Trip PARTICIPANTS

Kathy received her Masters in International Affairs from The George Washington University. She currently serves as Executive Assistant for Knight-Hennessy Scholars, where she is responsible for John Hennessy's calendar and provides operational support to the team. Kathy and her husband, Justin, got married at Stanford's Memorial Church and both of their sons were born at Stanford Hospital. Her previous positions include administrative roles at Stanford's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, Stanford Global Studies, and Stanford's Center on African Studies. In her free time, Kathy enjoys spending time with good friends, lap swimming, traveling around California with Justin and visiting dog friendly beaches with their labradoodle, Charley.

Kristen (Kay) Barrett, from Nashville, Tennessee, is pursuing a PhD in English at Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences. She graduated with highest honors from the University of Virginia as a distinguished major in English and a minor in drama. As a Marshall Scholar, she graduated with distinction from the University of Oxford with an MSt in English (1830-1914) and from the University of Edinburgh with an MSc in Intermediality: Literature, Film and the Arts in Dialogue. An aspiring English professor, Kay wants to affirm Black science fiction as a literary genre and found her own academic journal, publishing agency, and independent bookstore dedicated to these stories. Kay is also a former Jefferson Scholar and a former recipient of the UVA Arts Council Distinguished Artist Award in Drama. 

Lydia Burleson, from Sulphur Springs, Texas, will pursue a PhD in English at Stanford. She graduated cum laude from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in English and a nonfiction writing concentration. Her scholarship and writing push for a more inclusive social reality by understanding and representing marginal identity through literature. She aspires to be a professor-writer, using public humanities to share her research with the communities it aims to serve. At Yale, Lydia was awarded the Jonathan Edwards Creative Writing Prize for her essays on her rural impoverished upbringing with mentally and physically disabled parents. At Dwight Hall, Yale’s Center for Social Justice, Lydia promoted diverse voices by launching a student magazine and creating communications channels with student and community leaders. Lydia has worked with New Haven nonprofits and the Yale Admissions Office to increase access to higher education for first-generation low-income students. She was a QuestBridge Scholar at Yale. 

Sophia Caldera, from Bethesda, Maryland, is pursuing a JD at Stanford Law School. She graduated from Harvard College with a bachelor's degree in philosophy and a secondary in molecular and cellular biology. Sophia aims to use her law degree to address challenges of economic injustice. Before coming to Stanford, she worked as a speechwriter for U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, a Marjorie Deane Intern at The Economist, and a reader for Judge David Tatel. As president of the Harvard College Debating Union, Sophia won the American Parliamentary Debate Association’s national championship and Speaker of the Year award. 

Mengyu Dong, from Beijing, China, is pursuing a master’s degree in journalism at Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences. She studied political science and history at the University of California, Berkeley. Mengyu has conducted research and reporting for numerous publications in the U.S., Europe, and her home country. Her work focuses on information control, grassroots resistance, and minority rights. She aspires to bring quality journalism to both English and Chinese audiences through open-source investigation and data-driven storytelling. In addition to journalism, she strives to improve access to education for children in rural China. She received the Matsui Fellowship for Public Service from UC Berkeley. 

Zahra Fazal, from Morogoro, Tanzania, is pursuing a master’s degree in epidemiology and clinical research at Stanford School of Medicine. She graduated from the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada with a bachelor’s degree in Global health and nutrition as a Karen McKellin International Leader of Tomorrow scholar. Zahra plans to apply her graduate degree towards researching health inequities amongst under-served populations and advocating for data-driven policy change within Sub-Saharan Africa. Zahra founded a club for first-generation and low-income (FGLI) students, launched a podcast and hosted Canada’s first conference for FGLI students bringing together universities and education ministers across Canada. Inspired by her advocacy, UBC established a scholarship for FGLI students. Zahra was also a research assistant on a patient-partner project at Arthritis Research Canada investigating COVID-19 outcomes in patients with immunosuppression within Canada. Zahra has received the UBC International Community Achievement Award and is a 2022 Rhodes finalist. 

Kelsey Freeman, from Carbondale, Colorado, is pursuing a master’s degree in international policy at Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences. Kelsey graduated magna cum laude and as a Phi Beta Kappa member from Bowdoin College with high honors in government and legal studies. She focuses on immigration policy and Indigenous rights. Her debut book No Option but North was published in 2020 and is based off of her year on a Fulbright Fellowship in Mexico interviewing Central American migrants. It won the 2021 Colorado Book Award and was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. She has spoken and interviewed across the U.S. on immigration policy. Kelsey also worked at Central Oregon Community College, where she developed a culturally based college-readiness program for Native American high school students. She also facilitated workshops on equity, advised the college’s Dreamers’ Club, and served on the City of Bend Accessibility Advisory Committee. 

Pierce Garver, from Gilbert, Arizona, is pursuing a master's degree in aeronautics and astronautics. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point with a bachelor's degree in space science. At West Point, Pierce was the cadet leadership development training commander, leading 1,000 of his peers through their capstone summer military training. He also earned All-American honors on the West Point pistol team where he honed his marksmanship. In the future, Pierce hopes to advance hypersonic and space travel while also influencing government policy for the sustainable use of space. At Stanford, he plans to combine his photonics experience, gained through past research and an internship at Lockheed Martin, with aerospace by using lasers to assess rotating detonation engines and scramjets. Upon completing his degree, Pierce will serve in the U.S. Army as an aviation officer. 

Douglas Henze, born and raised in Hoover, Alabama, is pursuing a PhD in bioengineering at Stanford’s Schools of Engineering and Medicine. He graduated with honors from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in engineering sciences with a focus in bioengineering. Douglas is passionate about metabolism, not only how it manifests in different chronic diseases, but also in how we can target it to treat diseases such as diabetes. He has conducted research in tissue engineering through Harvard University and Boston Children’s Hospital to create model systems of cardiac and metabolic disease. He was a member of the NCAA Division 1 Harvard football team, where he was named a member of the National Football Foundation Hampshire Honor Society and received the player-voted Henry N. Lamar Award for teammate of the year. 

Pranav Lalgudi, from San Jose, California, is pursuing a PhD in Genetics at Stanford School of Medicine. He graduated from MIT with a bachelor’s degree in biology, a minor in data science, and a concentration in philosophy. Pranav is keen to answer fundamental questions in biology to improve our understanding of human health. At MIT, Pranav uncovered how cells regulate metabolism in response to nutrients, processes which are disrupted in cancer and diabetes. He previously worked at Stanford, creating new tools for studying the genetic diversity of cancers. Pranav aspires to make academic research more collaborative, rigorous, and accessible. He is also passionate about addressing inequities in access to education and has worked at schools in Spain and Italy to develop more interactive STEM curricula for students. Pranav’s research has been accepted for publication in several peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, and he was awarded the NSF GRFP and NDSEG Fellowships. 

Michelle Lee, from Seoul, South Korea, is pursuing a PhD in chemistry at Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences. She graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. Michelle aspires to understand and precisely manipulate the cellular machinery with synthetic molecules, which will open a door for novel, efficient, and affordable therapeutic strategies, especially in curing genetic diseases. In college, she designed a small molecule “switch” to CRISPR activity, which can precisely manipulate the activity of CRISPR-Cas protein, increasing its efficacy and reducing off-target effects. She also designed an affordable, rapid “mix-and-read” COVID-19 diagnostics tool for use in low- and middle-income countries, the work for which she was a first author of a publication. At MIT, Michelle also pushed to increase the accessibility of education by leading multiple educational enrichment programs. She is pursuing her PhD as an NSF GRFP Fellow. 

Tracy Li, from Calgary, Alberta, is pursuing a master’s degree in education data science at Stanford Graduate School of Education. She graduated from Queen’s University with a bachelor of commerce degree and was a Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University, where she focused on humanitarian leadership. Tracy plans to design early childhood education interventions in humanitarian contexts. She was previously an adviser with Innovations for Poverty Action, where she tested and scaled Ghana’s new play-based kindergarten and primary school differentiated learning curricula. As a program and research coordinator with the Aga Khan Foundation in Kyrgyzstan, she designed private kindergarten models that supported hundreds of entrepreneurs in Central and South Asia. Tracy has also advised on a pediatric nutrition program in South Sudan and a youth peacebuilding program in communities along the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border. 

Shreya Malhotra is an Indian-Canadian dual citizen raised in Birmingham, Alabama pursuing both an MD and a PhD in Neuroscience at Stanford School of Medicine. She graduated from University of Alabama at Birmingham with a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and a master's degree in public health. Shreya aspires to be a physician-scientist working to fight prevalent neurological diseases worldwide. She has been conducting neuroscience research for over 6 years and was an HHMI Janelia Undergraduate Scholar in 2019. She is also passionate about social justice and has been a leader in organizations centered around gender equity, mentorship, and diversity and inclusion. She is a former dancer and currently working on developing her running and hiking skills. 

Quyên Nguyễn-Hoàng, from Hanoi, Vietnam, is pursuing a PhD in art history at Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences. She received a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University. Working bilingually in English and Vietnamese on modern and contemporary art, Quyên is inspired by cultural and linguistic practices that generate non-elitist spaces of generosity, play, and communion. Her writings have appeared in Poetry Magazine, Columbia Journal, The Margins, and various anthologies. Her publications include Masked Force (Sàn Art, 2022), the pamphlet-catalog to the exhibition of Võ An Khánh’s wartime photographs that she curated in 2020, and a forthcoming English translation of Chronicles of a Village, a novel by the Vietnamese author Nguyễn Thanh Hiền. She has received awards and fellowships from the Institute for Comparative Modernities, the Gabo Prize for Literature in Translation, and Words Without Borders in partnership with the Academy of American Poets, among other honors. 

