and cross-country) and was named to the SportsIllustrated on Campus A-List. She has also been named to the 2005 USA TodayAll-Academic First Team. Melissa adores outdoor adventure sports and budgettravel—“I’ve climbed a 22,000 ft. volcano and traversed most of South Americaby bus”—and hopes to pursue both interests in Europe.



District V

Ian Desai (Illinois)University of Chicago: B.A., Ancient Studies, 2004

Proposed Oxford Course: Oriental Studies

Permanent Address200 Hicks StreetBrooklyn, NY 11201(773) [email protected]

Career AspirationsConnecting cultures through academic work and non-profit institutions

Named a class of 2004 student marshal (the University of Chicago’s highest under-graduate award for scholastic achievement and leadership), Ian Desai was alsoawarded the Binyon Prize for distinction in humanistic pursuits. His senior thesiscompared identity paradigms in ancient Indian and Greek mythology and atOxford he wants to expand on that work “by comparing how modern Indian andGreek identities are influenced by ancient history/heritage.” Ian co-founded anddirected the Chicago Society, helping develop and raise funds for interactive pro-grams to connect students with faculty and leading members of government,industry, policy, and social institutions. As the recipient of the Norman Wait Harris Grant, Ian founded the Kashmir Project, exploring the cultural and politicalhistory of that region and coordinating a team of student and faculty researchers.Ian was instrumental in starting the “Academics and Activism” forum on the polit-ical and cultural issues facing South Asia. As an international research travel grantrecipient, Ian studied the effect of ancient Greek heritage on modern Greek identi-ty and helped lead a research expedition which retraced the path of Jason and theArgonauts. An avid hiker and rock-climber, Ian also enjoys cross-country skiing,tennis and squash. Since graduating he has founded the LITE Foundation (LinkingIndividuals Through Education), a non-profit organization which connects highschool students around the world to each other through technology. At Oxford,Ian looks forward to exploring “the riches of English beer” and to continuing hispassion for drawing connections between cultures.



10

District I

Marissa C. M. Doran (Massachusetts)Williams College: B.A., History, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: Modern European History

Present Address2722 Baxter Hall, Building 1

Williams CollegeWilliamstown, MA 01267

(781) [email protected]

Permanent Address1398 Tremont StreetDuxbury, MA 02332

(781) 934-2095

Career AspirationsGovernment service

Raised on a small farm in coastal Massachusetts, Marissa Doran is fluent inFrench, speaks Mandarin Chinese, and chairs the Williams Writing Workshop. Asa sophomore, Marissa became the first student in the history of the college to co-author an undergraduate course. She is the recipient of numerous academicawards, including Williams’ Class of 1960 Scholarship in both environmentalstudies and history, and the Ruchman Fellowship for outstanding achievement inthe major field. A Truman Scholar, Marissa has lobbied to incorporate principlesof sustainable design and urban planning into campus projects, most notablyworking to add one million dollars for “green” features to the budget forWilliams’ new student center. She serves on numerous committees, including thecollege budget committee and the service council. An accomplished orchestralhorn player, she produced and directed a full-scale production of the children’sballet Peter and the Wolf for an audience of over 600, coordinating over one hun-dred volunteer mask-makers, set-builders, dancers, and orchestral musicians aspart of her efforts to increase volunteerism in populations not typically involvedin service. A year as an exchange student in Belgium sparked an intense interest inpolitics, though “I have yet to work for a winning campaign.” In her free time, she takes “to the stage” or “to the road, to visit my wonderful parents and two siblings.”



District IV

Jeremy Daniel Farris (Georgia)Georgia Institute of Technology: B.S., International Affairs, 2004

Proposed Oxford Course: Political Theory

Present Address304 Jubilee CircleBonaire, GA 31005(404) 914-1304(478) [email protected]

Career AspirationsAcademia, foreign policy, government

A President’s Scholar at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Jeremy Farris studied philosophy, international relations, and economics. Jeremy entered Georgia Tech with research interests in microbiology after winning an INTELInternational Science and Engineering Fair Best of Category award and after serv-ing as a U.S. Delegate to the APEC Youth Science Forum in Singapore for his discovery and development of a new pathogen for the kudzu plant. Good booksand reflection on the purposes of university education prompted Jeremy to develop interests in international relations and philosophy. He has pursued topicsin democratization and political and economic development through study inArgentina, Guatemala, and Cuba (as a Fleet Scholar). Jeremy’s interests includethe philosophy of science, epistemology, and most prominently, political philo-sophy. His work on American pragmatism and the political theory of J.S. Mill willbe published in Politics and Ethics Review. Jeremy is also interested in the coher-ence, fairness, and justice of different institutions in democracy, in the idea of liberalism as a “missionary ideal,” and in the intersections among political theory,democratization, and foreign policy. Jeremy founded and coaches a chess team atan inner city elementary school in Atlanta. He helped to initiate the Georgia TechPhilosophy Society and the McEver Program for Engineering and the Liberal Arts.He is both a “card carrying member” of the ACLU and an Eagle Scout.



