  
Keira Driansky |
Two Yale College seniors are among 40 leading young American students who were recently awarded Marshall Scholarships to study at a university in Great Britain following graduation next year.
They are Keira Driansky of Saybrook College and Kristina Weaver of Berkeley College. A third Yale student, Chesa Boudin of Trumbull College, was also awarded both Marshall and Rhodes scholarships and elected to accept the latter. (See related story.)
Driansky, of Penn Valley, Pennsylvania, is an applied mathematics major, with a concentration in economics and biochemistry. She will use her Marshall Scholarship at Cambridge University to pursue her interest in "pharmacogenomics," that is, developing drugs for specific genotypic subgroups. A specific application of this research is to identify incompatibilities between a particular drug or classification of drugs and certain genotypes, and to develop drugs that are effective substitutes where such incompatibilities exist. She will also be studying biostatistics, using mathematical models to model the human genome.
At Yale, Driansky has tutored students in New Haven's public schools in mathematics and science, while earning a GPA of 3.97. She has served on the Saybrook College Council throughout her years at Yale. An avid dancer, she also counts playing tennis and softball among her leisure activities.
Weaver, who comes from Hampton, Virginia, plans to use her Marshall Scholarship to study social anthropological analysis at Cambridge University. The next year, she will follow up her studies in anthropology and development at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.
The Yale senior recently completed an internship with anthropologist Kamari Clarke at the 10th Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court at the United Nations headquarters in New York. During her tenure, she explored the role of non-governmental organizations in the formation and implementation of the court. Weaver is the recipient of a Ford Foundation grant to conduct anthropological field work in Ibadan, Nigeria, on political changes and the student pro-democracy movement.
Marshall Scholarships have been awarded to more than a thousand young Americans since the program was established in 1953 as a British gesture of thanks to the people of the United States for their assistance after World War II under the Marshall Plan. Financed by the British government, the highly competitive scholarships provide an opportunity for American students who have demonstrated academic excellence to continue their studies for two to three years at a British university of their choice.
The scholarships are worth about $60,000 each. In addition to intellectual distinction, Marshall selectors seek individuals who are likely to become leaders in their field and make a contribution to society. Prominent past Marshall Scholars include U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer; Duke University president (and former Wellesley president) Nannerl Keohane; Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Tom Friedman of the New York Times and Dan Yergin ("The Prize"); and noted inventor Ray Dolby.
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