Sam Potter, from Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, is pursuing a JD at Stanford Law School. She graduated from the United States Air Force Academy with a bachelor's degree in English literature and legal studies and minored in Russian. She also earned an MPhil in international relations from the University of Oxford as a Holaday Scholar. Sam aspires to promote the safe and equitable use of outer space. She has interned with the General Counsel of the Air Force and is an advisor with the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Currently, Sam is an Acquisition Officer in the USAF, managing the latest command and control platform to provide situational awareness to 35,000 military police as well as overseeing a $15M deployment. Sam will continue her dedication to service as a Judge Advocate where she hopes to influence outer space policy and law in the U.S. Air and Space Forces. 

Kate Reinmuth, from Olympia, Washington, is pursuing a PhD in economics at Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences jointly with a JD at Stanford Law School. She graduated summa cum laude from Middlebury College with a bachelor’s degree as a double major in economics and political science. Kate aspires to work on national economic policy related to applied micro-economic topics ranging from innovation to inequality of opportunity to anticompetitive corporate behavior. She has spent time working outside of academia with organizations like the Vermont Legislative Joint Fiscal Office, The Brookings Institution, the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and NERA Economic Consulting. At NERA, she analyzed the potential anticompetitive effects of proposed M&A transactions worth as much as $34 billion. During her time at Middlebury, Kate was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, awarded the Johnson Prize (Economics) and Kvasnak Award (Political Science), and named a CoSIDA Academic All-District student athlete. 

Jocelyn A. Ricard, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, is pursuing a PhD in neuroscience at Stanford School of Medicine. Jocelyn graduated from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, with a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience. She studied overseas in Thailand, India, Croatia, Ghana, Iceland, and South Africa during her undergraduate program. Jocelyn has conducted research across various institutions, including at the International Sustainable Development Studies Institute in Chiang Mai, Thailand; the University of Minnesota; the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Berlin; Cornell University; and, most recently, Yale University. With a focus on substance use disorders, Jocelyn aims to understand how inequity and disadvantage impact brain functioning and to disrupt systemic racism in science. Her work has been published in numerous journals including Nature Neuroscience and The Lancet Psychiatry. Jocelyn is a 2023 recipient of the Ford Foundation Fellowship, awarded by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 

Takondwa Priscilla Semphere, from Lilongwe, Malawi, is pursuing an MS in learning design and technology at Stanford Graduate School of Education. She earned a bachelor’s degree in the study of women and gender and African studies at Smith College, where she was president of the Smith African and Caribbean Students’ Association for two years. Takondwa aspires to combine her passion for writing and design to develop story-driven digital media that connects people across differences. Before Stanford, she was a faculty member at the African Leadership Academy. She has participated in several fellowships through Three Dot Dash, the Watson Institute, and Princeton in Africa, and she received the Hilliard P. Jenkins Fellowship. Takondwa has published a children’s book and earned recognition for entrepreneurship and storytelling, including an OZY Genius Award and the Draper Competition. She has spoken at conferences in Germany, Ghana, and Mauritius, and facilitated workshops in Uganda and Rwanda. 

Carson Smith, a member of the Choctaw Nation, is from Palos Park, Illinois, and pursuing a JD at Stanford Law School. She graduated with honors from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a minor in Native American studies. As a Rotary Scholar, she studied at the University of Oxford for an MPhil in socio-legal research. Carson aspires to design community-based and culturally-informed peacemaking processes in collaboration with Indigenous and tribal communities. More recently, Carson has worked as the Conflict Resolution Fellow at Stanford University, where she has guided the mapping and redesign of multiple university conflict resolution processes, taught several courses, and acted as a peacemaker. Carson is an Advisory Board Member for the Native American Rights Fund’s Indigenous Peacemaking Initiative. She was a recipient of the James W. Lyon Public Service Award and Marion Brummell Kenworthy Award for Innovation in Public Service. 

Christopher Sowinski, from Scottdale, Pennsylvania, is pursuing a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford School of Engineering. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point with honors in mechanical engineering and a minor in aeronautical engineering. At West Point, his research focused on structural health monitoring via sensor implementation, modeling, and simulations beginning with automobiles and then transitioning to the field of aeronautical engineering. He presented and published his work throughout his West Point experience at events including the IMAC conference with the Society for Experimental Mechanics. Through the Academy, Christopher had the privilege of leading more than a thousand cadets in roles ranging from military training and academic assistance to operations development. He plans to continue his research to contribute to increased safety and speed of dynamic systems, including aircraft, while gaining experience as a leader and a pilot in Army aviation. 

Willie J. Thompson, from Griffin, Georgia, is pursuing a master's degree in business administration at Stanford Graduate School of Business. He graduated summa cum laude from Morehouse College with a bachelor’s degree in economics and a minor in Chinese Studies. Willie intends to create and contribute to organizations using the arts as a conduit for community building and intercultural education. Previously, he was a consultant and inaugural Hybrid Community Engagement Manager for The Bridgespan Group, where he focused on philanthropic prizes, non-profit initiatives to reduce gun violence and increase funding for Black and Latinx entrepreneurs, and firm-wide community development. He is a Schwarzman Scholar, an alum of Fulbright Taiwan’s English Teaching Assistant (ETA) program, where he was awarded for his contributions to the community as ETA of the year, and co-founder of Common Room Conversations — a podcast exploring the lives of individuals in their pursuit of consequence, however they choose to define it.