21 Questions With...the Marshall Scholars

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...YOUR 2012 MARSHALL SCHOLARS: 'THEY'RE JUST LIKE US!' EDITION. THEY LAUGH, CRY, AND EAT CAKE. BELOW, READ MORE ABOUT THE FIVE PRINCETONIANS WHO WILL BE STUDYING AT VARIOUS BRITISH UNIVERSITIES NEXT YEAR.Name: Christina Chang/Alice Easton/Kyle Edwards/Sam Dorison/Emily RutherfordAge: 21/24/21/23/21Major: Chemistry/EEB/Woodrow Wilson/Woodrow Wilson/HistoryHometown: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Pasadena, CA/Longmeadow, MA/San Diego, CAUpperclass Eating Club/Res College/Affiliation: Butler/Independent/Terrace/Tower/2D-Coop and Rocky RCAWho's your favorite Princetonian, living or dead, real or fictional?SD: Sam Seaborn.KE: Tough call between Bruce Wayne and Chad Edwards '79.ER: My mom, primarily because she is awesome, but secondarily because together she and I manage to defy every 'legacy' stereotype.What's the best meal you've had at Princeton?CC: Penne integrale at Teresa Caffe followed by mascarpone-flavored ice cream at Bent Spoon.AE: I often had cravings for Frist sushi when I was in Delhi. Sushi in a box is such a good idea.KE: Post-finals chicken souvlaki at Hoagie Haven, which is awkwardly about a fifth the size of anything else they serve.In one sentence, what is it you actually do all day? SD: Eat breakfast, go to work, eat second breakfast, do some work, eat lunch, work, eat second lunch, work, go to the gym, eat dinner, watch TV with my roommate, eat second dinner, all while being addicted to gmail. It's amazing how much you can fit in one sentence when it's a run-on.AE: Listen to a book on tape on the Green Line, help healthcare companies think about how to improve their performance, eat dinner with my parents and Skype people in other cities.KE: I'm either a) in class, b) studying, c) procrastinating on a and b at Terrace meals, or d) singing with the Tigressions.What is your greatest guilty pleasure? CC: I'm addicted to eating muffins. If I ever see a muffin type I've not yet tasted, it's my rule that I have to try it.SD: Obscure competitive TV shows (Top Shot on the History Channel)ER: Buying samosas from the U-Store at midnight.What kind of research are you pursuing with the Marshall?SD: The intersection of international security and human rights: How can countries work together to uphold human rights while protecting their citizens in the 21s century?AE: The optimal design of intestinal worm treatment and control programs in India.ER: I'm doing an MPhil in Modern British and European History at Oxford. I'll be extending my current research on the intellectual history of male homosexual identity in late 19th and early 20th century Britain and America.What is your biggest fear?CC: Falling out love when it really matters.SD: Being boring.ER: Not finishing my thesis.What's your drink?CC: To me, there's nothing like freshly-squeezed orange juice with lots of pulp.AE: Something fruity and preferably endemic to my current location. In Delhi that meant a fresh lime soda, and I'm hoping in London it'll be a Pimm's Cup.KE: Coffee, especially Small World's Organic Love. At least 4 cups a day.What makes you laugh?CC: The Quipfire! improv troupe, the TV show Friends, and my boyfriend's sense of humor.KE: Peter Zakin + Aarian Marshall.ER: My friends' non sequiturs and dorky jokes.What makes you cry?SD: The Red Sox in September.AE: When friendly animals die in movies.KE: Ginger haters.When's bedtime?CC: 10 pm. I know that sounds early for a college student...but so does my 6 am rise time!KE: Somewhere between 2 and 3 am generally.ER: Around 1 am.What's been playing on repeat recently?CC: Final Fantasy soundtracks, and Spanish-langugage songs, especially Julieta Venegas.KE: Stevie Nicks' backstage recording of Wild Heart. (Thanks, Patrick Carroll!)ER: Handel's Messiah. For a half-Jewish atheist, I really, really like Christmas.Where do you do you best thinking?SD: In my bed.AE: On trains and buses.KE: It used to the be basement of Fine until The Flood. This year my carrel has been a productive place, but anywhere within three minutes of coffee is acceptable.What hangs over your bed?SD: A South African flag from my summer in Cape Town.AE: Every time I start thinking about decorating, it's time to move.KE: A couple of Klimts and a dreamcatcher. There is also a mouse/other small animal that lives in the wall next to my head and regularly wakes me up when my alarm fails.How did you celebrate your last birthday?CC: To celebrate my 21st, I invited 21 friends to a dinner party. We grilled outdoors, made strawberry shortcake for dessert, and watched Catch Me If You Can.SD: Turkey and cake with my extended family. My birthday was on Thanksgiving.KE: I turned 21 on the first day of midterms this year, so we waited to celebrate until Princetoween at Thai Village - quintessentially Princeton.Quick! Top three things on your Princeton bucket list - go!CC: Camp out with friends overnight on Poe Field, eat a meal at each Eating Club, and build a snowman - no, a snow squirrel!SD: Since I'm an alum: 2012 reunions, 2013 reunions, 2014 reunions.KE: Prospect 10 (or 11 now?), convince my friends to actually show up to an arch sing, find the way to the top of Holder.Which words or phrases do you most overuse?CC: "That is the case."KE: "Are you serious?" "That is wild!" "Word"ER: My friends have been mocking me recently for responding to the inquiry of "How are you?" with Carrying on."Who is your mortal enemy?CC: Lord VoldemortAE: Whoever most recently disturbed my sleep.KE: The Glass Ceiling.What's the most dangerous thing you've done in the past year?AE: Taken a bus from Delhi to Leh. The scenery was beautiful, but we could see trucks that had fallen off the roads that snaked up and down the mountains, and the bus was full of crazy people.KE: Jaywalking to Terrace.ER: Deliberately overstaying my UK visa and then gambling on UK Border Control's generosity to let me back into the country from France. It worked!In 25 years, you will be...CC: Hopefully, I'll be conducting solar energy research at a university or National Laboratory and doing public engagement activities in order to inspire the next generation of scientists! Outside of lab, I'll still play piano, run, travel around the globe, and maybe have a family.AE: In a better position to answer this question.KE: Probably still in debt.What's the most interesting thing you've learned at Princeton?CC: It's a tie. 1) In Algorithms class, we learned probabilistic reasoning behind the Birthday Paradox. In a room of only 23 people, there's a 50% chance that two or more of them have the same birthday. (2) In Organic Chemistry, we learned the reason why bleaches remove stains. They don't necessarily remove the colored molecules from your clothes! Instead, they just chemically alter the colored molecules, so that instead of absorbing visible light, they absorb ultraviolet light - which our eyes can't see!SD: That a class called 'Theory of Games' will be much harder than you'd expect from the title.KE: Professor Lee Silver told our class that after mentioning the genetic similarities between monkeys and humans, a student came to office hours and asked him to serve as her thesis advisor, for which she wanted to carry/give birth to a monkey-human hybrid.What makes someone a Princetonian?AE: Many of us have an almost fanatic sense of loyalty to each other.SD: An excessive supply of orange and black clothing.KE: Unabashed enthusiasm for something/anything - from electrical engineering to education policy to start ups to mountain topping and beyond.