12

District VI

Ruth Anne French-Hodson (Kansas)University of Kansas: B.A., Political Science, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: Politics/Comparative Government

Present Address1401 Kentucky #1

Lawrence, KS 66044(785) 764-0759

[email protected]

Permanent Address8016 West Longview Road

Partridge, KS 67566(620) 567-2528

Career AspirationsPublic policy, law,

non-profit organization, academia

Ruth Anne French-Hodson grew up on a five-generation family farm in southcentral Kansas and is an “avid KU basketball fan” who aspires to a career in lawand public service. She has acquired extensive experience in the law, interning atthe chambers of Chief Justice Deanell Reece Tacha of the Tenth U.S. CircuitCourt of Appeals (where she did contributing research for a decision on dueprocess and a habeas order and judgment), assisting in the legal evaluation of thedevelopment of a reservoir to supply water for the Kickapoo Reservation, andserving as a research assistant for professors at the KU law school. At KU, she wasa research and teaching assistant in the history department, developing coursematerial for the Agriculture in World History class and helping teach the course.Ruth Anne’s paper on “The Tenth Amendment: The Rehnquist Court in Relationto the Framers’ Ideals and Historical Interpretations” won third place in the 2004Peterson Prize Undergraduate Writing Competition through the Willamette Uni-versity College of Law Center for Law and Government. As a volunteer withPlanned Parenthood, Ruth Anne was part of a lobbying team at the Kansas state-house, developed legislative information packets and organized a rally in supportof Roe v. Wade. Ruth Anne’s long term goal is to be “actively involved in develop-ing mechanisms that aid the public in monitoring the regulatory process throughinformation dissemination, transparency, and improved access.” She anticipatesworking for a public interest think tank or non-profit organization before joininga law faculty and pursuing her concerns in an academic setting.



District I

Catherine Julia Frieman (Connecticut)Yale University: B.A., Archaeological Studies, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: European Archaeology

Present AddressP.O. Box 201897New Haven, CT 06520-1897(617) [email protected]

Permanent Address28 Blue Hill DriveWestwood, MA 02090(781) 320-9822

Career AspirationsProfessor of archaeology, archaeological excavation field director

An “avid reader and enthusiastic student,” Cate Frieman is passionate aboutarchaeology. She is particularly interested in the social and political interactionsof the Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age. Cate has excavated with American andBritish teams in Connecticut, Denmark and on the Isle of Man, and has beenawarded a variety of departmental and undergraduate grants in support of thisfield work. She spent her junior year in Aix-en-Provence studying archaeologyand visiting as much of Provence—and the rest of Europe—as possible. As anactive member of the Yale community, Cate has worked in her residential col-lege’s master’s office, served on its college council and edited layout for itsnewsletter, The Trumbulletin. She has also been involved in literary and activistgroups since her freshman year, including volunteering at the Yale Women’s Center, where she served as head staffer her sophomore year. She is now involvedin Books Through Bars, a group which mails books to incarcerated men andwomen across America. Cate also studies Tai Chi, has led tours at the Yale Uni-versity Art Gallery, and occasionally hangs lights for undergraduate theatricalproductions. She plans to be active in the Oxford community while studyingeuropean archaeology.



14

District V

Chauncy Steed Harris, Jr. (Wisconsin)University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire: B.S., Geography and History, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: Modern Middle Eastern Studies

Present Address1436 Taft Avenue

Eau Claire, WI 54701(715) 830-1224

[email protected]

Career AspirationsProfessor, diplomat

As a student of history and geography, Chauncy Harris is interested in the inter-section between the two disciplines: how cultures evolve through time, relate overspace, and are shaped by—and shape—place. Specifically, he is interested in howgroups from divergent cultural, religious, and ethnic backgrounds interact whenthey are forced to live next to or amongst each other in urban areas. His senior theses explore the effects of cluster migrations on the formation of urban economic islands and the development of a post-immigration Italian identity. Hespeaks French, Italian, and German. Chauncy has been very involved in both cam-pus and community projects. As president of three honor societies (including PhiAlpha Theta, Golden Key and Mortar Board) and an active member of several others, he has had the opportunity “to direct hundreds of motivated students andmake a difference in my own small way.” His volunteer activity has included workwith with drug rehabilitation programs, literacy campaigns, Special Olympics, andmentoring at risk childern at local elementary schools. Chauncy’s religious servicetook him to the Mediterranean as a full-time missionary and he has taught Englishoverseas. Throughout his life, Chauncy has been influenced “by the example andmentoring of my progenitors” and hopes “to be able to continue their legacy ofexcellence.” He believes “in the power of a single individual to change lives andgenerations” and holds that “success is a product of vision and perseverance.”Chauncy looks forward to more time to read, reflect, and run at Oxford. AfterOxford he plans to pursue doctoral studies and his passion for teaching.



