I don't know why, but I have always been interested in studying war, in reading accounts of war crimes and genocide, and in pondering both the origins of and solutions to violent conflict. So I guess it is no accident that I find myself heading into my senior year as an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley, majoring in Peace and Conflict Studies with a concentration in International Relations.

As a way both to develop my studies and to focus my interest, I have been working with Professor David Cohen at the War Crimes Studies Center here at Berkeley for the last two semesters, through the Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP). In my research for Professor Cohen last fall, I looked at a range of issues related to justice in post-conflict situations, specifically examining "hybrid" tribunals such as the recently inaugurated Special Court for Sierra Leone, war crimes tribunals that represent a cross between international tribunals and domestic courts. During this past spring semester, my research for Professor Cohen has turned to the gacaca trials that are currently being implemented in Rwanda.