Max Johnson
Maxwell is a sophomore interested in studying government and economics. On campus, he is Director of Tournaments for Claremont McKenna Mock Trial and is also a bike technician at the bike shop. Off campus, he volunteers to complete youth immigration cases for children petitioning for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) and has prior experience in immigration law. His real-world experience in immigration has inspired him to delve deeper into the structural barriers that endanger lives through the Mgrublian Center’s Roth Human Rights Research Fellowship. His paper will investigate how judge shopping – the practice of filing cases in cherry-picked federal district courts to receive certain judges – has elicited controversial rulings in the form of nationwide injunctions, halting nationwide policy. Though legal experts recognize the primary purpose of the court manipulation to achieve a partisan end, the unrecognized truth reveals human rights violations against vulnerable groups, such as youth immigrants, asylees, and families. He wishes to employ research skills learned from the Roth Human Rights Research Fellowship to pursue a career at the intersection of human rights and government. In his free time, he also enjoys playing tennis and spending time with his dog, Ruby.
Amar Toric
Amar is a sophomore from Cave Creek, Arizona, studying Economics with plans for medical school. He is a Podlich scholar, marketing director of the Real Estate Finance Association, co-founder of the Eastern European and Central Asian Student Union, research assistant in Professor Budischak’s bird pathology lab, and a member of the Claremont Men’s Lacrosse team. Inspired by his mother’s resilience during the Siege of Sarajevo—the longest in modern history—Amar was profoundly shaped by her experiences and his summer private equity internship in Bosnia. This dual influence has driven him to research the critical intersection of post-genocide society and education, addressing a significant gap in genocide studies. In his free time, Amar explores the philosophy of the mind-body problem, experiments with Noma-style fermentation, and curates a collection of stylish bowties. Amar is honored to be a John K. Roth Fellow and eagerly anticipates the opportunities ahead.
Shelby McIlroy
Shelby is a Junior from Orange County, CA, studying Government with a leadership sequence. On campus, Shelby is a member of the CMS Women’s Volleyball team and the Empowering Women in Sports Club. Her mother, Stacey McIlroy, attended CMC and wrote her thesis under Professor John K. Roth. Having grown up around the CMC community and attended Professor Roth’s Athenaeum talks as a kid, Shelby was inspired to get involved in the Mgrublian Center and pursue her passion to learn from, educate and contribute to the Human Rights community. Shelby’s research project on the Trauma of Holocaust Survivors in Latin America is driven by her experience in Professor and Director Wendy Lower’s Researching the Holocaust seminar, where she discovered her passion for Holocaust studies. In her research, Shelby plans to analyze the psychological and emotional consequences of surviving a genocide, as well as investigate how trauma from the Holocaust can be passed down generationally. Her focus will be on the region of Latin America, where perpetrators and survivors emigrated and coexisted after the Holocaust.
Anjali Thakore
Anjali is a senior at CMC, dual majoring in International Relations and History, and minoring in Human Rights, Genocide, and Holocaust Studies. Her interests have primarily coalesced around war crime prevention, international human rights law, and transitional justice, with a particular focus on the gendered experiences of genocide and the mitigation of conflict-related sexual violence. She has previously worked at the UN Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, the International Peace Institute, and The Sentry. In her spare time, Anjali enjoys reading poetry, visiting art museums, and curating Spotify playlists.
Nic Changbencharoen
Nicolas is a junior majoring in Government and History, with a minor in Human Rights, Genocide, and Holocaust Studies. With a strong background in research, he has contributed to projects at the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies and the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies. As a John Roth Fellow at the MGrublian Center, he is conducting research on modern slavery in Thailand, focusing specifically on the inadequacies of current legal frameworks in preventing human rights violations among migrant workers in the seafood industry.