District VI

Sarah James Hill (North Dakota)Harvard University: A.B., Biochemical Sciences, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: Biochemistry

Present AddressSchool-268 Winthrop Mail CenterHarvard UniversityCambridge, MA 02138(701) [email protected]

Permanent Address234 East Divide AvenueBismark, ND 58501(701) 258-1817

Career AspirationsM.D./Ph.D., physician-scientist

Born and raised in Bismarck, North Dakota, Sarah Hill has a passion for molecu-lar and cellular biology research and its relation to disease. What began as “highschool science fair projects” has “blossomed into research at the Dana FarberCancer Institute in Boston.” The recipient of a John Harvard Scholarship, Harvard College Research Program funding, and a Pechet Foundation researchgrant, Sarah has worked in a variety of Harvard’s labs, both on the undergraduatecampus and at the medical school. Her senior honors thesis project in David Livingston’s lab at Dana Farber was to characterize a novel chromodomain protein, which she has linked to both BRCA1, a protein often missing in breasttumors arising in women with heritable forms of breast cancer, and BMI-1, a protein linked to many forms of cancer. Her goal is to become an M.D./Ph.D.specializing in breast oncology and researching cancer biology. Sarah enjoys awide variety of extracurricular activities, including running cross-country andtrack for Harvard, coxing the Winthrop House intramural mixed boat, and playing the cello in Harvard’s Bach Society Orchestra. She has “always lovedShakespeare and all kinds of theater and film.” After producing several plays atHarvard, she directed The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (abridged) in fall 2004.Sarah enjoys politics and was a delegate to the North Dakota State Republicanconvention. Both at Oxford and beyond, Sarah hopes “to continue all of my interests while making contributions to the medical and scientific communities.”



16

District VIII

Jennifer E. Howitt (California)Georgetown University: B.S.F.S., International Politics, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: Development Studies

Permanent Address30 Daryl Drive

Orinda, CA 94863(925) 253-0863(202) 422-4627

[email protected]

Career AspirationsInternational development with a

focus on people with disabilities

Jennifer Howitt has focused her honors thesis research on systems of wheelchairprovision in Nicaragua, examining the impact of donated wheelchairs from inter-national organizations on the local production and repair of wheelchairs in Managua and León. She is a member of Alpha Sigma Nu and was elected to Phi BetaKappa as a junior. Jennifer is also pursuing Georgetown’s certificate in Australianand New Zealand studies and spent her junior year studying at the University ofMelbourne. An accomplished wheelchair basketball player, she has played on theU.S. Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team since she was seventeen. In addition tocompetitions in Brazil, Mexico and Japan, she competed at the 2000 Sydney Para-lympic Games and the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games, where she won the first goldmedal for a U.S. women’s team since 1988 (only the second in history). Jennifercoaches wheelchair basketball, was an assistant coach to the 2003 U.S. JuniorWheelchair Basketball Team in 2003, and was also an assistant coach for the firstever U.S. Under-19 Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team (competing in Australiain April of 2005). She founded Washington, D.C.’s first women’s wheelchair basket-ball team and organized a series of basketball clinics in Maryland for young womenwith disabilities. During her years at Georgetown, she taught English as a secondlanguage, was an intern for Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher, and volunteered atGeorgetown’s Center for Intercultural Education and Development (CIED). AtOxford, Jennifer plans to examine ways to expand the economic and social oppor-tunities for people with disabilities in developing countries.



District V

Joseph Stephen Jewell (Michigan)California Institute of Technology: B.S., Aeronautics and History, 2004

(also University of Michigan)

Proposed Oxford Course: Engineering SciencePresent Address1015 W. Huron Ave., Apt. 1Ann Arbor, MI 48103(269) [email protected]

Permanent Address6347 Brookpark DriveStevensville, MI 49127(269) 465-5396

Career AspirationsProfessor, research scientist for NASA, science policy, astronaut

A native of Stevensville, Michigan, Joe Jewell is currently studying hypersonic aerodynamics, turbulence, and propulsion as a graduate student in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, where he is both a Jack Kent CookeFoundation Graduate Scholar and a Department of Defense National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellow. He has worked in zero gravity on boardNASA’s KC-135 “Vomit Comet” research aircraft and has authored or co-authoredthree technical papers on fluid mechanics and rocket propulsion. A 2000 U.S. Presidential Scholar, Joe was also a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation UndergraduateScholar and a Honeywell SURF Fellow. Joe co-authored the bestselling study bookUp Your Score: The Underground Guide to the SAT (2001-2002 edition). In 2001 heco-founded PrepMe Corporation in 2001, an on-line test preparation and collegecounseling company. Joe is an avid percussionist and timpanist and regularly worksas a drum instructor for high school marching bands. He was deeply involved instudent government, served as student body secretary and received the Robert L.Noland Leadership Award “for outstanding service and leadership.” At Caltech, Joereceived his B.S. degree with honors as a double major in aeronautics and history;his senior thesis on attitudes towards violence in the medieval Church won the Rodman W. Paul History Prize. Joe is excited by the prospect of visiting medievalsites in the U.K. and throughout Europe. After completing the Ph.D., he intends topursue “a career as a leader in science and technology either through NASA or as auniversity professor” and hopes eventually to become an astronaut.



