Carmiel Schickler

Carmi Schickler was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin but raised on Long Island in Port Washington, New York. As a student at Paul D. Schreiber High School, Carmi has participated in numerous activities, including serving as the Vice President of the National Honor Society. Carmi was also a co-founder of his school’s branch of the Future Business Leaders of America club, and has served as the club’s treasurer for the past three years. 

Carmi was named a finalist in the 2006 Intel Science Talent Search after submitting a political science project in the Behavioral and Social Sciences category. Carmi explored and retested Doran’s power-cycle theory, which argues that nations behave predictably and with war-like tendencies when undergoing major shifts in relative power. Carmi showed that between 1700 and 1920, all levels of violent conflict, not just major war, became more likely for the nine most powerful nations in the world. The chance for conflict also increased further when these shifts in relative power were accompanied by changes in national leadership. 

Ultimately, Carmi hopes to develop a Conflict Alert System that would help predict and prevent violent conflict 6 to 24 months in advance of the possible triggering events. His work was conducted between November 2004 and November 2005 with the help of Dr. Peter Brecke from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and under the guidance of Dr. David O’Connor, his Social Science Research teacher at Schreiber High School. Carmi was selected by the other finalists to be the Glenn T. Seaborg Award speaker at the Science Talent Search Awards Banquet, an honor given to the student who best represents a commitment to scientific cooperation and communication. 

Carmi has received various awards for his historical research and essay writing. In 2005, Carmi was named as the New York state winner in the National Peace Essay Contest, sponsored annually by the United States Institute of Peace, for his essay contrasting democratization efforts in Weimar Germany and Lithuania. In October, Carmi was named the National Grand-Prize Winner in the National Endowment for the Humanities’ annual Idea of America Essay Contest. 

Carmi is an avid sports fan who looks forward to following the Cardinal while he attends Stanford University next year. The son of Rabbi Stanley Schickler and Ms. Lucy Effron, Carmi hopes to one day pursue a career in politics.