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BY LINDA HOU

In print | Published March 18, 2010

Having spent most of his school years walking to school, Anson Stewart ’10 never thought he would be interested in school buses. But now, posters of school buses adorn the walls of both his room at home and his dorm.

Stewart was one of 41 college students in the country to be named a Watson Fellow on Monday. The fellowship provides a stipend of $25,000 for graduating seniors to travel around the world for an independent study project over the course of a year.

Stewart plans to use his Watson Fellowship next year following the route of repurchased old school buses in developing countries and to learn about their transportation systems and cities.

“When I came with the [NICA] Nicaragua group to Nicaragua two years ago … it was fascinating to me that the way people got around was through old school buses shipped from the U.S.,” Stewart said.

Stewart’s planned itinerary will take him to Mexico, Belize, Nicaragua, Panama, Ghana, Tanzania, South Africa, Argentina and Brazil. He chose these countries because of their public transportation systems.

“All of them have very interesting use of buses and mini buses in their urban transportation systems,” Stewart said. “They’re interesting to me because they’re different from the auto-dominated world of Southern California that I grew up in, and they’re also different from the developed rail structure in the East Coast that I’ve gotten used to.”

For example, the school buses, often modified with bright paint schemes and religious iconography, are considered public art in Panama, Stewart said in an e-mail. Stewart said that his fascination with transportation began as a child and grew throughout his Swarthmore years.

Stewart is a double major in engineering and urban studies, and both his senior thesis and senior engineering project are related to urban transportation. He has further worked with the T-rider’s Union and greenRELAY through his Eugene M. Lang Opportunity Scholarship.

“I’ve always been interested in how people move. I think there’s a lot of power involved in the way people move through space, and it’s a really important issue for the environment, for cities,” Stewart said. “What I’ve been really fortunate to realize over my Lang scholarship is that it’s really important for social justice.”

Farha Ghannam, Stewart’s thesis advisor and assistant professor of anthropology, said that the Watson will help Stewart pursue long-held interests.

“He was really focused on the issue of city-transportation-environment,” she said. “[The Watson Fellowship] fits very well with his commitment to enhancing several groups and their rights. He’s very committed to the idea that the city should be open to all kind of groups.”

In the summer after his sophomore year, Stewart interned with Alternatives for Community and Environment. Through the organization, he worked with the T-rider’s Union, which advocated for first-class transportation for all Boston residents. In his junior year, he worked on greenRELAY, which used methods such as blogging to disseminate information about environmentalism and connect youths and community groups in the cause.

“Anson’s project has made great strides towards meeting his goals,” said Jennifer Magee, Lang Center Associate Director for Student Programs and Training, in an e-mail. She said that greenRELAY has “introduced youth to environmentally conscious practices with which they may not be familiar, such as using public transportation.”

It was through his Lang Opportunity Scholarship internship and project that Stewart was able to see transportation as an important social justice and environmental issue.

“People’s access to transportation, especially people who don’t own cars — the way people go to work, go to school — all of those things are dependent on transportation systems and they have a large impact on people’s lives,” Stewart said.

Stewart continued his interest in transportation as related to social justice and the environment with his thesis and senior engineering project.

His engineering project is on pollution reduction in school buses, and his thesis draws on his experience with the T-riders Union in Boston and greenRELAY partner Bus-rider’s Union in Los Angeles to discuss how various groups struggle to define transportation in Boston and Los Angeles.
According to its website, the Watson Fellowship was created in honor of Thomas J. Watson, Sr., the founder of the International Business Machines Corp, or IBM, “in order to enhance their capacity for resourcefulness, imagination, openness, and leadership and to foster their humane and effective participation in the world community.” Watson Fellows are not allowed to return to the United States or their home countries for the 12 months when they pursue their fellowship.

“Anson had a good, creative, well-researched idea for his Watson proposal that aligned with his long-standing personal interests. He thought a lot about the countries he wanted to visit and why,” Fellowships and Prizes Advisor Melissa Mandos said in an e-mail.

After his year abroad, Stewart plans to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a graduate program in Urban Studies and Planning.

In addition to Stewart, two Haverford students and one Bryn Mawr student have also been awarded a fellowship.

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