18

District I

Andrew Kim (New Jersey)University of Chicago: B.A., Political Science, 2004

(also Deep Springs College)

Proposed Oxford Course: International Relations

Permanent Address94 Woodlake DriveMarlton, NJ 08053


Career AspirationsU.S. foreign policy, human rights law

A Truman Scholar, Andy Kim is a graduate of both the University of Chicago andDeep Springs College (a two-year liberal arts college for 26 students on a workingcattle ranch in the high desert of eastern California). The self-governing commu-nity and ranch work (including cattle drives and farming) at Deep Springs Collegeallowed Andy to understand the importance of community and the value of ser-vice. At the University of Chicago, Andy studied political science and humanrights, seeking “to balance philosophical thought and practical understanding.”He wrote his undergraduate thesis on the philosophy of forgiveness, exploring theidea of whether there are human actions (genocide and crimes against humanity,for example) whose consequences are so grave as to put themselves beyond for-giveness. In contrast to the solitude of the California desert, the city of Chicagoafforded Andy opportunities for urban service. As a policy associate for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Andy raised awareness about the connectionbetween prostitution and homelessness and worked with the city of Chicago toprovide services to current and former homeless prostitutes and trafficking vic-tims. Andy worked in both Washington, D.C., and in South Africa for the UnitedStates Agency for International Development, specializing in improving peaceresolution programs in war-torn countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. At Oxford,Andy plans to study international relations with a focus on “the intersectionbetween conflict and refugee issues.” He looks forward “to traveling and, as anaccomplished cellist and guitarist, to continuing my music” at Oxford.



District VIII

Laurel Yong-Hwa Lee (Washington)Massachusetts Institute of Technology: B.S., Brain and Cognitive Science;

B.S., Biology, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine

Present Address450 Memorial DriveCambridge, MA 02139(617) [email protected]

Permanent Address2424A 195th Place SEBothell, WA 98012(425) 487-6876

Career AspirationsInfectious diseases research, international health, medicine

Laurel Yong-Hwa Lee moved from South Korea to the U.S. in 1998 with a limitedcommand of English. Two years later she had completed nearly all of her highschool requirements, and spent most of her senior year investigating the mecha-nisms of tumor development at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center inSeattle. Laurel has led an independent research project at the MIT Center for Cancer Research. She won an exceptional summer research award at the NationalInstitutes of Health for her findings on cellular mechanisms of neurodegerativediseases, work that was also presented to the American Society for Neurochem-istry. Laurel served as the medical coordinator for Mission Honduras and estab-lished a centralized health care system for orphanages and women’s shelterslocated amongst 11 villages. A fourth year varsity rower, Laurel has competedagainst the nation’s top NCAA Division I rowing teams. She was also chosen as oneof the 2004 Top Ten College Women of the Year by Glamour Magazine and wasnamed to the 2005 USA Today All-Academic First Team. Laurel has played violinfor 15 years and won a national competition at age 12. At MIT she focused onintensive musical analyses of 18th-20th century operatic and orchestral works, andshe was named an MIT Burchard Scholar (for excellence in the arts and social sciences). Laurel looks forward “to continuing my rowing and to attending operaperformances at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden” and plans “to continuewith my work on performance reviews and criticisms.” After Oxford she will pursue an advanced medical degree at Harvard Medical School.



20

District II

Elizabeth Masiello (Pennsylvania)Wellesley College: B.A., Computer Science, 2003

(also Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Proposed Oxford Course: Financial Economics

Present Address78 Arlington Street

Brighton, MA 02135(781) 223-3750

[email protected]

Permanent Address6767 Phillips Mill Road

Solesbury, PA 18963

Career AspirationsTelecommunications industry,

public sector technology management

Betsy Masiello is a Horton-Halowell Graduate Fellow in the Technology and Policy Program at MIT, an interdisciplinary graduate program aimed at “educat-ing leaders on the important technological issues confronting society.” Betsy’sresearch lies at the intersection of communication technologies and economicsand she looks forward to continuing this work at the Oxford Internet Institutewhile learning about the European telecommunications industry. In the summerbetween her two years at MIT, Betsy worked for the Chief Information SecurityOfficer of the U.S. Department of Justice, helping ensure compliance with federalcomputer security law. Betsy has also worked for Hewlett-Packard, RSA Securityand the National Security Agency. Betsy graduated from Wellesley College magnacum laude with departmental honors in computer science and a minor in eco-nomics, completing a thesis on the effects of biometric surveillance. At Wellesley,Betsy was active as a first-year mentor, academic peer tutor and student liaison tothe committee on faculty appointments. She spent her free time on the athleticfields playing field hockey and lacrosse—she was a four-time NCAA All-Americanin field hockey, a Verizon CoSIDA Academic All-American, and team captain.Convinced of the “educational power of athletics” Betsy co-founded Team Up 4Education (TU4E), a volunteer organization which provides mentoring and college application guidance to high school athletes. Betsy continues her own athletic pursuits, challenging herself to overcome her “love-hate relationship withrunning.” In 2004 she completed the Boston Marathon as a “bandit” and hopes torun in the London Marathon while at Oxford.



District III

Rachel Yvette Mazyck (North Carolina)University of North Carolina: B.A., English, 2002; also Harvard University:

M.Ed., Education Policy and Management, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: Educational Studies

Present AddressCronkhite Graduate Center6 Ash St., #118Cambridge, MA 02138(662) [email protected]

