she/her/hers

 Kristen Tam graduated from UCLA with a degree in environmental science and a minor in food studies. At UCLA, she conducted research under Professor Jennifer Jay in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering analyzing the concentration of heavy metal levels in the soil in LA farms and promoting more sustainable food choices in the dining halls as the UCLA Sustainable Food Task Force’s Undergraduate Representative. Kristen culminated her studies at UCLA as the GIS lead and External Communications Officer in her environmental science senior practicum. Their team partnered with the Cameroon-based nonprofit, Agriculture for Africa, to implement soil testing, GIS mapping, and a solar irrigation system on the nonprofit’s farms in Nkongsamba, Cameroon. She also worked on an organic coffee farm on the Big Island of Hawaii during COVID to get hands-on farming experience. Following that, Kristen moved to North Platte, Nebraska and conducted research, discovering the positive effects on beneficial insect populations from planting native grasslands adjacent to corn fields. From the fields to Capitol Hill, Kristen interned with the House of Representatives Agriculture Committee to engage in how policymaking can affect farmers and sustainable food systems. Following the Princeton in Africa fellowship, she plans to pursue a joint graduate degree in environmental science and law school and pursue a career in sustainable agriculture law. Originally from San Francisco, Kristen enjoys running, road cycling, hiking and baking. Kristen was also President of the UCLA Triathlon Team and organized two Crowdfunding campaigns to send the team to Nationals.

he/him/his

 Adam is a Diplomacy and International Relations promoter with three years of experience in Marketing and Career Development at an ed-tech startup, BAG, in Rwanda. He completed a bachelor’s degree with Honors in International Business and Trade from the African Leadership University. With his passion in IR he served as the Chief of Staff at the Kigali CFR from 2020 to 2021. Adam founded Rwanda Model UN, an organization that promotes global leadership among youth. As a natural storyteller, Adam leverages the power of social media to immortalize highlight moments in different communities he takes part of. He has been serving as an Assistant Producer at Ramansa Media a film startup and along with his team they have mobilized to raise $30,000 dollars for production funds from GIZ Rwanda. Adam envisions leveraging technology to solve some of the biggest challenges the continent faces. He runs Gazap, as the CEO, a tech startup that addresses climate change and uses big data to provide clean cooking to all.

Fenja Tramsen is a trainee at the EU Delegation to the Holy See, UN Organisations, Order of Malta, and San Marino, based in Rome. Previously, she worked as a Princeton in Africa Fellow at the International Livestock Research Institute in Kenya, where she published agricultural development communications. Her other governance, migration, and development experience includes roles at the Social Science Research Council, the Niskanen Center in the USA, and the Alliance for Social Equity in Ghana. Fenja holds an MSc in Global Governance and Diplomacy from the University of Oxford and a BA in Political Science and History with High Honors from Swarthmore College, USA.

she/her/hers

 Hannah was born in Kenya and raised in Zimbabwe, where she developed a passion for public health and youth mentorship while volunteering with children impacted by HIV/AIDS. She is a recent University of Virginia (UVA) graduate who majored in global public health and minored in sociology. Hannah’s commitment to supporting youth in her community motivated her to volunteer at the UVA Children’s Hospital and mentor high schoolers who volunteer with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville. Growing up in Zimbabwe and attending an international school, Hannah valued learning from people of different backgrounds. Therefore, as president of the Global Student Council at UVA, she started roundtable discussions for students of all cultural backgrounds to identify differences and similarities in their UVA experiences. In addition, Hannah led independent research studies as an undergraduate. Most recently, she has continued to support people living with HIV/AIDS by investigating factors to improve access to HIV care at UVA’s Ryan White HIV Clinic. Hannah’s experience with remote Africa-based work solidified her interest in further developing her connection to the region. In 2021, she interned with the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) and wrote reports on gender inequality in Zimbabwe and ZimRights’ financing options. That year, she also collaborated on a remote investigation of the best clinical practices at the University of Rwanda’s multidisciplinary pain management clinic. After this fellowship, Hannah intends to pursue a master’s in public health. She aims to increase global access to quality and affordable health care

he/him/his

 Max Kaye recently graduated from the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where he majored in Culture and Politics (CULP) and obtained an African Studies certificate. Max designed his CULP major to look at strengthening state capacity on the African continent. He also closely follows developments in South and Central America and studied during his junior year in Argentina in a program centered on transnationalism and comparative development in South America. Max has a strong interest in philanthropy and has worked in business development at several nonprofits. As the Peace Programs Development intern at The Carter Center in Fall 2022, Max helped develop grant proposals and researched and created presentations related to European and Asian donors. Prior to that, Max was the Development Intern in the Global Economy and Development Program at Brookings Institution, where he supported the grants management and reporting process. Additionally, Max interned at PeaceTech Lab, a nonprofit dedicated to using tech and media to promote peace, and at the Culmore Clinic, a health care clinic for low-income, predominantly Spanish speaking clients. Max was raised in the Washington, D.C. area. During his free time, he loves to connect with friends and family, work out, watch a variety of sports, and read about new international developments.

Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Madeline Wong graduated from Tufts University with majors in biology and archaeology. Her college research with The Kibale Chimpanzee Project and The Kasiisi Project spanned biology, anthropology, conservation, and education in rural Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Madeline was the undergraduate One Health student contact in collaboration with Tufts Dental, Medical, and Veterinary schools and taught the importance of ancient cultures at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Uplifting her communities, Madeline supported microfinancing for immigrant small businesses in New York and Massachusetts. As a Princeton in Africa fellow with the communications and knowledge management team at the International Livestock Research Institute based in Nairobi, Kenya, Madeline has been reporting on sustainable livelihoods and gender projects that by design highlight South-South cooperation.

Neil Wary was raised in the Chicago suburbs and deeply cares about health equity, mentorship, and service. He recently graduated from Stanford University (2022) with a bachelor’s in Human Biology, a master’s in Epidemiology and Clinical Research, and a minor in Music. During his time at Stanford, Neil was involved with Stanford Medicine’s free clinics, edited Stanford’s Journal of Science, Technology & Society, and was a peer tutor. Neil has extensive research experience in cardiovascular and cardiometabolic diseases and wrote his master’s thesis on predicting insulin sensitivity using blood-based biomarkers. In his free time, Neil plays the violin. Following the Princeton in Africa fellowship, Neil plans to attend music conservatory and then medical school. He is excited to be joining the faculty at USAP Community School in Ruwa, Zimbabwe.

Kyilah Terry was born and raised in Chicago, IL and graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in International Studies and German from UCLA in 2019. In May 2021, she graduated from Georgetown University with her Master’s in International Relations with a concentration in migration diplomacy and refugee law. During her graduate studies, Kyilah worked as a research assistant at the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR), the U.S. Institute of Peace (Africa Center), the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), and the Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM), where she focused on forced displacement and migration management with a regional focus in Europe and Africa. These experiences culminated in her master’s capstone, which was later published in an academic journal, and focused on EU migration externalization policies in North Africa. As a result of her desire to gain more practical experience, she became a policy associate for an immigration consulting firm, where she authored legal and advocacy reports for non-profit immigration organizations in the D.C. area on climate-induced displacement in East Africa. Right before becoming a PiAf Fellow to IRC Kenya, she worked as a Congressional Fellow on Vice President Kamala Harris’s Domestic Policy team and handled VP Harris’s immigration portfolio.

Ian Stiehl graduated from Dartmouth College with a major in Astronomy and a minor in Mathematical Physics while completing the pre-medical track. His honors thesis integrated all three courses of study in a project that applied information theory to the field of extrasolar planetary science. He examined whether computational methods could distinguish between different types of planets (e.g., Earth vs. Jupiter) without the need for input physics. Involved in the Native American Program at Dartmouth, Ian spent three years working as a tutor and advising younger students on scholarship applications. Outside of school, he interned at Allegro Pediatrics in Washington state and researched how the musculoskeletal system responds to spaceflight with funding from the Stamps Scholarship. Originally from Seattle, he grew up loving the outdoors, an interest he maintained in college. He has led multiple backcountry canoe and hiking trips around the US and relishes the opportunity to explore northern Tanzania. In his free time, Ian loves running, racing on Dartmouth’s triathlon team all four years of college. In February of 2023, months of training came to a close as he participated in the Kilimanjaro marathon. With Tanzanian Education Corporation, Ian has served as a computer science teacher, an IT manager, a STEM project advisor and more. He started both a Girls in STEM program that meets weekly and a digital literacy development program for teachers at Tumaini Senior Secondary School (TSSS) where he works. Also in pursuit of bridging the computer knowledge gap, he initiated a partnership between TSSS and the International Certificate of Digital Literacy (ICDL). ICDL classes for A-level students are currently in the pilot phase for a full launch in July 2023. Ian has been grateful to his colleagues, students, and friends at TSSS for welcoming him into the school community.

Lauryn Spinetta is a recent graduate of Princeton University (’22), majored in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. During her time at Princeton, she served as the captain of the Women’s Club Soccer team and as a Peer Health Advisor. Lauryn tells others that she is from Austin, Texas but has roots spread across the world, having moved twelve times growing up in support of her father’s military service. Born overseas, holding 3 citizenships, and earning her FAA private pilot’s license, and having traveled to over 15 countries and counting, Lauryn is irrevocably infected with wanderlust. During the summer of 2019, Lauryn volunteered at Levolosi Health Centre in Arusha, Tanzania, spending 3 months assisting medical professionals in the labor and delivery ward. The following summer, she joined the Rubenstein Research Group and began research into the interaction between wildlife and livestock in Mpala, Kenya. This experience contributed to her junior-year independent work and her senior thesis addressing the social and developmental environments of Plain Zebras in Ol Pejeta, Kenya. Lauryn also served as a clinical research intern at Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeons as well as an intern with the Cardiac ICU at Dell Children’s Hospital in Austin, where she co-authored two articles and an abstract from her research to improve the quality of cardiac care and patient outcomes. In her last semester at Princeton, Lauryn was a part of the EEB Field Study Abroad Program at the Mpala Research Centre and the Turkana Basin Institute in Kenya. After a successful Princeton in Africa fellowship, Lauryn plans to attend medical school and pursue a career dedicated to the service of others. In her spare time, Lauryn is a voracious reader and loves to fly planes and go hiking. She is very excited to spend a year working and exploring Rwanda.