Emma Yanai, a senior at Yale College, is among 36 recipients of prestigious Marshall Scholarships, which fund up to three years of graduate study in any academic topic at any university in the United Kingdom.
The recipients, who are considered among the most accomplished undergraduate students and recent graduates in the United States, were chosen following an intense selection process and will begin graduate studies at top universities across the U.K. next year.
The Marshall Scholarship program was created by an act of the British Parliament in 1953 as “a living memorial” for former U.S. Secretary of State General George Marshall and the assistance of the United States under the Marshall Plan.
Yanai, who is from Los Angeles, is studying East Asian studies and American studies at Yale, with a minor in Japanese advanced language study. She has received an Academic Excellence Award for Korean language and a Richter Summer Fellowship for research on memorialization efforts in South Korea and Japan. She was also selected for a Daniel Merriman — Ted Besinger III Fellowship for intensive language study in Korea and a Richard U. Light Fellowship for intensive language study in Japan.
Yanai is also a head first-year counselor for Davenport College, a Japanese tutor, a writer for Dwight Hall’s alumni newsletter, and a student in the Fields Program for advanced language study at Yale. Her thesis, “The Beast and the Bomb: Godzilla’s Evolution Through Cinematic History,” explored the depictions of nuclear weaponry in the Godzilla franchise and how contemporary American productions diverge from the explicit anti-proliferation message that the original Japanese films endorsed.
As a Marshall scholar, she will pursue an M.A. in postcolonial studies and Korean intensive language at The School of Oriental and African Studies in London. She hopes to use her career to expose what is currently obscured in the telling of history and to uplift historically marginalized voices.
“Marshall Scholars are powerful advocates for excellence across a wide range of disciplines — it is fantastic to see such a diverse group of future leaders in careers across international relations, science, technology, health and the humanities,” said John Raine, chair of the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission. “We look forward to welcoming them into the proud tradition of Marshall Scholars who have contributed so much to the U.K., the U.S., and the world.”
More than 2,200 Americans have received advanced U.K. degrees through the program since its inaugural class seven decades ago.
The program received 983 applications this year from candidates representing academic institutions across the United States. Twenty-five universities across 16 U.S. states are represented in this year’s cohort.