Permanent Address8200 Joshua CourtLaurel, MD 20708

Career AspirationsEducation, non-profit work, policy advocate

A Morehead Scholar at UNC, Rachel Mazyck graduated Phi Beta Kappa at the ageof 19, finishing her honors degree in English after only three years. Her thesis onblack women’s views of skin color during the Harlem Renaissance received highesthonors. Rachel is currently pursuing a master’s degree in education policy andmanagement at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Rachel has extensiveexperience in education, having taught 4th grade for two years with Teach forAmerica in Indianola, Mississippi, and coordinated tutors for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School District’s AVID program (where she also shadowed the district’s superintendent). Rachel has also worked as a tutor and administrativeassistant at Amistad Academy (a charter school in New Haven, Connecticut), as adevelopment intern at New Schools Venture Fund (a San Francisco venture capitalfirm that invests money in ventures that will improve public education), and withthe Education Trust (an education policy advocacy group in Washington, D.C.).While at UNC, Rachel was a Bible study leader, taught Sunday School classes (bothat UNC and in the Mississippi Delta), and served as a resident advisor and memberof the Honor Court. Rachel also served as logistics chair for UNC’s Martin LutherKing, Jr. Youth Leadership Day, which brought over 100 students to UNC’s cam-pus to participate in leadership activities and to learn about college life. Rachel’sgoal is to “help close the achievement gap between black and Hispanic studentsand white students through a policy-making role in the Department of Educationor a policy advocacy role in a not-for-profit organization.”



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District IV

Justin Brice Mutter (Tennessee)University of Virginia: B.A., Modern Studies, Religious Studies, 2003

Proposed Oxford Course: Theology

Permanent Address909 West Brow Road

Lookout Mountain, TN 37350(423) 825-0308

[email protected]

Career AspirationsGlobal inter-religious relations, public

service in international politics and religion

A native of East Tennessee, Justin Mutter graduated in 2003 with a B.A. in modern studies and religious studies. As an Echols Scholar, Justin used his academic freedom to explore areas of interdisciplinary interest in religion, litera-ture, and modern intellectual history, completing two independent studies on theSouthern literary tradition and one on “a theology of reading.” His research paperon contemporary appropriations of Dante’s Inferno was awarded the EnglishDepartment’s Wagenheim Essay Prize. Named to Phi Beta Kappa in his junioryear, Justin twice received the Corydon M. and Ruth Leigh Johnson Scholarship.He also participated in an intensive summer theology program at the Universityof Notre Dame as a Pew Younger Scholar. Since graduation, Justin has beenworking at a hospital in rural Haiti with Zanmi Lasante, the Haitian counterpartof the Boston-based public health NGO Partners in Health. His service comprisesvarious anti-poverty initiatives in public health, including management of a children’s nutrition program, social work with HIV/AIDS and tuberculosispatients, and agro-forestry projects with a local peasant organization. He willremain in Haiti through the summer of 2005. Justin enjoys “tennis and basketball,good winter fireplaces, and wearing overalls.” At Oxford, Justin plans to studypolitical theologies of poverty and looks forward “to picking up croquet.”



District IV

Swati Mylavarapu (Florida)Harvard University: B.A., Human Rights/International Development, 2005


Present Address310 Mather Mail CenterCambridge, MA 02138(617) [email protected]

Permanent Address2038 SW 78th TerraceGainesville, FL 32607(904) 813-0472

Career AspirationsInternational development

Swati Mylavarapu is a Florida native who has been active in the areas of law,anthropology, human rights and international development. She was the onlyundergraduate participant in a Harvard Law School law and anthropology working group on indigenous land rights in Latin America, helping prepare anadvisory memo for a declaration designed by the Organization of AmericanStates. The working group also prepared an advisory brief on a ground-breakingInter-American Court of Human Rights case, Awas Tingni v. Nicaragua. Swati is acommittee director for the Harvard Association Cultivating Inter-American Democracy, a program that runs a simulation-OAS conference which helps LatinAmerican high school students learn about diplomacy and the pressing environ-mental and human rights issues facing their region. She is the author of a bookchapter in Invisible Citizens (2002), looking at youth perceptions of U.S. foreignpolicy after September 11th. In addition to her academic and volunteer work,Swati is an avid watercolor painter (her paintings were included in a student exhi-bition in 2004) and has recently taken up pottery (“I hope there’s a pottery studioto be found somewhere in Oxford!”). Swati describes herself as an “avid traveler”and hopes “to continue this passion during my time at Oxford.” She is also “look-ing forward to learning more about British life and culture” and to experiencingEurope after having had considerable exposure to the developing world. “And, ina country where curry is considered a national dish and Indian restaurantsabound, I’ll hopefully feel right at home.”



24

District VI

Elizabeth West Pearson (Iowa)Whitman College: B.A., Political Philosophy, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: Development Studies

Permanent Address16623 Jessup Street

Indianola, IA 50125(509) 529-0375(515) 961-3053

[email protected]

Career AspirationsNon-profit organization, poverty alleviation;

international development policy

Beth Pearson designed her own major in political philosophy at Whitman College, where she is a Claire B. Sherwood Scholar. She was elected to the Orderof Wailatpu (Whitman’s honorary society) as a junior and was asked to serve as an assistant commencement marshal in recognition of her high academicachievements. As a member of Whitman College’s debate team, Elizabeth earnedawards in parliamentary debate and public speaking, including winning theDovell-Gose Oratory contest two years consecutively. In addition to serving onthe executive council of her student government, Elizabeth has worked in Whitman’s writing center and has served on the college’s council on studentaffairs. In 2004, Elizabeth was awarded funding to undertake an internship withMobility International USA, a nonprofit organization in Eugene, Oregon, that focuses on issues of disability and international development. Elizabethresearched, edited, and wrote chapters for the second edition of a manual to aidinternational development organizations in making their programs more inclu-sive of people with disabilities. Elizabeth has also undertaken internship and volunteer opportunities working on employment policy, grassroots voter educa-tion projects, and fundraising for health care reform. Elizabeth enjoys “readinggood books, playing tennis, learning to ski, and eating dark chocolate.”

