Easton ’09, Rutherford ’12 win Marshall scholarship

In addition to Christina Chang ’12, Samuel Dorison ’11 and Kyle Edwards ’12, whose names The Daily Princetonian reported on Wednesday, Alice Easton ’09 and Emily Rutherford ’12 have also been named recipients of 2012 Marshall Scholarships.

Chang, a chemistry concentrator from Austin, Texas, who did not respond to requests for comment in time for Wednesday’s article, said she plans to use the scholarship to attain a master’s degree in sustainable energy futures at Imperial College London.

She will then use her second year in England to pursue a master’s degree in inorganic chemistry at the University of Cambridge, she explained. Her current primary research interests include the synthesis of molecules that can generate fuel from sunlight, and she added that she hopes to help develop long-term solutions to the energy crisis.

“The Marshall Scholarship is perfect because it lets me design my own academic program,” Chang explained. “When I was writing the application, I felt as if the world was my oyster.”

Chang’s interest in solar energy stemmed from her fascination with problem solving in her organic chemistry classes and past research in solar cells, she said.

“When researching solar cells in Edinburgh, Scotland, last summer, I came to realize that science is global and to solve some of its biggest challenges will take international collaboration,” Chang explained. “I realize that it’s not always my passion for chemistry that drives me — I want to do something for society with my life.”

Chang’s friend, Anna Kornfeld Simpson ’14 — who was also Chang’s prefrosh during Princeton Preview — noted that “Christina continually inspires me with her passion for improving the campus and the world.”

“[She] amazes me with her ability to create the change she imagines,” Kornfeld Simpson said. “Whether it’s organizing a Harry Potter party, a chemistry club meeting, a Women in Science discussion or a surprise birthday celebration, Christina brings people together.”

Easton, a graduate in ecology and evolutionary biology from Chicago, said she hopes to attain a doctorate in infectious disease epidemiology from Imperial College London. In her research, she will use mathematical models to better understand effective approaches to controlling diseases.

She is currently coordinating the Indian branch of the Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership with the Public Health Foundation of India, Easton explained, and focuses on the problem of antibiotic resistance in her current work.

“In the long term, I want to conduct research that will have an impact on the implementation of programs that control infectious diseases,” she said.

Easton conducted her senior thesis research in India, examining the impact of HIV control and its effects on public policy. She explained that she wants to continue this type of research because she likes to see the practical applications of work that might begin as theoretical studies.

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“My experiences in India have convinced me that the field of public health needs more people who can use science to rigorously evaluate a problem and effectively communicate their results to policymakers,” Easton wrote in her Marshall application.

“Alice was an exceptional undergraduate, a wonderful blend of those special qualities of a scientific brilliance and commitment to service that characterize the best of Princeton’s graduates,” ecology and evolutionary biology professor Simon Levin said. “It is clear that she has an outstanding career awaiting her in addressing a wide range of public health issues.”

Rutherford, a San Diego native and history concentrator, plans to use her scholarship to attain a master’s degree in modern British and European history from the University of Oxford. There, she will continue to study identity from a historical perspective before returning to the United States to complete a doctorate in 19th-century British and American intellectual history.

“I like looking through archives, trying to understand how people have tried to find their identities over the course of time,” she said.

Her current research focuses on the work of John Symonds, a 19th-century poet and literary critic whose pieces focus on the discovery of sexual identity.

“It’s fascinating how you can pick up a book from 400 B.C. or a book from 1580 and still see the same thing,” she explained. “You say, ‘Wow, I’m not the only person who feels this way.’ Finding yourself in a 2000-year-old piece of literature is something that’s very interesting.”

English professor and Rockefeller College master Jeff Nunokawa said it was an “honor” and “pleasure” to work with Rutherford on several civic and academic projects in the last few years.

“She is one of the most intellectually acute, ethically sensitive and socially committed young spirits I have ever known,” he said.

Dorison, a Wilson School graduate from Longmeadow, Mass., plans to complete two one-year master’s degree programs in human rights and international security. He said he hopes to spend his first year at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Dorison currently works as a research assistant at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

Dorison is also a former sports columnist for The Daily Princetonian.

Nunokawa praised Dorison’s passion and diligence in his studies.

“Sam is entirely committed to enlisting his extraordinary talents to the great work of making the world we share a juster and gentler place,” he said. “Whenever I start to despair about the future of everything humane, I think about people like Sam, and then I don’t feel so bad.”

Edwards, a concentrator in the Wilson School from Altadena, Calif., said she plans to pursue a doctorate in public health at the University of Oxford. She is interested in the ethics of assisted reproduction technology, such as in vitro fertilization and said she hopes to use her education in the United Kingdom to return to America and attend law school.

Wilson School professor Stanley Katz called Edwards “an unusually committed student.”

“She has a wonderfully no-nonsense approach to academic and political questions and wastes no time in figuring out what the moving parts of any problem are,” he said. “The Marshall people have got it right.”

The recipients were given the news about their awards very shortly after the interviews for the program were conducted. Chang, who accepted the offer immediately, said she was “honored and absolutely thrilled.”

The Marshall Scholarship funds graduate study at a U.K. institution in any field of study for up to 40 “talented, independent and wide-ranging” American students, according to its website. The scholarship was founded in 1953 as a way for Britain to express its gratitude for the United States’ assistance after World War II through the Marshall Plan and is intended to honor former U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall.