WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., April 2, 2010 -- Jose C. Martinez and Corey D. Watts, two seniors at Williams College, have won $25,000 "dream" fellowships from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation.

"These awards are long-term investments in people," said Cleveland Johnson, director of the Watson Foundation. "We look for persons likely to lead or innovate in the future."

Martinez and Watts were among 40 fellows selected for 2010, from a pool of 150 finalists from private liberal arts colleges and universities. They will spend a year traveling around the world, pursuing projects that are important to them.

Jose C. Martinez '10 is a political science and history major with a concentration in international studies. His Watson project, titled "Alienation or Liberation? Migration, Politics, and the Printed Press in Middle Eastern Communities," will take him to six countries, including two in the Mideast, two in South America, and two in northern Europe.  His itinerary will mirror the voyages of his ancestors from Spain and Iran.

It's often assumed that immigrants feel loyalty towards their adopted nation-states and hope to assimilate, but there's not much research on the subject. "My project will examine the interaction between politics and the printed press in Middle Eastern immigrant communities," he said.  Martinez hopes to understand why emigrants leave, what they're looking for, and how their political experience changes.

He has been an intern in the D.C. office of Senator Harry Reid and worked in the Senate Democratic Communications Center, which sparked his interest in the "interaction between politics and the press." In Puerto Rico, he interned for Senate Minority Leader Jose Luis Dalmau.

Last summer he studied identity in post-invasion Iraq as part of a research program at the University of California at Berkeley. Martinez has also been a research assistant in the political science department at Williams.

Born in Madrid, Martinez grew up and went to high school in San Juan, Puerto Rico. "I chose Williams because of its commitment to academic quality and the "close interaction with professors, the rigorous academic environment, and the socio-economically and culturally diverse student body."

At Williams, Martinez is a member of the Lehman Council, the political science student liaison committee, the College Lecture committee, and the organizing committee for Run for a Cure. In addition, he's played water polo since freshman year.

He also has received a Herchel Smith Fellowship for graduate study at Cambridge University, a book prize for excellence in teaching assistance from the Williams political science department, a number of scholarships, and a first prize award in a speech competition.

He speaks Arabic, Persian, and Spanish.

Corey D. Watts '10 is a math and biology major from Madison, Wis. As part of his Watson project, "No One to the Rescue: The Experience of Emergencies," he will travel to Peru, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Turkey to "engage with people from different societies through the universal context of emergencies."

In each country, he plans to contact emergency services in major cities, and then move outward to "rural areas where such services scarcely exist." All the while, he'll "ask questions about the universal experience of emergency situations as a window into personal and cultural concepts of life, death, risk, responsibility, and community."

Studying the impact of emergencies on different societies, Watts said, "will allow me to pursue my continuing desire to experience other parts of the world, to compare other societies to my own, and to gain perspective on my planned future career as a physician."

Watts has personal experience with emergencies. A few years ago he volunteered as a wilderness ranger in a national forest in Washington State. Now, as a firefighter with the Williamstown Fire Department, he’s an EMT and co-coordinated first aid for a freshman orientation camping trip.

Watts has volunteered in an orphanage in Tanzania, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, and interviewed Tanzanians and Malawians about HIV and AIDS. Last summer he traveled to Kathmandu, Nepal to volunteer at an infectious disease clinic.

Watts has also been a teaching assistant and a math and science tutor. He has taught a course during winter study and helped 19 first-years to acclimate to Williams last year as a junior advisor.

A biochemistry and molecular biology 1960s Scholar, he spent a summer doing research in a biology lab on campus.

Watts was co-captain of the cross-country team and runs track and field. "Running has provided me with some of my best memories and best friends," he said. "I love Williams for the wonderful cast of students and faculty and staff, the challenging but not competitive environment, and the surrounding Berkshires."

Begun in 1968, the Watson Fellowship Program honors Thomas J. Watson, Sr., the founder of International Business Machines Corp., and his wife Jeannette, who shared a "long-standing interest in education and world affairs." It aims to help "passionate learners, creative thinkers, and motivated self-starters" to develop "a more informed sense of international concern."

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Founded in 1793, Williams College is the second oldest institution of higher learning in Massachusetts. The college’s 2,000 students are taught by a faculty noted for the quality of their teaching and research, and the achievement of academic goals includes active participation of students with faculty in their research. Students' educational experience is enriched by the residential campus environment in Williamstown, Mass., which provides a host of opportunities for interaction with one another and with faculty beyond the classroom. Admission decisions are made regardless of a student’s financial ability, and the college provides grants and other assistance to meet the demonstrated needs of all who are admitted.

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News: Alison Hansen-Decelle