Scholar Names S

William Sauerland
US University: Miami University of Ohio
William Sauerland, countertenor, is from a small dairy farm in New Paris, Ohio and a graduate of Miami University with a Bachelor's degree in Vocal Performance and Music Education. In 2005-2007, Mr. Sauerland sang with the Grammy-award winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer. He has performed in many of the world's finest concert halls including Vienna's Musikverein, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Moscow's Tchaikovsky Hall and Disney Hall in Los Angeles. Mr. Sauerland's research extends to the authenticity of countertenors in Baroque opera, as well as to the technique and pedagogy of modern falsettists. He is the son of Rick and Margaret Sauerland.

Betsy Scherzer
US University: Yale University
After 22 years waiting in vain for a third British Invasion, Betsy Scherzer has decided to conquer Britain herself. This Yale environmental engineer will infiltrate Oxford this fall to learn from U.K. climate change and energy experts. Her mission: global and corporate sustainability. Betsy hopes to build upon her Yale environmental leadership with the Biofuel Project; Algal Photobioreactor Project; Engineers Without Borders; Climate Campaign; Paper Project; and trashion show, Poubelle. She has also interned at the Environmental Law Institute, URS, and Yale Center for Industrial Ecology; written/illustrated for numerous campus publications; and volunteered as a community educator. Betsy is a Udall and U.S. Presidential Scholar; member of Tau Beta Pi and Phi Beta Kappa. More impressively, this Tampa, FL native always recycles.

Emma Schmidgall
US University: California Institute of Technology

Emma Schmidgall, a native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, is currently completing bachelor's degrees in physics and history at the California Institute of Technology, where she is an Axline Scholar. Emma has had research internships at Caltech, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, CERN, MIT, and the University of Minnesota. When not doing physics, Emma is the President of Caltech Hillel, an active member of the fencing team, and a classical violinist. She plans to pursue an MPhil in Physics at the University of Cambridge and an MSc in Science and Technology Studies at the University of Edinburgh.

Rachel Shalev
US University: Williams College

Rachel Shalev, of Old Saybrook, Connecticut, was raised in Chappaqua, New York and graduated from Vernon Hills High School in Illinois. She majors in history at Williams College, where she serves as the co-president of the College Democrats, an ABC House tutor, a member of Peer Health, and an editor of the Williams Progressive, a student-run newsletter supported by the Center for American Progress. She is a member of the Williams chapter of Phi Beta Kappa and a Beinecke scholar. Rachel will study modern historiography at the University of St. Andrews.

Alexander "P G" Sittenfeld
US University: Princeton University

Alexander P.G. Sittenfeld, a proud native of Cincinnati, Ohio, is a senior English major at Princeton University. He has written for The New York Times, Trenton Times, and Cincinnati Enquirer, and served as an arts reporter for an English language newspaper in Thailand. P.G. is president of the Princeton University Press Club, the nation's oldest organization of professional undergraduate journalists, and has also served as president of his class and a member of the University Honor Committee. He is a recipient of Princeton's Francis Biddle Prize and Edwin F. Ferris Media Grant for his literary criticism and nonfiction writing. His senior thesis, a work of creative nonfiction titled "The Distance to Princeton," profiles international students at Princeton. In his spare time, P.G. enjoys running, playing Scrabble, and being a news junkie. At Oxford, he will pursue an MSt in English and American Literature.

Karim Smither
US University: Georgetown University

A native of central Florida, Karim graduated in 2006 from Georgetown University with majors in Government as well as Arabic Language, Literature, and Linguistics. He was elected Phi Beta Kappa as a junior and served as president of the Arab Student Association at Georgetown. He has worked in Lebanon with the Ministry of Education on programs aimed to teach the Rule of Law in schools through educational reform. He was also an active participant in Lebanon's Cedar Revolution. With his interest in international politics, Karim looks forward to studying for a degree in Global Governance and Diplomacy.

Paul Sonne
US University: Columbia University

Paul Sonne, a native of Loudonville, New York, will graduate from Columbia University with a degree in Russian language and literature. At Columbia, he founded The Birch, the first undergraduate journal of Eastern European and Eurasian culture in America. The editor-in-chief of the Columbia Political Review, Paul has worked as an intern at the United Nations, New York magazine and the Moscow Bureau of the New York Times. In 2006, he received an Eesti-Eurasia Fellowship, which allowed him to spend the summer in Tbilisi, Georgia as a fellow in the Presidential Administration of Mikheil Saakashvili. He won first place in the 2003 National Post-Secondary Russian Essay Contest and second place in the 2004 competition. At Oxford, Paul plans to pursue a degree in Russian and Eastern European studies.

Taylor St.John
US University: Albertson College of Idaho

A native of Boise, Idaho, Taylor will graduate from Albertson College of Idaho a few days after her twentieth birthday with a degree in International Political Economy. A Presidential Heritage Scholar and Murchison Scholar, Taylor has researched and presented on microfinance in America, India, and Europe. She has also studied transition economics at the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore and Oxford University. A past analyst at Morgan Stanley and ESL teacher for refugees, her honors thesis examines technology in microfinance and methods of measuring social returns on commercial investments in microfinance. She will return to Oxford to pursue an MPhil in Development Studies. An accomplished pianist, triathlete, and travel writer, Taylor looks forward to continuing all three in the U.K.

Matthew Stone
US University: University of Arizona

Matthew Stone will graduate Phi Beta Kappa this spring from the University of Arizona with a BA in international studies and economics. He has lived and studied in Moscow, Irkutsk and Vladivostok, Russia. A Flinn Scholar, Stone interned at Nuclear Threat Initiative in Washington, D.C., participates in Arizona Model United Nations and Mortar Board Senior Honorary, and writes opinions columns for the Arizona Daily Wildcat. Interested in international energy security, Stone will pursue a one-year MSc in energy studies at the University of Dundee followed by a one-year MA in intelligence & international security at King's College London.