Maya Watson is a rising senior at Middlebury College, Vermont, where she is pursuing a double major in History and Russian. She spent last summer at Middlebury Language Schools practicing her command of the Russian language, which she has put to use studying abroad this semester at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan. As a participant in the CNS Young Women in Nonproliferation Mentorship program in the Fall of 2023, Maya explored her interest in nuclear issues with a connection to Russia and Eurasia studies. Her undergraduate research so far has focused on Soviet influence and national identity in the Kazakh Republic. At Middlebury, she is an active member of the rock-climbing club and the literary magazine. This summer, she hopes to continue to study the sphere of nonproliferation in the post-Soviet space.

Check out Maya’s article on Inkstick!
In Kazakhstan, division over the future of Nuclear Power