Alumni Directory Display

Julia is a graduate of UC Berkeley, where she studied Political Economy and Public Policy and cultivated an interest in using data to inform policy and improve livelihoods in the developing world. Her research experience at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health and the Blum Center for Developing Economies heightened her interest in examining the relationship between the global north and south and advocating for health access as a fundamental human right. Originally hailing from Long Beach, California, Julia spent the last two and a half years supporting the design and implementation of evaluations and randomized control trials at Social Impact, a Washington DC-based international development consulting firm. During her time at SI, Julia gained field experience supervising data collection in Nepal, supported a maternal and child health evaluation in Laos, analyzed data for a Ghana education portfolio, and implemented a nationwide labor force study in Kosovo. In her previous work, Julia interned at a Los Angeles-based nonprofit where she worked to improve economic outcomes for marginalized communities, and contributed to policy briefs and research projects in human rights and sustainable development at a Madrid-based think tank.  Julia is looking forward to honing her monitoring and evaluation skills and focusing her efforts at the local level in Lwala.

Clare graduated from Colorado College with a major in English and minor in Russian, Nonviolence, and Music. The child of anthropologists, Clare spent extended periods of her life living with livestock herders in East Africa, where she learned, firsthand, of the daily challenges impoverished rural families face in developing countries. She also spent some time in Japan, where she learned about Kyoto’s education system. Through these varied experiences, she developed a commitment to eliminating barriers to high quality education and an interest in the policies that shape people’s everyday economic and educational realities. During college, Clare worked on political campaigns, served as a legislative intern for two United States Senators, and founded a college organization to address socioeconomic challenges. In her study abroad to Russia, she conducted research about Russians’ understandings of their identities from a contemporary global perspective. Upon graduating, Clare served as a Youth Specialist for the non-profit, Joint Initiatives, where she developed new strategies for strengthening youth voices at all levels of child and family systems and services. Clare’s fellowship with the Indigenous Education Foundation of Tanzania has a mission she loves – providing high quality education supported by the indigenous community the organization serves.

Emma graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in Global Health. During her senior year, she lived in Tanzania for four months interning for the National Institute of Medical Research. While there, she conducted research on hospital-acquired neonatal sepsis by observing WASH practices of health workers and collecting microbial samples. She previously interned at The World Bank, assisting on the implementation of health system development projects in fragile countries. As she is passionate about the environment, she interned for a community organization in New York focused on carbon emissions reduction, solid waste management, and sustainability. While in Washington, DC, she worked on confronting the city’s HIV/AIDS epidemic by interning with a mobile HIV testing organization and volunteering in middle schools to educate students about prevention. Emma then led the recruitment process at Georgetown Global Consulting, an organization that provides consulting to NGO’s in developing countries. There she also directed a project in Guatemala, communicating and collaborating with the Spanish-speaking client via a translator. She twice advocated on Capitol Hill for increased funding for the USAID Neglected Tropical Disease program with the END7 campaign to eradicate NTDs. 

Tomas graduated from Davidson College in 2015, majoring in Political Science and minoring in Economics. As an undergraduate, he worked with a professor on a study of the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, sparking an interest in African conflict that led him to intern at the Enough Project and culminated in a senior thesis on the M23 rebellion in the Democratic Republic of Congo. After graduating, he joined the Congressional Research Service, where he assisted Africa analysts with research on a range of projects. While at CRS, he was fortunate to co-author reports on Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Boko Haram, and the Lord’s Resistance Army, among others. Tomas is very excited to join the International Rescue Committee in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where he hopes to expand his knowledge of Sierra Leone and West Africa, gain insight into the challenges of governance and development in post-conflict societies, and (with any luck) learn a little Krio.

Alumni Update:

Ruba was the Outreach Coordinator for Princeton in Africa from February to September 2021. She is currently based in London, where she is attending The London School of Economics to get her master’s in international development and health.

Fellow Bio:

Ruba Idris is a recent graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Services, Certificates in Health Services and African Studies and a Minor in Economics. She is interested in foreign affairs, health and development and intends to pursue a Master’s Degree in International Development, and later in the future, a Masters of Public Health. Ruba originally hails from Sudan and her cultural duality as a Sudanese-American has provided her with a deeper cultural understanding of countries in the global north and the global south. She plans to return to the African continent where she is interested in translating economic and entrepreneurial potential present within the young population into concrete skills while reducing the health issues that impact the population and its productivity. She aspires to work for various organizations focusing on development such as USAID, the World Bank and the United Nations. Ruba is passionate about working with people from different backgrounds, exploring various cultures, examining and understanding trends and links within developing nations, and understanding holistic paradigms of development. These interests are portrayed through her panoply of courses, which encompass language, economics, health and history, amongst other topics, and the various activities she has participated in such as study abroad, research and student organizations. During her 4 years in undergraduate school, Ruba worked to cultivate her leadership skills through different leadership roles in student organizations, which include her positions as president of the African Students Organization and the vice president of Model African Union. She has also expanded her cultural competency and deepened her understanding of development through her study and work abroad in Tanzania, Ghana, and Honduras, and through her research work with local African communities. Other than academia, Ruba is also very passionate about fashion and owns a T-shirt business that aims to spread knowledge about the continent of Africa. She hopes to one day incorporate Fashion into the economic development of the continent by cultivating a robust fashion industry. Ruba is a critical thinker and loves to learn and improve her personal skills. She enjoys being mentally challenged and strives to understand other points of views. She hopes to develop into a well-rounded individual who can mold to any sector within the development realm.