District I

Anastasia Piliavsky (Massachusetts)Boston University: B.A., Social Anthropology, Religion, 2004

Proposed Oxford Course: Social Anthropology

Present Address11 New Whitney Street, #905Boston, MA 02115(617) 821-2432(617) [email protected]

Career AspirationsResearch and teaching in social and linguisticanthropology; documentary cinematography, literary translation

Anastasia Piliavsky grew up in the Ukrainian city of Odessa, which she left in 1994when she immigrated to the United States at age 14. The focus of her ethno-graphic research has been on the oral narratives and ritual performances of an indigenous group called Sahariya in the Indian state of Rajasthan, where Anastasia also filmed an ethnographic documentary. As a sophomore, she con-ducted field work in Russia, where she studied the process of “post-communist”canonization of Christian Orthodox saints and its interpretation by local monas-tic youth (she also apprenticed in the iconographic studio of one of Russia’s fore-most iconographers). Other field research has taken Anastasia to WesternMongolia, where she studied the socio-historical significance of local rug making.More recently, she conducted research in affiliation with the Pluralism Project atHarvard University, examining the social and theological transformations withinthe Jain diaspora of Greater Boston. A Boston University Trustee scholar and anAugustus H. Buck scholar, Anastasia received numerous grants for study andresearch, including the R. E. Katz Religion Department Award, the Ada DraperResearch and Travel Grant, the Pluralism Project Summer Research Grant, the Freeman Travel Grant, and the Gilman International Grant. Anastasia enjoys“dancing Kathak (an Indian Classical Dance), working on documentary photography, playing tennis, brewing beer, hiking across mountain ranges, andknitting legwarmers.” And she notes that she abstains from drinking bottled waterin India.



District IV

Joseph F. Preston (Florida)United States Naval Academy: B.S., Information Technology, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: General Linguistics


Annapolis, MD 21412(443) 454-0106

[email protected]

Permanent Address6425 55th Square

Vero Beach, FL 32967(443) 321-1116

Career AspirationsNavy pilot

Josh Preston is a senior at the United States Naval Academy, where he is majoringin information technology. A Brigade Mission Officer, he is also on the Academytriathlon team, which has twice won the national championship. Josh attendedthe U.S. Army Airborne jump school and has interned with the National SecurityAgency. At the Academy he trained as a sexual assault victim intervention guideand served as a representative and remediator on the Naval Academy’s honor policy board.



26



District II

Kazi Sabeel Rahman (New York)Harvard University: B.A., Social Studies, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: Economics for Development

Present Address215 Mather Mail Center10 Cowperthwaite StreetCambridge, MA 02138(617) [email protected]

Permanent Address95 Edgemont RoadScarsdale, NY 10583(914) 552-6211

Career AspirationsAcademic research and public policy advocacy

Originally from Bangladesh, Sabeel Rahman spent most of his childhood in Thai-land before moving to New York in 1996. Growing up outside of the U.S. helpedfuel Sabeel’s interest in the processes of political, social, and economic change inthe developing world. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year and winner ofa John Harvard Scholarship and the Detur Prize, Sabeel pursued his academicinterests through the honors interdisciplinary Social Studies concentration. Inaddition to research experience on economic development and trade policy at theFederal Reserve Bank of New York, Sabeel has focused his research on the politi-cal and economic impact of NGO-led development projects, conducting originalfield research in Bangladesh. His research has been made possible by an intern-ship with the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) and by grantsfrom the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the Committee onHuman Rights Studies, and the Asia Society at Harvard University. Sabeel has alsoworked as a Director for the Harvard Model United Nations and as Senior Editorfor the Harvard International Review, a quarterly journal of international affairscirculating in over 70 countries. Sabeel’s other interests include classical music (hewas a clarinetist with the Mozart Society Orchestra) and teaching (he continues towork as a tutor at the Harvard College Writing Center). After Oxford, Sabeelhopes to pursue “a career in research, policymaking, and advocacy on issues ofdevelopment and democratization.”



28

District VII

Sarah B. Schulman (Texas)Stanford University: B.A., Human Biology; M.A., Social Sciences in

Education, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: Comparative Social Policy


Stanford, CA 94309(512) 796-5380

[email protected]

