Matthew Clawson ’10

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Matthew Clawson, graduating in spring 2010, has been selected to receive a 2010 Marshall Scholarship, which funds graduate study for its recipients at any location in the United Kingdom.

Clawson, a political science and economics major with a minor in public affairs, plans to use the award to complete a master's degree in international relations at Oxford University. At Oxford, Clawson hopes to study diplomacy, political economy and globalism. After completing his studies at Oxford, Clawson plans to attend Harvard's Graduate School of Business Administration, to which he has been admitted for the fall of 2012. While he initially is setting his sights on a career in finance, he dreams of a career in politics.

"I hope to help confront the tough challenges that will define my own generation — issues such as terrorism, global poverty and nuclear proliferation," he said.

The award caps Clawson’s distinguished undergraduate career. While pursuing his degree in both economics and political science, Clawson served for two quarters as a research assistant to Prof. Amy Zegart, a national security expert and associate professor of public policy at the UCLA School of Public Affairs. He volunteered for nearly two years with the Los Angeles branch of the Homeland Security Advisory Council on a project to improve the metro area's emergency preparedness.

In summer 2009, he worked as an analyst in New York at the investment bank and securities firm Goldman Sachs. He also participated in a formative month-long summer study abroad session through the political science department.

In fall 2009, as a student in the highly selective Center for American Politics and Public Policy’s Quarter in Washington Program, he conducted research on transnational terrorist threats with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. In his senior year at UCLA, Clawson serves as UCLA's student representative to the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

In addition to his numerous academic pursuits, Clawson is a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and captain of UCLA’s ski and snowboard team. In spring 2009, the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association named Clawson among the league's top 10 competitors nationwide.

The prestigious Marshall Scholarship is awarded to 35 outstanding undergraduates nationwide. Named for former U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall, the program began in 1953 as a gesture of gratitude to the people of the United States for the assistance the United Kingdom received after World War II under the Marshall Plan.