Clara graduated from Bates College in 2016 with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and a minor in U.S. History. While attending Bates, Clara had the opportunity to study abroad for a semester in Rwanda and Uganda through the School for International Training’s program Post-Genocide Restoration and Peacebuilding. Upon returning to the States, Clara continued to cultivate her interest in East and Sub-Saharan Africa. During the summer of 2015, she received funding through Bates to work in South Africa, as well as to return to Rwanda to conduct independent research. While in South Africa, Clara gained hands on wildlife rehabilitation experience at the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds. She then traveled to Rwanda to research how the coffee industry has been utilized as a reconciliation tool. During her final year of college, she completed a senior thesis analyzing Rwanda’s gorilla tourism industry through a positive peace paradigm. With a strong interest in East Africa and having previously worked on farms, Clara is excited to return to Uganda to work as a Farm fellow at The Kasiisi Project. She looks forward to expanding her understanding of conservation work, learning Rutooro, and becoming a part of the Kasiisi community.

Cynthia graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Political Science and French. She was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and immigrated to the United States at the age of seven. She was raised in Bradenton, Florida. During her undergraduate career, she worked for numerous international non-profit organizations. As the Assistant Executive Director of Rural Empowerment Development Innovations (REDI), she assisted in organizing workshops and forums to help Kenyan female business owners improve their business methods. She also interned for the Development Outlook Consultancy (DOC), where she researched devolution in Kenya as well as education policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, she served as the Vice-President of Love, Period Inc, which provides girls in Kampala, Uganda with sanitary products so they can attend school. Cynthia then worked as a full-time intern at the Florida House of Representatives, where she analyzed various education policy bills. Her passion for education and research inspired her to start Boulevard to Victory Inc, which is a non-profit organization geared towards empowering high school seniors by providing them with scholarships for college. Upon graduation, Cynthia received a Fulbright grant to teach English in Taiwan for a year. She is fluent in French and Haitian Creole and can speak Swahili and Mandarin. Cynthia is interested in the intersection of education and poverty. She hopes to increase her knowledge of international development, while enhancing her leadership and language skills.

Dhruvi is a graduate of NYU Abu Dhabi, where she studied Civil Engineering with a concentration in Urbanization and developed an interest to work at the intersection of policy and sustainable development. Her field experience working in Dharavi, Mumbai with local potters on mitigating air-pollution through the design of a retrofitted chimney highlighted the importance of developing cost-beneficial and need-based solutions at a local level. She has formed a strong understanding of global efforts geared towards environmental conservation through conducting research with NYU Langone and Yale University on mapping waste disposal pathways across the United States, with a specific focus on New York. Her senior capstone project highlights the rising need to better manage global waste, working to design an effective and sustainable system applying waste-to-energy technologies in Abu Dhabi. She is interested in transportation networks and spent last summer working at the New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Here, she worked on a wide range of projects from advancing congestion pricing to building out proposals for MTA’s organizational reform. By combining her experience with community-led initiatives to city-level projects, she is determined to build a career at the intersection of sustainable development, infrastructure, technology, and the environment. As an Indian-Kenyan, born and raised in Nairobi she is looking forward to developing her monitoring and evaluation skills in the context of her home country Kenya.

Born in Tucson, Arizona and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Amy graduated from New York University with a degree in Global Public Health and Anthropology. Amy grew up frequently moving between the two countries and attending numerous public and private schools. Experiencing a clash of cultures and different education systems, Amy became interested in the intersection of culture, education, and health. During her time in New York, she interned at HealthRight International, a global health and human rights NGO, where she took part in developing a ‘Reproductive Health and Human Rights’ online course. She also volunteered to teach teenagers to make healthy choices in public high schools in low-income communities. She studied abroad in Ghana and wrote a case study report about Ghana’s mental health system during her internship at KEBA Africa, highlighting the impact of policy and culture on health and education of abandoned children living in Accra Psychiatric Hospital. She also volunteered at a community-based organization where she developed and implemented a reproductive and sexual health curriculum at schools in urban slum areas. She hopes to continue serving underserved and marginalized populations, and one day see Africa lead the highest standard of healthcare and education.

Katerina recently graduated from Tufts University with a degree in International Security. As an undergraduate, Katerina worked as a writing tutor, was a member of Tufts Mock Trial and acted as a Green Dot ambassador to improve campus culture around sexual misconduct. She has explored her interest in law, international affairs and intersecting health or environmental issues through work experience at a food-tech start-up, an INGO and the State Department. Through these internships and academic experiences, Katerina has conducted regional conflict analyses, explored the role and limits of nongovernmental peacebuilding and used GIS to explore conflict trends over time. She hopes to attend law school and pursue domestic and international peacebuilding and negotiations. She is excited to complement her academic experiences with practical training at the International Rescue Committee in Nairobi and challenge her current understanding of development and aid work.