Scholar Names S-Z

Clara Shih

US University: Stanford University

A native of Hong Kong, Clara C. Shih will graduate with undergraduate and Master's degrees in computer science and economics with honors from Stanford University in June 2005. Elected to Tau Beta Pi, Clara served three terms as Chair of the Stanford IEEE and officer in the Stanford Society of Women Engineers, during which time she created ECJ, Stanford's first technical research journal. In 2002, Clara founded Camp Amelia Technology Literacy Group, Inc., a California-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that bolsters developing-world education initiatives with creative open-source software solutions (see www.campamelia.org). Clara also enjoys tennis, running, cooking, world travel, and Russian literature.

Michael Schwam-Baird

US University: Cornell University

Raised in New Orleans and Jacksonville, Florida, Mikush Schwam-Baird received his B.A. in Literature, Theory, and Writing from Cornell University in 2002. Following his graduation, Mikush worked with the Service Employees International Union, organizing workers in Maryland, Los Angeles, and New Jersey. In 2004, he moved to Ocotal, Nicaragua where he ran a language exchange program and taught English in a local elementary school. Mikush also researched fair trade farming cooperatives and worked with a local cooperative in Ocotal. He currently works with a corporate research firm in Washington, DC. Mikush is interested in alternative economics and social justice, and plans to study Economic and Social History at Oxford University.

Joseph Shapiro

US University: Stanford University

Joe Shapiro is currently Junior Professional Associate at the World Bank, where he works with government staff in Mexico and Paraguay to evaluate large public education and health programs. Joe graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University with distinction in economics and interdisciplinary honors in the Ethics in Society Program. His honors thesis on the ethics of legalizing kidney sales was based on interviews with kidney sellers in South Indian slums. At Stanford, he served as Teaching Assistant in the Department of Philosophy and Editor-in-Chief of the Stanford Journal of International Relations. Joe grew up in Oregon and enjoys trekking.

Aliza Watters

US University: Middlebury College

Aliza graduated summa cum laude from Middlebury College in January 2005. Fascinated by all kinds of storytelling and all things interdisciplinary, Aliza was an English major, with a concentration in non-fiction creative writing and the chair of Middlebury's Academic Judicial Board. Before college, her education was a Quaker one--first at the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia, and later at Friends Academy in Locust Valley, New York. Aliza attended the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in the summer of 2002 and spent January to May of 2003 in the Czech Republic, where she studied Central and Eastern European literature and, with the help of a James W. Meyer Grant, wrote about the role of the Quakers in the Holocaust. As a Marshall Scholar, Aliza will pursue two Masters of Studies in English at Oxford--the first in 20th century Literature and the second in European.

Ashley White

US University: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

A Newport News, Virginia native, Ashley White will graduate from Virginia Tech in May 2005 with a BS in Materials Science & Engineering and a BA in Music. Over the past five years, she has researched at Virginia Tech, MIT, Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, Cornell, and Jefferson Labs. Ashley also spent a summer in Paraguay and Mexico working with youth orchestras and a semester abroad in Italy. Her musical activities include serving as student concertmaster for the New River Valley Symphony and teaching. She was a 2003 Goldwater Scholar and a member of USA Today's 2005 College Academic Team. Ashley looks forward to studying at the University of Cambridge where she will pursue a PhD in Materials Science & Metallurgy.

Thomas Wolf

US University: Harvard University

A lifelong resident of Brielle, New Jersey, Tom will graduate from Harvard University in June 2005 with an AB in History. His thesis, entitled "Gatekeepers of the Abyss," explores the tensions between sociopolitical progress and cultural conservatism in the writings of Lionel Trilling, Herbert Marcuse, and David Riesman. Elected to Harvard's Phi Beta Kappa Junior 24, Tom is also a Gilder Lehrman History Scholar and a John Harvard Scholar. In addition to working at the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter, Tom is a high jumper for the Harvard Men's Track and Field Team. Tom plans to study for the MPhil in Political Thought and Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge.