Seth Johnston
US University: United States Military Academy
Seth is a senior at the United States Military Academy at West Point, with a
double major in Comparative Politics and Western European Studies. A Truman
Scholar and a Fellow of the Center for the Study of the Presidency, he is
also serving a second term as President of West Point's Model United Nations
organization and is Vice President of the French Society. As the Protocol
Officer for the Corps of Cadets, he is responsible for all official visitors
to West Point. Upon graduation, Seth will be commissioned as a military
intelligence officer in the US Army. Having attended the 2002 NATO Summit
in Prague, Seth plans to read for an MPhil in European Politics and Society
at Oxford University, focusing on the transatlantic defense relationship.
Cynthia Kinnan
US University: University of Pittsburgh
Cynthia hails from Golden, Colorado. A
University Chancellor's Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh, she is pursuing
a Mathematics-Economics major with a focus on the Chinese economy and language.
Her research topics have included China's WTO accession negotiations, the Three
Gorges Dam project, and the empirics of economic growth. In her time at Pitt, she
has debated on the intercollegiate and public debate teams; been active in the
university's chapter of Amnesty International; worked as a calculus, statistics,
and economics tutor; and taught English in Shanghai, China. In her free time she
enjoys vegetarian cooking and origami. She plans to study global market economics at
the London School of Economics and Political Science, and hopes one day to teach
economics at the university level.
Jessica Kirkpatrick
US University: Occidental College
Jessica Kirkpatrick, from Albany, California
is on a quest for dark matter. A Goldwater Scholar, she has been researching
with the Directional Recoil Identification from Tracks (DRIFT) group since her
freshman year at Occidental College. She plans to continue her work on DRIFT by
pursuing an MPhil in Physics at the University of Sheffield. In addition to her
love of physics research, Jessica also has a passion for teaching and learning.
She organized a physics version of the Academic Mastery Program, a workshop which
helps introductory physics students, and served as program facilitator for three
semesters. She also co-founded the Learning Difference Association, a group for
students with physical and learning disabilities. She is currently a lab instructor
and researcher at Occidental College. Jessica's other interests include scuba diving,
dance, singing and photography.
Christopher Laumann
US University: Harvard University
By day a Harvard physics major, Chris Laumann masquerades as a
mathematician, computer scientist and even electrical engineer. For the
last several years, he has worked in a physics lab, building electronics
to search the stars for extraterrestrial intelligence. He also consults
for a psychology lab at the University of Chicago, where his work on
automating the psychological analysis of narratives is being developed.
Eventually, he hopes to do research on physical forms of computation, and
as such, he plans to flesh out his knowledge of Informatics at the
University of Edinburgh. Of late, Chris has developed a knack for getting
himself into big projects: he dedicated the majority of 2002 to
co-producing An Evening with Champions - an international figure skating
charity benefit - and is currently organising the Eliot House Crew teams
and tech directing a South Asian cultural show.
Eugenia Levenson
US University: Harvard University
Eugenia Levenson was born in Moscow, Russia
and currently calls Oak Park, Illinois, her hometown. She is majoring in American
History and Literature and writing an honors thesis on the autobiography of
anti-lynching activist Ida B Wells. A junior year inductee into Phi Beta Kappa,
Eugenia is a Senior News Editor of The Harvard Crimson and has also written
for Chicago Parent magazine, Chicago magazine, and Harvard Magazine. She
also enjoys playing field hockey on Harvard's junior varsity team. Eugenia
will pursue an MPhil in Social Anthropological Analysis at Cambridge
University.
Brian Lutz
US University: Arizona State University
Originally from the swamps and sugarcane of south
Florida, Brian is no stranger to tensions between environment and development.
This interest, coupled with a marked penchant for globetrotting, has led him to
Panamá, where he studied poison-dart frogs, and to Kenya, where he investigated
human-wildlife conflict. Since graduating with degrees in biology, Spanish, and
finance from Arizona State University, Brian has been working at EPA's Wetlands
Division in Washington, DC. He will pursue the MSc in Environmental Change &
Management at Oxford followed by the MSc in Epidemiology at the London School of
Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in preparation for a career in international
environmental health and policy.
Aaron MacLean
US University: Saint John's College, Annapolis
A senior at St John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, Aaron will graduate
from the Great Books program with a dual major in the History of Math and
Science and Philosophy. He has served as chairman of the SJC Student
Committee on Instruction and keeps active by studying aikido and by playing
basketball and badminton. Aaron works for the public school system in
Virginia and has been an instructional assistant in classes for Special
Education and emotionally disabled children. He studied Arabic at the
American University in Cairo and at Middlebury College. Aaron was a
National Security Education Program Scholar and received an honorable
mention in the Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics Essay Contest.
Aaron will pursue an MPhil in Medieval Arabic Thought at Oxford University and go on to a career
in government.
Bryan McLaughlin
US University: Oklahoma State University
Passionate about designing optical electronic devices and teaching others,
Bryan McLaughlin of Oklahoma City looks forward to a career applied electrical
engineering. As a Barry M Goldwater scholar, he has spent time in Japan with
Rotary International and researched for two summers at IBM Almaden Research
Center in San Jose, California and for the Sandia Corporation in Albuquerque,
New Mexico. His contributions to IBM included a Virtual Laboratory Control
System and to Sandia, a wireless data recorder for the Telemetry and
Instrumentation Department. At OSU, McLaughlin founded Engineering Kids
(EKIDS - http://ekids.okstate.edu), a program that takes the message of science
and engineering to fifth grade students using hands-on projects. When away
from the classroom, he spends his time tutoring in the engineering college and
ascending walls as a rock climber. With the Marshall scholarship, McLaughlin
will attend the University of Cambridge where he will pursue a MPhil in Photonics
and high-speed circuit design.
Bre Millard
US University: United States Military Academy
A cadet at West Point,
Bre Millard will receive a BS in Chemistry and Life Sciences. She plans to read
for an MLitt in International Security Studies at St Andrews, followed by an
MA in War Studies at Kings College, London, in preparation for a career in
national security policy, with a particular interest in bioterrorism. Raised
in Northfield and Mt Hermon, Massachusetts, Bre took up boxing at West Point.
A Truman Scholar, she has received the Superintendent's Award for Academic,
Military, and Physical Excellence, and has served as Regimental Commander
for Cadet Field Training, overseeing a 1000-strong training regiment.
Vikram Mittal
US University: California Institute of Technology
Vikram Mittal, from Amarillo, TX, will receive a BS in Mechanical
Engineering this June from Caltech. Caltech instilled in Vikram an interest
in engines, which he will explore at Oxford University, where he will
research helicopter engines. Culturally, he has managed to encompass both
his Indian and Texan heritages. This combination has created a sense of
honour which he mirrors in everything that he does. Vikram was vice
president of student council at Caltech, chairman of Caltech's Honor Code
Committee, and an Eagle Scout. He is an avid athlete that enjoys playing a
multitude of sports. He even played for Pembroke's rugby team when he
studied abroad at Cambridge.
