Honors College 2025 Day 4: Resilience and Responsibility in a Changing World
Honors College 2025 Day 4: Resilience and Responsibility in a Changing World
This is the fourth story in a series of blog posts written by the Fisher Family Honors Program class of 2026 detailing their experiences in Washington, D.C., for CDDRL's annual Honors College.
Our cohort was buzzing with anticipation as we began our fourth day of Honors College.
We first sat down with Christopher Walker, Vice President of the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), and discussed the current state of U.S.-EU relations and the most pressing issues facing transatlantic politics. I was particularly excited to hear Mr. Walker’s insights, having recently returned from a summer internship at the European Parliament in Brussels. Our conversation centered around the evolution of European politics in the face of rising extremism and a shifting geopolitical landscape. The breadth and depth of our conversation served as a reminder that the political challenges Europe faces today are not so different from our own.
Our next stop was the U.S. Senate: the excitement in the air was palpable as we walked in for our meeting with New Jersey Senator Cory Booker. We were incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to speak with Senator Booker, and our conversation with him was one of the most impactful of our trip. One member of our cohort asked Senator Booker how he stays optimistic in a deeply polarized and uncertain political climate. His response stuck with me: hope isn’t a feeling, it’s a choice. He also emphasized the importance of spreading kindness and empathy in our communities. Senator Booker’s passion for justice and defending the foundational values of American democracy shone through his words. And, coming from a Stanford alumnus, they were especially inspiring.
Going into the CDDRL Honors Program, our week in Washington, D.C. was one of the components that I was most excited for. As I reflect on the fruitful discussions we shared, my greatest takeaway is the importance of resilience in the face of an unprecedented political climate. Even as many of the organizations we visited have had their work or very existence challenged, they have remained steadfast in pursuing their missions. As students striving to make a global impact, these conversations reminded us that the fight for democracy begins in our own communities and extends far beyond them. No matter where we are, upholding democratic values begins by forging meaningful connections with each other, as we together embody the spirit of a government by the people, for the people.
~ Danielle Gonzalez-Gaubeka
As a political science undergraduate co-terming in computer science, I saw CDDRL as the perfect home for the kind of interdisciplinary inquiry I want to pursue. On Thursday, we visited Anthropic and the World Bank: two institutions that sit at very different intersections of technology and society. One develops cutting-edge systems that could reshape daily life; the other deploys engineering solutions worldwide, adapting them to local needs.
At Anthropic, Tarun Chhabra, Head of National Security Policy, highlighted the company’s unusual willingness to publicly discuss AI’s risks, from job displacement to the need for stronger export controls on U.S. chips. He emphasized that AI competition is not only about building the most powerful models, but also about how quickly economies and governments adopt them, a theme that resonated with books I had read about prior technological revolutions, such as Debora Spar’s Ruling the Waves. A panel with Ashley Zlatinov, Head of Product Public Policy, and Jordan Fisher, who leads an AI alignment research team, showed how Anthropic helps institutions, including the government, adapt its models to their unique needs.
At the World Bank, Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist Abby Baca described how her civil engineering background prepared her to oversee massive infrastructure projects and communicate disaster risk to vulnerable communities. John T. Giles, a lead economist, discussed China’s hukou system, showing how policies that govern rural-urban divides shape access to basic services.
These visits reminded me to stay informed about the spaces I care about, and to use history, whether of past disruptive technologies or of the development landscape of the 1980s, to inform today’s interventions. My honors thesis, which looks into the actors and ideas that informed the FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order, must take into account the ethos driving think tanks and private companies. Our visit to DC gave me a front-row seat to how that ecosystem operates.
~ Emma Wang
