an update for the panel

This morning, as I am just hours away from leaving for Cape Town, I finished this email that I wrote for the members of my selection committee. Some reflections on my academic journey, as well as a brief synopsis of what I'll be up to this summer. Life moves FAST FAST FAST! Unbelievable, man. To those of you reading still, I'll try and post something in the way of an update or two from Africa, and may send out an email as well (or I might just do one of those and copy it to the other!).

Much love,
Aaron

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Dear Pat and Annette,

Greetings from Oxford! It's been a long time since you've heard anything from me so I thought I'd drop you a note to let you know what I'm doing now and what I've been up to since you last saw me. I don't know if either of you is still in contact with the other members of the selection panel, but if you have those emails and wouldn't mind either forwarding this message on or passing them to me I'd really appreciate it.

It's amazing to think that Hillary term has already come and gone, and that I'm only a little more than a month away from taking exams for my MSc of Applied Statistics. I've been on an interesting road academically since you we last saw each other in November 2007. Here's a summary:

It was my initial exposure to economics and political science that got me emotionally and intellectually engaged at university, as I realized that there was this thing called social science that could be used to tackle questions of poverty and injustice. This interest motivated my public policy and development studies at Stanford and led me to Peru to study rural microfinance. As I was in Peru drafting my Rhodes scholarship essay the most natural course choice was Development Studies, and when I needed to choose my internship in D.C. I lobbied for a position at Treasury, hoping for a first-hand view of how the U.S. leverages foreign economic policy in pursuit of development objectives. After a six month period of time in which I flew into Lima in June and out in September, completed my field work, won the scholarship, finished my internship at Treasury, and returned home in December, I was less convinced than I'd been before about continuing to pursue Development as an academic discipline. My motivations for seeking a Rhodes--to somehow play a part in promoting social and economic justice in the world--were unchanged, but I was now uncertain about the best means as I sifted through my application packet and considered what course I would apply for. It seemed to me after several months on the ground in Peru and on the 5th floor of Treasury that (a) economic development is an organic process that occurs largely independently of any concerted policy effort and (b) that to the extent policies matter, the domestic arena is far more important than the international. Though I still believe in much of the work that the Treasury does through technical economic/financial assistance, underwriting small-business lending in Latin America, and helping determine the American position at the World Bank and IMF, I was no longer convinced that a career in aid of foreign economic policy was the most direct means of pursuing the passions that got me interested in economic development in the first place.

I wasn't quite sure what I would do instead, though. I waffled for a while, and settled on the MSc of Global Governance and Diplomacy for a time. That lasted until I met up with Annette for coffee back at Stanford over the winter and she asked "Global Governance? What, uh, does that do?" Realizing that I had even less of an answer for that question than I had for Development Studies was a wake-up call, and I started second-guessing myself again. That's about the time I began considering Statistics. I've always been pretty decent at math, and the courses that I'd enjoyed the most at Stanford and had been the most math-intensive. Though stats has no "direct" application to the topics I'd dedicated myself to studying in undergrad I knew that it would be a rigorous course that would challenge me intellectually and be widely applicable to just about any field I would one day choose to enter. I didn't, and still don't, have much clarity about what the future holds, but I do believe that the world requires individuals who are developed in their talents, capable in their field, and desire deeply to do good.

So in late February, after I'd been accepted to Global Governance I filed a new application for a spot in the one-year MSc of Applied Statistics, and I've been very pleased with the choice. It's been challenging and I've had to learn a lot as I've gone along, but I feel that the course is helping me to become a more rigorous thinker in addition to equipping me with basic skills in data analysis. I'm trying to sort out a dissertation topic at the moment. Initially I thought that I would help a researcher here at the Centre for the Environment develop mortality models for rainforest trees, but it turns out that the innovative methodology that he was considering is not well-suited to the problem we're trying to solve, and several papers have already implemented the best alternative, logistic regression modeling. I'm also investigating a project with Opportunity International, a microfinance lender that is in the middle of a pioneering impact assessment study. The catch with this project, however, is that Opportunity will likely prefer any results at this stage to be in-house only! So we'll see: at the moment I'm very much on the market for a project with an interesting question and good data.

There's the brief on what I've been up to academically. Next year I'll read for the MSc of Environmental Change and Management, where I'll be most interested in questions of managing population pressure on the environment.

As far as my Oxford experience has gone so far, by and large it's been great. I ended up in Worcester College, which has lovely grounds, good food, very affordable housing, a lively MCR, and the most ostentatious chapel that I've seen so far. In addition to academics I rowed in Christ Church Regatta for Michaelmas Term and boxed during Hillary, which I will continue with in Trinity. I've enjoyed the company of good friends since arriving, especially that of my fellow Rhodies, and am living with Joe O'Shea (1st year from Florida) and Sherif Girgis (1st year from Delaware) in a flat we're renting in Jericho next year. Though I haven't traveled quite as much as several of my colleagues I've been taking advantage of my relative proximity to Africa: this winter I spent 5 weeks in Rwanda (email attached if you'd like to read a bit about that time) and am leaving this afternoon for a trip to Cape Town, South Africa, with the Rhodes Scholars South Africa Forum. I attend St Aldates Church, where I co-lead a men's small group and enjoy their tradition of intellectual and spiritual engagement with faith. This summer I will come back to the West Coast for two visits in June, one to see my little sister graduate and the other to attend a friend's wedding at Stanford, before coming back to Oxford to work on my dissertation and teach Politics and Economics through OxBridge in July. In August I will travel southern Europe with my little sister before returning to Oxford to finish and submit my statistics dissertation, and will visit Thailand with a good friend from high school in September before starting the new term.

Though weather occasionally gets me down and I struggle at times with my over-arching purpose for being here I'm enjoying this time of life immensely. Before I won the scholarship it seemed like such a lofty, all-surpassing achievement. Yet since I've arrived here I've been reminded that life continues on as usual, and that it is incumbent on me to make the most of the time at hand. In this more than anything I hope honor the faith you placed in me over a year ago: though I'm still seeking out my way through the future you can be confident that I am doing my best to live well and do right.

That Saturday in November was a beautiful day: there was something about returning to the city where I was born and to the area where I had grown up that was quite moving. I came back to a place that for me often symbolized limited possibilities, to walk through a door that opened to an even broader horizon. It was redemptive, in a way, and I'm thankful to you for being a part of that with me.

If you are inclined I would love to know a little bit about life on your end!

All the best,
Aaron Polhamus