Permanent Address1333 Bonham Terrace

Austin, TX 78704(512) 444-2805

Career AspirationsSurgeon General; Federal health policymaker,

director of public health NGO or think tank

A Texas native, Sarah Schulman entered Stanford at age 16, having already estab-lished herself as a youth advocate. She was the recipient of the American Cancer Society’s Rising Star Award, Hometown Hero Award, Youth Philanthropist of theYear, and Youth Advocate of the Year from the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids,Central Region. Her lifelong commitment to advocacy began as a 7-year-old activistfor a tobacco free environment, helping to lay the groundwork for Austin’s 2003Smoking Ordinance. As a research assistant to both the Assistant Surgeon General in2004 and the former Assistant Secretary of Health, Sarah immersed herself in theinvestigation and data analysis of major health issues such as Medicare, prescriptiondrug coverage, and HIV/AIDS. She was a health policy researcher for Moscow StateHospital #70. As a human biology undergraduate, she has been involved in a majoreating disorder study, co-authored a scientific abstract on the study, and has spokenon the subject at numerous youth summits throughout the U.S. At Stanford, she wasdirector of the Stanford Youth Venture Social Entrepreneurship Organization, advo-cacy director of the Stanford Colleges Against Cancer Board, and senator of the ASSUand continues to serve as an active volunteer for the American Cancer Society. Shewas the recipient of the Kristin Frohnmayer Award for Excellence in Human Biologyand the William T. Grant Foundation Discretionary Award. At Oxford she hopes tocompare U.S./U.K. intergovernmental collaborative mechanisms with respect to ado-lescent health. A professor has described Sarah as a “double espresso in the morning.”Sarah enjoys “cooking for friends, ballet and tap dance, and the creative arts.”



District III

Jason D. Shell (Maryland/DC)United States Naval Academy: B.S., History, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: International Relations

Present AddressP.O. Box 12906U.S. Naval AcademyAnnapolis, MD 21412(443) [email protected]

Permanent Address212 Midsummer CircleGaithersburg, MD 20878(301) 948-1966

Career AspirationsMilitary service, American national security policy, counterinsurgency and arms control policy

Jason Shell is an honors history major and Spanish minor whose thesis work onthe post-Franco transformation of the Basque separatist group ETA was sup-ported by a Naval Academy research grant. Jason has served as Brigade Conductand Aptitude Officer, in charge of the systems of punishment and performanceevaluation for the Naval Academy’s 4,300 Brigade of Midshipmen. The headcoach of the Navy junior varsity lacrosse team, Jason is also the head merit badgecounselor of the U.S. Naval Academy’s chapter of the National Eagle Scout Association. Jason is a graduate of the U.S. Army Airborne School, and has also been selected into the U.S. Navy’s Special Operations (explosive ordnancedisposal) team, which specialize in conventional explosives and weapons of massdestruction. A certified advanced Scuba diver and avid backcountry skier, Jaso has completed the Naval Academy’s “Mini-BUD/S” program in which midshipmentrain with Navy SEAL teams. Jason is a graduate of Richard Montgomery HighSchool International Baccalaureate program in Rockville, Maryland—“this is,” henotes, “the second year in which a graduate of RMHS has received a RhodesScholarship.”



30

District II

Eugene Shenderov (New York)Brooklyn College of CUNY: B.A., Chemistry, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: Immunology

Present Address851 East 23rd StreetBrooklyn, NY 11210


Career AspirationsOncology, tumor immunology research

Eugene Shenderov was born in Ukraine and immigrated to the United States in1990. He was home-schooled up until high school and believes the experience was invaluable in “instilling my sense of self-motivation.” He is a senior in theBrooklyn College Honor Academy’s B.A./M.D. program with a major in chem-istry and a triple minor in biochemistry, biology, and nutrition. He is interested incancer research and has worked at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center sincehis junior year of high school. His early research, during high school, culminatedin his designation as a semi-finalist in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Searchcompetition; he has also received the New York Academy of Sciences First PlaceAward for Scientific Achievement and the Office of Naval Research’s Naval Science Award. Currently, Eugene is collaborating with a group from the National Cancer Institute on his honors research on novel drugs to target anddestroy cancerous cells. This past summer, he worked in a tumor immunology labat the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine in Oxford, developing vaccina-tion strategies to optimize and improve the immune system’s ability to detect anderadicate cancerous tissue. He is “an enthusiastic chess player” and is president of the Brooklyn College chess club. Eugene is also a director of the campus’sEmergency Medical Squad (and a licensed emergency medical technician), athree-time varsity letter-winner on the NCAA men’s tennis team, and a volunteer science tutor at his former high school. In his “remaining time,” he enjoys “cross-country skiing, hiking, fishing, and running.”



District III

Meghan E. Sullivan (Virginia)University of Virginia: B.A., Philosophy and Politics, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: Philosophy

Permanent Address4600 Tower RoadGreensboro, NC 27410(336) [email protected]

Career AspirationsPhilosophy professor

A Jefferson Scholar and Echols Scholar, Meghan Sullivan is pursuing a doublehonors major in politics and philosophy. As one of four students in the university’s elite Politics Honors Program, she is preparing a political theory thesis on liberalism and personal identity. As a member of the DistinguishedMajors Program in Philosophy, Meghan wrote a metaphysics thesis on combina-torialism, developing a novel objection to a popular theory of possibility. She isthe university’s first two-time winner of the Harrison Undergraduate ResearchAward and also received the Robert Kent Gooch Scholarship and Edgar ShannonAward. In the summer of 2003, Meghan studied vigilantism and restorative justice in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Outside of class, she chairs the university’s162-year-old student-run Honor Committee which administers the honor systemto every school at the university. Meghan is also a member of the Washington Literary Society and Debating Union, where she has won numerous awards forhumorous debate. She served for two years in the residence staff program(becoming senior resident of the Echols Scholar dormitory), is a member of theRaven Society, and lives on Mr. Jefferson’s historic Lawn. In her spare time, shehelps with Catholic CCD, enjoys “all kinds of music” and avidly watches “TheWest Wing.” At Oxford, Meghan looks forward “to living and learning at one ofthe great philosophical centers of the world” and eventually plans to receive adoctorate in philosophy, with a focus in metaphysics.



