We congratulate the following students and welcome them to the Rose Institute Alumni Society.
Nikhil Agarwal ’24
Nikhil graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (honors) and Economics. He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He was also the recipient of the J. Cleveland McKenna Research Award for his excellent work as a research assistant at the Rose Institute.
Nikhil Agarwal is from Singapore. At the Rose he served as project manager of the California City Management Foundation (CCMF) project, written for the Inland Empire Outlook, and also served as the Student Development Manager. Elsewhere on campus, he also served as the president of the CMC chapter of The Alexander Hamilton Society, and as vice-president of the CMC chapter of the AEI Executive Council.
Liann C. Bielicki ’24
Liann graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (honors) and Data Science. She is the recipient of the Fulbright Student Scholarship. She was also awarded the J. Cleveland McKenna Researcher Award for her work at the Rose Institute.
Liann is from Castro Valley, California. Her interest in state and local government arose from her experiences with journalism and Mock Trial in high school. At CMC, Liann was a member of the Mock Trial Team and the Claremont Consulting Group, as well as a Handley Leadership Fellow for women in leadership development. At the Rose, she worked on the City Incorporation, Kosmont, and Video Voter 2022 projects. In the summer of 2022, the Institute funded her participation in CMC’s Summer Research Program (SRP) with Professor Sinclair researching the application of a particular kind of sports betting game (football “pick’em”) to predict election and political outcomes. She spent the fall of 2022 semester in Scotland. Liann effectively served as New Hire Manager in the fall of 2023.
Helen A. Bovington ’24
Helen participated in the 3-2 program, completing her Bachelor of Arts degrees in Engineering and Computer Science from Claremont McKenna College and Columbia University.
Helen is from Helena, Montana and majoring in the 3-2 program; economics and electrical engineering. Helen’s interest in state and local politics started in high school when she paged at the Montan State Senate. The political issues she is most interested in are energy policy, sustainable local infrastructure development, and tribal politics on Montana’s seven reservations. The past year, Helen researched Montana politics and did an internship focused on the global supply chain of semiconductors in Ontario, California. At the Rose Institute, she headed the Rose’s 50th Anniversary research on alumni. Outside of the Rose, Helen sits on the ASCMC Academic Affairs Committee, and in her free time, you can find her exploring the outdoors, dancing, waiting for ski season, or working on her physics homework.
Grace Hong ’24
Grace graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (honors) and Government.
Grace is from Arcadia, California, and is a Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) and Government dual major. Her interest in government started after competing on the “We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution” team in high school, where she recognized the importance of civic participation. She also learned more about the roles of state and local government through her time interning at Townsend Public Affairs and spent the fall of 2022 at the Department of Commerce through the DC program. At the Rose, she has worked on the City of Vernon project, helped analyze housing element letters, drafted a backgrounder for the Video Voter 2022 series. and contributed to the research for the San Francisco Governance report. On campus, Grace is also a mentor for the Asian Pacific American Mentorship Program (APAM) and vice president of the Pre-Law Society. Grace served as associate student manager for AY2023-2024.
Catherine M. Murphy ’24, Media Strategies & Communications Coordinator (co-lead)
Cat graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government and International Relations.
Catherine is from Pleasanton, California. Her passion for politics and government stemmed from her dad always listening to National Public Radio and reading the Economist. She became interested in state politics after researching California’s primary elections with CMC Professor Andrew Sinclair. She was also interested in U.S. national security policy, Latin American politics, and education reform. At the Rose, Catherine worked on the Miller-Rose Initiative Database, the Video Voter Guide 2022 project, alumni outreach, and the Rose’s 50th Anniversary celebration. She was credited for working on the Top-two Election System research paper with Professor Sinclair. Catherine interned on Capitol Hill in Washington DC for California Congressman Eric Swalwell (CA-14) in the summer of 2022. Outside of the Rose, Catherine is captain of the CMS Women’s Lacrosse team, and in her free time, she likes to go to the beach, try new baking recipes, and listen to true crime podcasts. She spent her fall 2022 semester studying in Spain.
Anna D.Y. Short PO’24
Anna is from Mercer Island, Washington, and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Politics at Pomona College. In high school, her interest in politics and policy led her to join the student senate and to take her first economics class, which would lead her to pursue the subject further in college. At the Rose, she wrote an article for the Spring 2023 Special Housing edition of the Inland Empire Outlook and also helped lead the California Competitiveness project, while also contributing to the Kosmont, Video Voter Guide 2022, and San Francisco Governance research projects. Elsewhere on campus, she is a student fellow at the Open Academy and an editor of the Claremont Journal of Law and Public Policy. In her free time, she enjoys playing basketball with friends and reading. Anna served as student manager for AY2023-2024.
Pieter K. van Wingerden III ’24
Pieter graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government and Asian Studies. He was the recipient of the 2023 Truman Scholarship.
Pieter hails from Edmonds, WA. He is interested in political, economic, and military issues in the Indo-Pacific. At the Rose, he has worked on the Kosmont project, managed the redistricting and city council election system and data visualization projects. He also wrote an article for the Inland Empire Outlook (Fall 2022). At CMC, he has been an Arthur A. Adams Fellow in International Strategic Studies, and a member of the inaugural class of the Gould Center Fellows Program. He concurrently served as the President of the CMC chapter of the AEI Executive Council and Vice-President of the Alexander Hamilton Society. He was also a left-handed pitcher for the CMS baseball team and a staff writer for the Claremont Independent. He is an alumnus of the Project 2049 Institute, the Department of Defense, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. In the future, Pieter hopes to work in the foreign policy or national security space.