Isabelle Cohen
Murray 1693 Scholar
Hometown
San Rafael, California (The Branson School)
Why W&M?
I loved (and still love) the students at W&M. They're so interesting, smart and fun. I learn as much from them as I do from my classes. I love the sense of community on campus, and the activist groups I've found and joined. I love how everyone, no matter how cool they seem, has a nerdy side. Most of all, I love how William and Mary lets people be themselves.
Major
International Relations
Extracurriculars at W&M
- Research assistant for Project-Level Aid (PLAID) Database project
- Member of International Relations Club
- Tidewater Labor Support Committee
- Young Democrats, Feminists Unite
- Lambda Alliance
- Hillel
- Staff reporter for the DoG Street Journal
Research at W&M
- Research assistant for PLAID.
- I used $800 of my Murray money on a trip to the US-Mexico border through the Hispanic Studies and Sociology departments. There, I studied issues of humanization and dehumanization of different groups of actors on the border.
- I also studied abroad in Jordan and used the rest of my money to fund research there about labor rights in Jordan following the Free Trade Agreement between Jordan and the United States.
Where am I now?
I'm a Senior Research Associate with the Centre for Micro Finance. CMF is actually the same organization I interned with between my undergrad and Master's. Last year I was actually mostly based in Durham, NC. Now, I've changed jobs and gone ahead and officially moved to south India. I'm actually on the same research project I was last year, with the same professors, but now I'm conducting analysis and managing fieldwork - as well as designing electronic surveys, writing grant reports, facilitating our relationship with our implementing partner, etc. I also spend a lot of time studying Tamil, drinking tea and (obviously) eating Indian food.
