Two awarded prestigious Watson Fellowships

Sophie Demaisy ’24 and Leslie Villegas ’24 have been awarded prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowships to embark on a year of international exploration and discovery. Part of an exceptional group of 35 graduating seniors who make up the 56th class of Watson Fellows, Demaisy and Villegas will each receive $40,000 to support their travel and research. They are Conn’s fifth and sixth Watson Fellowship winners since 2021. 

Meet Conn’s 2024 Watson Fellows 

Sophie Demaisy ’24

Demaisy, an economics and botany double major and Davis UWC scholar from Quebec City, Canada, will travel to Costa Rica, Brazil, Kenya, Madagascar and Indonesia to explore sustainable agriculture through coffee production.

“By using coffee as a model crop, I hope to get insight into how communities adapt to the challenges of growing crops sustainably, and investigate the practicality and economic viability of implementing sustainable agriculture on a global scale,” Demaisy said.

“Given each coffee-producing region’s unique characteristics in terms of land, ecosystem, challenges, people, markets and agricultural practices, my curiosity extends to understanding how sustainable agriculture and scientific advances in the field impact various facets of people’s lives.”

Demaisy says her work as a barista and operations manager at Conn’s student-run coffee house, Coffee Grounds, and as a manager of the organic Sprout Garden on campus, helped shape her interests in the power of food to bring people and community together.

“Coffee Grounds introduced me to a new community that soon evolved into a family. Sprout is the other place where I found my people, all committed to sustainable agriculture. It connected me to plants, foods and my local community, and taught me about growing crops, their challenges and complexities, and their role in uniting people.”

This semester, Demaisy is completing an honors thesis based on her research with her adviser, Botany Professor Eric Vukicevich, in which she tested how phosphorus and mycorrhizal fungi soil amendments impact lead uptake in lettuce. The findings can help inform communities about safe and sustainable agricultural practices in urban environments that may have lead-contaminated soil, she said.

Following her Watson Fellowship, Demaisy plans to enroll in a graduate degree program in a field related to food production and pursue a career in academia or the food industry.

“Although I am still open to the direction of my future research, I know my work will relate to food systems and to helping growers and consumers produce and enjoy safe, healthy and nutritious foods grown in a manner that respects both the land and the people.”

Leslie Villegas ’24

Villegas, a computer science and anthropology double major from Bronx, New York, will travel to the Philippines, Belize, Mexico, India and Japan to explore how technology can enhance diverse ways of being in the world, particularly within indigenous communities. 

“I will examine how different communities integrate technology into their daily lives, how cultural values shape technological developments, and how new technologies influences cultural practices and traditions,” Villegas said.

“I aspire to be an advocate for personal and sensitive ways of developing new information and communications technologies based on cultural preservation.”

Villegas says her project is inspired by her Mexican heritage and her experiences as a first-generation college student. In her anthropology courses, she researched her family’s indigenous Mixtec culture and language and learned about inequities in the distribution of resources, including technology. Combining those interests with her interest in computer science, Villegas further explored how indigenous languages are represented in technology. She credits Anthropology Professor Joyce Bennett and Computer Science Professors Christine Chung and Gary Parker with supporting and nurturing her pursuit of the Watson fellowship.

On campus, Villegas is a career fellow with the Hale Center for Career Development, a housefellow, a barista at Coffee Grounds and a member of the women’s club soccer team. She is also a Posse scholar and credits her Posse trainers with encouraging her to think big and pursue projects like the Watson.

“Throughout my time at Connecticut College, I have found different spaces and people who valued my ways of thinking and supported my research projects about language revitalization in indigenous communities and technology accessibility,” Villegas said. “I knew the Watson fellowship would tie together all my projects and community engagement, but also serve as a platform to showcase the importance of understanding diverse cultures and lifestyles to create impactful technological solutions that serve and empower diverse communities.”

Following her Watson fellowship, Villegas plans to embark on a career in product management or user interface research with a focus on enhancing technology accessibility for diverse communities.

Connecticut College offers a wide range of fellowship opportunities for students and recent graduates. For more information, visit The Walter Commons or email fellowships@conncoll.edu.