32

District II

Lev Alexander Sviridov (New York)City College of CUNY: B.S., Chemistry, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: Inorganic Chemistry

Present Address850 West 176th Street, #4D

New York, NY 10033(347) 268-6515(212) 927-6164

[email protected]

Career AspirationsUniversity teaching and research,

national science policy

Lev Sviridov came to the United States in April of 1993 with his mother, Alexandra,a renowned Russian journalist and a human rights activist invited as a visitingresearcher. Following a coup in October of 1993, with the assistance of the LawyersCommittee for Human Rights, they filed for political asylum and then for EB1 greencard status. Between their decision to stay and legalization, Lev and Alexandramoved from various apartments of friends to spend the night and often found them-selves on the streets of New York City. The Bernstein family (a member of whichchaired Lawyers Committee for Human Rights) helped the Sviridovs to get an apart-ment and to enroll Lev in the Ethical Culture Fieldston School, where he developed apassion for chemistry. Having participated in Science Olympiads, Lev was deter-mined to become a specialist in chemistry. At the same time, his mother drew hisattention to community service in a number of areas, including work with the Survivors of the SHOAH Visual History Foundation, tutoring at a Bronx com-munity center, and service for the Glasnost Public Foundation as its representative tothe United Nations. In addition, Lev helped shape college and university policies as asenator, ombudsman, and student president at the City College of New York. He hasperformed research in the field of computational biophysics and is now working onthe identification of aerosols using atomic absorption spectroscopy and X-ray dif-fraction, an interest reinforced by personal breathing problems and the recentlynoted sharp increases in the rates of asthma. Lev received numerous academicawards from CCNY as well as the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship.



District VIII

Trevor C. Thompson (Washington)United States Naval Academy: B.S., History, 2005


Present AddressP.O. Box 14554Annapolis, MD 21412(443) [email protected]

Permanent Address18603 SE 280th StreetKent, WA 98042(253) 630-3193

Career AspirationsNavy SEAL

Trevor Cooper Thompson was born and raised in Kent, Washington, and is currently the top-ranked Midshipman at the United States Naval Academy. Trevortransferred from the University of Southern California to the Naval Academy,becoming the third generation family member to graduate from Annapolis. Trevorwrote his honors thesis on the radical Islamic organization Hizb al-Tahrir, examin-ing how the group’s definition of Jihad has evolved since its creation in 1953. Trevorhas also been named to the 2005 USA Today All-Academic First Team. At the Academy, Trevor served as the varsity baseball captain and, during the fall of hissenior year, was the 1st Regimental Commander, responsible for over 2000 midship-men. Additionally, he was assigned overall responsibility for the transition of 85 newfreshmen into members of the Brigade of Midshipmen during the summer of 2004.Trevor served as the moderator for roundtables in the Naval Academy ForeignAffairs Conference and in the Corbin Conference on officer development. He alsospearheaded the establishment of a pilot program that sends Midshipman toNicaragua for community building projects. Upon his completion of studies atOxford, Trevor will head to Coronado, California, to begin BUD/S, the Navy SEALbasic training school, in hopes of becoming a Navy SEAL officer. At Oxford, he looksforward to “revisiting my interest in music, discovering new sports, and pushingmyself to the extremes of world travel.” Trevor claims to have “the greatest family inthe world” and hopes to “get them all out to England at least a couple times while Iam at Oxford.”



34

District VII

Carolyn Wills (Utah)Wheaton College: B.A., Philosophy, 2005

Proposed Oxford Course: Psychology, Philosophy, and Physiology

Permanent Address1521 Preston Street

Salt Lake City, UT 84108(801) 891-8638(801) 583-6742

[email protected]

Career AspirationsDoctor, medical ethicist

Carolyn Wills grew up in Salt Lake City and graduated from East High School,where she captained the women’s soccer team to the state championship title andwas named a National Merit Scholar. For the last four years she has played midfieldfor the Lyons of Wheaton College of Massachusetts, who recently capped theirmost successful season ever with a Final Four appearance. Carolyn has served asher team’s Athletic Mentor for three years; she has also twice been named to theNEWMAC Academic All-Conference Team. In her senior season, she was namedto the CoSida District 1 Academic All-American Team and was also chosen as theCSTV Athlete of the Week. Carolyn entered Wheaton College as a Balfour Scholarand subsequently received the Presidential Scholarship. A philosophy major andpre-medical student, Carolyn spent a semester studying at the University of CapeTown. In South Africa she worked at the SHAWCO Mobile Clinic, assisted medical students and doctors in providing basic medical treatment in poverty-stricken townships and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity. Carolyn spentsummers conducting research on neuromuscular disorders at the University ofUtah, working with chemotherapy patients at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, andcompleting her certification as a phlebotomist. Her honors thesis addresses themedical ethics of euthanasia. At Oxford, Carolyn hopes to “combine my aspirationof becoming a doctor with my love of philosophy.” She aspires to practice clinically as a neurologist and advise health care policymakers on medical ethics issues.

The American Rhodes Scholar

Documents

Transcript of The American Rhodes Scholar