The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs has selected the 2009 cohort of incoming graduate students for the School's Scholars in the Nation's Service Initiative (SINSI), a competitive scholarship program designed to encourage, support and prepare students who intend to pursue careers in the U.S. government.

The Woodrow Wilson School launched SINSI in February 2006. Initially open to Princeton undergraduates, the program was later expanded to include as many as five additional four-year scholarships each year for applicants to the School's Master in Public Affairs (M.P.A.) program, to be supported by the Robertson Fund, an endowed fund created to support the School’s graduate program.

This is the second cohort of graduate students to have enrolled in the program; the Woodrow Wilson School admitted four graduate students into SINSI in 2008, who began their government service fellowships immediately and will enter the School’s M.P.A. program in the fall of 2010.

The 2009 and subsequent graduate cohorts will enroll in the M.P.A. program the fall after selection, followed by their two year fellowship with the U.S. federal government, and will then return to the School to complete the second and final year of the degree program.

“The graduate cohorts of the Scholars in the Nation's Service Initiative are a testament to the diverse talents and policy interests of passionate, public service-minded students in America,” said Ambassador Barbara Bodine, Director of SINSI and a career member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Service. “We are pleased to welcome them to the program this fall.”

The 2009 graduate cohort of the Scholars in the Nation’s Service are:

Tavon Cooke, a graduate of the University of Maryland, has considerable academic and professional backgrounds in Russian studies with an emphasis on education, social welfare, and domestic and international health policy issues.  Cooke hopes at the conclusion of his studies to work in consular affairs as a Foreign Service Officer at the Department of State or at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Daniel Joyce has served since July 2006 as the program associate on democratic governance and human rights issues in the Andean region at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington, D.C. think-tank for U.S.-Latin American relations.  A magna cum laude graduate from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service with a B.S. in international politics and a certificate in Latin American studies, he spent a semester at the Universidad Católica in Santiago, Chile as part of his undergraduate studies, and organized Dialogue conferences in Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru.

Brieana Marticorena, a native of Laguna Hills, California, will graduate in June from Harvard University with a degree in government and a citation in Italian.  She hopes to pursue diplomacy and conflict management.  Marticorena has worked in orphanages in Ghana and Brazil, taught English in Thailand, Cambodia, and Poland, conducted research in Russia, interned for Congress, and for the U.S. Department of State in Italy. 

Caitlin Pierce is a double major in environmental studies and economics at Dartmouth College. Her interest in these fields has taken her to study and conduct research in Southern Africa, India, and British Columbia, as well as to an internship in the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Pierce hopes to spend the fellowship portion of her M.P.A. working at the nexus of international economic and environmental policy.

Sarah Ray is from Memphis, Tennessee and will graduate summa cum laude from Tulane University in May 2009 with degrees in political science and social policy. A 2008 Harry S. Truman Scholar, Ray’s policy interests include public housing, urban development, and inequality. Her career goals include working at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and eventually returning to Tennessee to run for elected office. Fluent in Spanish, Sarah studied abroad at the University of Granada in Spain, and also studied at the University of Cambridge in England.

In addition, the four Scholars accepted into the program in 2008 are:

Alexander Correa graduated from the University of Miami in May 2008 with bachelor's degrees in economics and international studies.  Correa is completing a two-year assignment as an International Economist at the U.S. Treasury on the Turkey and Lebanon portfolio, he was named the Andean desk officer.  His current portfolio also includes managing Treasury's coordinating role in the multilateral Microfinance Growth Fund for the Western Hemisphere. 

Caroline Gilliam, from Charlottesville, Virginia, graduated from Columbia University, where she majored in East Asian Languages and Cultures.  She won the National Security Education program David L. Boren Scholarship in 2006 and pursued intensive Mandarin Chinese language study.  Caroline interned at the Weatherhead Institute of East Asian Studies and spent two summers studying the language in Beijing. 

Brian Kelly graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in International Relations and Modern Middle East Studies. He interned at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, the Department of State, and the FBI.  He is currently working his first SINSI rotation as the Economic Sanctions and Energy Officer in the Office of Iranian Affairs at the State Department.  He will spend the summer of 2009 working in the Iran Regional Presence Office in Dubai.

Rachel Van Tuyl is currently working for the U.S. Army in the International Affairs Division as a country desk officer.  She graduated from Auburn University with a degree in economics.  Rachel has interned for the Department of State at the U.S. Embassies in Dublin, Ireland and London, United Kingdom and is interested in foreign affairs.

For more information about SINSI, please visit the program’s website.