Lindsey Marinello ’17 will further her passions for Russian and space exploration in Almaty, Kazakhstan as a recipient of the prestigious Boren Scholarship.
For a full academic year, Lindsey will study at the Al Farabi Kazakh National University. Her rigorous Russian language instruction will include phonetics and speech practice, reading and writing, as well as an independent research project. To view Lindsey’s entire course schedule, read here.
In addition to language, Lindsey will study physics or engineering as well as participate in an aerospace or physics research internship.
Lindsey’s love for space exploration sparked in high school. It was through this passion that she realized her interest in Russia.
“I found there to be something really unique and charming about the collaborative U.S.-Russian partnership in space, which continues to persist in spite of political tension and conflict,” she says. “Science is a highly international endeavor; Russian and U.S. scientists work very well together and have long served a very interesting diplomatic role as stewards of powerful technologies through the personal relationships they build and the more humanitarian political stances they tend to take. From scientific research on the International Space Station to the nuclear balance of power and disarmament to cybersecurity, science and technology play a very interesting and important role in the U.S.-Russian relationship and in security matters.”
At Bryn Mawr, Lindsey is a physics and Russian double major. She has explored her passions for space exploration and Russian to the fullest, specifically citing her summer internships at NASA and her semester studying abroad at ACTR in Moscow as some of her favorite educational experiences. She is excited to continue her learning next year.
“I’m definitely most looking forward to visiting the Baikonur Cosmodrome, a unique human launch facility where international teams of astronauts are strapped into old school rockets,” says Lindsey. “Seeing a human launch, including the exterior of the quarantine where they keep the astronauts and cosmonauts prior to launch, will be amazing.”
Lindsey hopes her year abroad will help her develop linguistic fluency, increase her knowledge of Russian history, culture, and politics, and offer her valuable experience in conducting overseas research.
Following her time in Kazakhstan, Lindsey plans to earn her Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering with a focus on dynamics, controls, and systems. In the future, she hopes to work for NASA to help facilitate international space projects and contribute to research, development, and delivery of space systems that can enable scientific discovery in deep space.
Boren Scholarships, an initiative of the National Security Education Program, provide unique funding opportunities for U.S. undergraduate students to study less commonly taught languages in world regions critical to U.S. interests, and underrepresented in study abroad, including Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East. This year, the prestigious scholarship was awarded to 4% of applicants.
Information on the many fellowships available to Bryn Mawr students can be found here.