Samuel Charap '02 is a recent recipient of a Marshall scholarship for two years of study in the United Kingdom. This year he is studying in Russia at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations as a Fulbright scholar.

Charap will use his scholarship to earn a Masters of Philosophy degree in Russian and East European studies at Oxford University.

"It was a great honor. I was shocked," said Charap.

At the College, Charap was a Russian and political science double major.

Charap spent the summer after his junior year in Russia reporting for the English language St. Petersburg Times and volunteering at an organization working towards an independent Russian media. He said he witnessed the supposedly democratic government's repeated attacks on freedom of the press.

Charap got into journalism by working for The Indicator. "It was the ideal vehicle for me to harness my talents while remaining faithful to my idea of reformist politics," said Charap. "I believe that by erasing misconceptions, increasing understanding, and presenting a balanced view, journalism does have the power to effect change."

The contrast between current Russian political culture and the Cold War culture led Charap to write his senior honors thesis on Russia's civil society. He explained how civil society was able to grow powerful enough during totalitarian Soviet rule to eventually play a major role in toppling communism and then disintegrate under democracy.

"Sam's revealing answer involved the way Soviet conditions encouraged the kind of all-out oppositional, no-compromise political thinking that sustained associational activity in the face of Soviet restrictions but distorted it under freer post-Soviet conditions," said Charap's advisor, Professor of Political Science William Taubman.

"His thesis was a challenge," said Taubman. In order to do it, he had to range over all of Soviet history ... it's a pretty vast canvas. To cover that in itself was an achievement, and then he made sense of that."

As a Fulbright scholar, Charap has shifted his research outward to Russia's relations with the West. "Putin's foreign policy has largely been unexplained in the West," said Charap. "But foreign policies don't just emerge out of thin air. Russia had very ambivalent relations with the West in the 90s."

In his Marshall proposal, Charap wrote that "The significantly improved U.S.-Russian bilateral relationship appears on the surface to be a result of the tragic events of Sept. 11 and the subsequent emergence of a global anti-terror coalition. But Sept. 11 was not a watershed event in Russia; rather, it exposed changes in Russian foreign policy that had been underway for years."

Charap is conducting his research by interviewing journalists, academics and government policy makers.

"Despite the connection I feel towards Russia, I am often outraged and shocked by the state of politics there," said Charap. "Widespread apathy has set in, democratic transparency exists almost exclusively in theory, civil society is in disarray and governance seems to be edging towards totalitarianism."

At Oxford, Charap will continue his studies in this area. "The program itself is very appealing to me," said Charap. "There are a couple of professors there who study exactly what I'm interested in. [I want] to gain a deeper understanding of Eurasian politics, history, culture and literature," he added regarding his goals at Oxford.

Snyder '03 honored for environmental studies

Carolyn Snyder '03 received a Marshall Scholarship for two years of study in the United Kingdom. She will spend a year at Oxford University working towards a Masters degree in Science in Environmental Change and Management followed by a year at the University of Cambridge earning a Masters of Philosophy degree in Environment and Development.

Snyder, a biology and geology major, wrote in her Marshall proposal that, "[she] aims to contribute to the quest for human sustainability in the face of our current environmental crisis." She wrote that her many wilderness experiences led her to "find a way to unite my three principal passions: a curiosity for how the world works; a love of nature and a desire to become a responsible 'land citizen;' and an aspiration to give my life purpose by making a positive impact on the world."

"Carolyn is a wonderful person and has the makings of a great researcher and teacher," said Snyder's advisor, Associate Professor of Biology Ethan Temeles. "Given her tremendous success in biology, geology and physics, I suspect that Carolyn will be a leader in the field of global ecosystem studies a decade from now."

Snyder wrote that she will use her time at Oxford and Cambridge to "broaden my understanding of the social, political, and economic aspects of environmental issues." During her second year, at Cambridge, she will focus on the particular challenges of sustainability in developing countries. "To be most effective as a scientist approaching environmental issues, I must first understand the context and implications of the questions I hope to answer," she wrote. "We cannot afford to allow the gaps between scientists, the public and policy makers to continue. As a species, we must choose between continuing to alter our planet to our own detriment or uniting to confront the challenge of attaining a sustainable way of life."

Snyder's scientific experience stretches across many disciplines. In high school she conducted independent research in microbiology at the National Cancer Institute. At the College, she has received academic prizes in chemistry, physics and biology.

Snyder was named a Goldwater scholar her sophomore year and elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior.

During her summers she has studied geology at the University of Pennsylvania, researched alpine biogeochemistry and community ecology at the University of Colorado-Boulder and worked with National Academy of Sciences member Peter Vitousek at Stanford University while researching invasive species.