By Katya Hrichak

Stephen Roblin, a doctoral candidate in government, and Laura Leddy, a doctoral student in anthropology, were recently selected as recipients of the Dolores Zohrab Liebmann (DZL) Fellowship.

Roblin and Leddy are the first to receive DZL Fellowships since anthropology doctoral student Gabrielle Borenstein in 2016 and natural resources alumna Ingrid Biedron in 2009. They are the first Cornell graduate students to receive the fellowship in the same year.

Roblin’s research focuses on the question of whether the U.S. military’s killing of foreign civilians affects American public support for war. In his work, Roblin collaborates with Research 4 Impact, an organization that facilitates the exchange of findings between researchers and practitioners.

“For me, the importance of the project is measured in terms of impact. My ultimate goal is to assist activists, human rights organizations, and U.S. policymakers working to prevent and minimize wartime civilian harm by the U.S. military,” he said.

Leddy’s research spans the fields of anthropology and archaeology, seeking to answer questions of memory, repair, and water management in cities from the medieval period to the present.

“I’m interested in sustainability, as both a philosophy and as a practice of daily life: how approaches to maintenance and sustainability in the past have shaped the landscapes that we’ve inherited today, and will in turn shape how we live in the future,” she said. “As climate change intensifies, I think it’s essential that problem-solving around climate change mitigation is not only a project of the hard sciences. Culture, memory, and history need to be a part of this conversation as well. I would like my work to help build this bridge.”

The Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fellowship is designed to support graduate students who are U.S. citizens with outstanding undergraduate records, demonstrated need for financial assistance, and outstanding character with promise for achievement in their fields.

The fellowship provides the cost of tuition and an additional $18,000 stipend, and qualifies for supplementation under Cornell’s external fellowship “top-off” policy. Winners’ stipends are increased to base academic year stipend rate of $27,218 and are credited the full cost of the student health plan.

Katya Hrichak is a communications assistant in the Graduate School.