 | Mary Caswell (Cassie) Stoddard |
Two Yale seniors — one who has already distinguished herself as a researcher
in the evolution of bird vision and another devoted to a study of the Bolivian
labor movement — are among the 37 students nationwide to be awarded Marshall
Scholarships for 2008.
T H I S
Two seniors receive prestigious
Marshall Scholarships
Mary Caswell (Cassie) Stoddard of Alexandria, Virginia, and Sabrina Snell from
Washington, D.C., received the prestigious scholarships, which are given to outstanding
American students for two years of study in the United Kingdom.
One of three Yale recipients of a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for 2007-2008
and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Stoddard is a biology major. In 2006, she presented
her findings on avian color research at the North American Ornithological Conference
in Veracruz, Mexico, and she recently co-authored a paper with Yale Professor
Richard Prum, in whose ornithological lab she works. With a National Science
Foundation REU Fellowship, she spent 10 weeks this past summer at Shoals Marine
Laboratory on Appledore Island off the coast of Maine doing research on gull
behavior and ecology.
In addition to her academic achievements, Stoddard has pursued a number of extracurricular
interests and is a leader in community affairs. She is an accomplished musician,
who plays first violin in the Yale Symphony Orchestra. As a junior, she founded
the Yale Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Undergraduate Group (YEEBUG), an official
University organization open to all undergraduates interested in the natural
sciences. The organization hosts student-faculty dinners and special tours, and
actively promotes undergraduate involvement in the New Haven community, largely
through volunteer work at Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History. In
the summer of 2006, Stoddard was selected to attend an international conference
in France on peace, human rights and the environment.
Stoddard will receive her B.S. in May. She looks forward, she says, to using
her Marshall Scholarship to pursue ornithology research at the University of
Cambridge in the Department of Zoology.
Sabrina Snell
An anthropology major, Snell has already spent several years in the field studying
the political evolution of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) in Bolivia. She
became fascinated by the labor movement in that country — which, she notes,
is the poorest in South America — when she spent the year between high
school and college there as an exchange student with the American Field Service
Intercultural Program. Although she originally planned to study astronomy when
she came to Yale, she says she soon shifted her focus to the tumultuous political
history of Bolivia, a country that has experienced 190 coups d’etat in
its 200 years of independence.
Snell, who will receive both master’s and bachelor’s degrees when
she graduates in May, is doing her senior project specifically on how unionism
in Bolivia “transformed into political activism.” Having spent two
out of the three summers of her Yale years in Bolivia conducting research — which
included an interview with the current president of Bolivia when he was a candidate — Snell
has created a comprehensive “ethnography,” which, she explains, is
a holistic study of a social group in its historical, economic, cultural, environmental
and geographical context. This multidisciplinary approach to understanding the
evolution of social and political movements is the hallmark of the Institute
for Development Studies at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom, where
Snell intends to earn her M.Phil. degree with her Marshall Scholarship. She hopes
to become a consultant on policy issues.
Snell’s extracurricular activities have included tutoring children in the
bilingual J.C. Daniels public elementary school in New Haven.
The highly competitive Marshall Scholarships were established by the British
Parliament in recognition of the Marshall Plan, which helped Europe recover from
the devastation of World War II.
It was previously announced that two other Yale students will study in Britain
as recipients of Rhodes Scholarships for 2008.
W E E K ' SS T O R I E S
Now anyone can ‘audit’ popular Yale courses via Internet
Two seniors receive prestigious Marshall Scholarships
Yalies win international debate competition in Chinese language
True-blue tales of holiday giving
Custodian brings brand-new bikes to needy youths
Athletes hope to light the smiles of city youngsters
Rededication ceremony held for Silliman College
Reconstruction of Bass Library celebrated
SCHOOL OF MEDICINE NEWS
Yale receives $12.4 million grant to oversee study . . .
Research to examine causes of heart attacks in young women
Project will assess impact of vaccine against virus . . .
Yale scientists discover biomarker linked to . . .
Work in Ob/Gyn is recognized with grants, honors
Two Divinity School professors earn special honors
Graduate students boost social skills in networking workshop
Research reveals that children tend to ‘over-imitate’ actions of adults
Yale bioengineers have developed a more effective method . . .
Postdoctoral fellow wins fellowships for cancer cell research
Exhibit of original menorahs celebrates the Festival of Light
Alumna intern discovers firsthand the positive impact of United Way
A ‘thank you’ from United Way
Social anthropologist will examine ‘Why Creationism Isn’t Science’
IN MEMORIAM
Dr. Barry Goldberg, devoted career to the safety of athletes
Dr. James Kenney, was the ‘doctor’s doctor’ to many
Dr. Nicholas Spinelli, was active in alumni affairs
Longtime professor Stanton Wheeler dies on Dec. 7
Memorial service for Eugene Waith
Stately affairs
Campus Notes
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