Newsroom

Justin Anderson Wins Marshall Scholarship

He hopes to enroll in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. The prize, which awards up to $30,000, is payable over two years. He will begin his studies in October 2003.

 Anderson joins 2002 Occidental graduate Jessica Kirkpatrick of Albany, Calif., in becoming the sixth and seventh alumni since 1972 to win a Marshall Scholarship. The twin feat is a first at Occidental, a private liberal arts college, and is all the more impressive in that Marshall winners typically are from large research universities.

Anderson, who earned a diplomacy and world affairs degree at Occidental, says he will research the relationship between policy-making and the science and technology of detecting nuclear weapons. “Many leaders pay lip service to promoting non-proliferation efforts, but it is questionable whether the policies they craft to deal with the threat fully leverage the tools at their disposal,” he says.

“I am particularly interested in looking at what systems other than satellites exist to identify nuclear weapons programs,” Anderson adds. “With satellite imagery increasingly intrusive, some states conceal their nuclear weapons programs by disguising facilities or placing them underground.”

Anderson is now a policy analyst for Arlington, Va.-based Science Applications International Corp., a large government contractor that conducts extensive business with the U.S. Department of Defense. Assigned to the Arms Control and Regional Analysis Division, Anderson researches, writes and edits analyses of issues related to American commitments and obligations under arms control treaties, confidence and security building measures, and arms export agreements. Anderson ultimately wants to work in foreign policy in Washington, D.C.

“Justin was a star in Oxy’s diplomacy and world affairs department,” said Larry Caldwell, the Cecil H. and Louise Gamble Professor in Political Science. “He served at the U.S. Mission at the United Nations in Occidental’s U.N. program, won a Carnegie Junior Fellowship to work on issues of nuclear proliferation after he graduated, and has tutored children in Portland, Los Angeles, New York and Washington.”

In winning a Marshall, Anderson follows in the tradition of Richard Falkenrath, a 1991 Occidental graduate and assistant professor of public policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.  In December 2001, Falkenrath was named special assistant to the president and senior director for policy and plans with the Office of Homeland Security. He holds a doctorate in war studies from King’s College London.

Up to 40 Marshall Scholarships are awarded each year to American citizens who have graduated from a four-year college or university. The scholarships were founded by an act of Parliament in 1953 to commemorate the humane ideals of the Marshall Plan – the American program to rebuild a ravaged Western Europe following World War II.