In “Blueprint for the Future”, we hear from six Denison alumni who are counted among the leading experts in their fields. It’s a safe bet that recent alumni and current students will have equal impact on the world. It’s a bit more difficult, though, to determine who the future leaders will be, and how they will reach great heights. But if we were to guess, perhaps we would start with those who obtained prestigous national scholarships, such as Fulbright, Goldwater and Truman awards.
Since the early ’90s, Denison’s Honors Program has been supporting students through the rigorous application process, which Kent Maynard, director of the honors program, feels is a learning experience in itself. “Denison students have been and will continue to be very good, and very capable [of winning many of these scholarships]. It’s just a question of being able to show off their talents. And that requires the ability to write proposals and perform ininterviews, or to show and speak about an intellectual trajectory.” Here are just a few who succeeded at that task.
CLAUDIA FOSTER SAHM ‘98
Major: Economics/Political Science/ German
Scholarship: Fulbright. Sahm spent two years at the Technical University of Dresden in Germany researching economic transition in post-socialist countries. Sahm said being in the former East Germany was incredibly helpful to her research given the area’s own transition less than a decade earlier.
Future Plans: After working on social security reform as a research assistant at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C., Sahm started a Ph.D. program in economics at the University of Michigan in 2001. She hopes to finish her dissertation by early 2006 and move into academia, focusing on macro- and labor economics. In the meantime, she splits her time between Ann Arbor and Granville where her husband, Patrick Sahm ‘98, works as Denison’s manager of investments.
ASHLEY GALANT ‘06
Major: Biochemistry
Scholarship: Goldwater. Galant applied for the math, science, and engineering focused Goldwater during her sophomore year and as a junior she is helping biochemistry professor Peter Kuhlman continue his research on the accelerated evolution of genes in the pelargonium genus.
Future Plans: Galant’s most immediate goal is to “enjoy the last two years of college” but she is eyeing the possibility of a Fulbright Fellowship once she graduates from Denison. Ultimately, she said she would like to get a Ph.D. in biochemistry and study genetics.
KEVIN LEE ‘99
Major: Women’s Studies/Religion
Scholarship: Truman. Denison’s first Truman Scholar – reserved for public service, non-profit, or related pursuits – Lee received a master’s in public administration from New York University. He then moved to Washington, D.C. where he became a Capital City Fellow, and worked for the city’s deputy mayor for public safety.
Future Plans: Lee is now the manager of Neighborhood Corps, a Homeland Security-funded pilot program of Citizen Corps Washington, D.C., that may one day serve as a model for other U.S. cities. He works with community volunteers in the city’s eight wards to organize emergency response teams, conduct disaster simulations and to train citizens in areas such as public safety, self defense and emergency equipment management. A selflabeled “take-it-as-it-comes kind of guy,” Lee chooses not to limit his future options, other than to stay in public service.
ANNA BECK ‘04
Major: Chemistry
Scholarship: Fulbright. Beck’s focus at the Vienna Institute of Technology in Austria is aerosol source analysis and secondary organic aerosol formation. She is looking specifically at the production of hulis in the atmosphere and its effects.
Future Plans: Beck will complete her fellowship in June and is currently in the process of researching graduate programs. Though her focus thus far has been in atmospheric chemistry, Beck is not limiting her search. After graduate school, she said she would like to provide environmental research to policymakers. “There’s a gap between science and policy,” Beck said. “And that gap needs to be bridged.”