Anchal graduated from Princeton in 2016 with a B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and a Global Health and Health Policy certificate. Her interests in the health of people, animals, and the environment were fueled by her first visit to the Mpala Research Centre in 2014, where she worked on a Nature Conservancy-funded rangeland rehabilitation and animal health project. She spent half of 2015 at Smithsonian field stations in Panama, conducting independent research on tropical ecosystems. This led up to her senior thesis, which examined the microenvironmental factors determining the distribution of an insect vector of Chagas disease. As an intern at the Indian Institute of Health Management, she researched the long-term sustainability of Human Milk Banks in Rajasthan and helped conduct community surveys to assess the impact of nutritional interventions. At Princeton, she was an editor for the Public Health Review, worked with university administration to improve mental health policies through the Mental Health Initiative, and proposed and led a civic engagement trip through Princeton’s alternative break program. Anchal looks forward to working at the intersections of science, conservation practice and outreach at Mpala this year, and to learning more about the savanna ecosystem, its wildlife and its people.

Alumni Update:

Amanda has begun a new career chapter as an environmental data scientist with Bayer Crop Science. As an environmental data scientist she designs her goals around global impact so that locations around the world have access to the latest data and models available to make improved decisions in the agricultural sector.

Fellow Bio:

Amanda (Princeton ‘11) is a Mechanical Engineer from Trinidad and Tobago. At Princeton, she was a Residential College Advisor for Rockefeller College, OA leader and member of the Cap and Gown Club. She earned a certificate in the Program in Sustainable Energy and hopes to pursue a career in this field. While at Princeton, Amanda has done extensive research in the Princeton Combustion laboratory on alternative fuels and renewable energy under the advisorship of Professor Frederick Dryer, and hopes to continue research in this field in graduate school. While in Kenya next year, she plans to take her engineering and sustainable energy skills to the field while working in Nyumbani Village in order to gain some real world experience. Along the way she hopes to pick up some of the local languages, learn to cook a lot of the food and absorb as much of the diverse culture Kenya has to offer as she possibly can.

Fellow Bio:

Allison Williams is an ecology and evolutionary biology major from Mt. Laurel, NJ. At Princeton, she focused her senior thesis research on the behavior and physiology of yellow baboons in Kenya and worked in the Altmann hormone lab analyzing stress hormones. Allison enjoys playing soccer and played for the university on the varsity and club teams. She also tutored children through several university programs and is a member of the Cottage Club. In Kenya next year, Allison looks forward to the research and work she will take part in at the Mpala Research Center and learning the local languages, eating the local food, and interacting with the people.

Alumni Update:

Alex is currently working for One Acre Fund in Rwanda, using data to make small-scale farmers more prosperous.

Fellow Bio:

Alexander is an Economics and Government double major with a minor in French from Tucson, AZ. Through Georgetown, he studied abroad in Senegal where he worked with Zidisha Microfinance. He also interned at the Embassy of Burkina Faso and conducted research in Kenya related to financial education, road safety, and maternal health savings. Outside the classroom, Alex served on the student body funding commission, volunteered at a social services center downtown, and led the Georgetown triathlon team as men’s captain. He spent two summers at home in the renewable energy sector and eagerly awaits twelve months of learning Swahili, running the Rift Valley, and better understanding rural poverty with The BOMA Project in northern Kenya.

Alumni Update:

Alex is currently a graduate student at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he is pursuing a Masters in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID). Previously, he worked as a research fellow at Harvard’s Center for International Development, and as a consultant for the World Bank in Uganda.

Fellow Bio:

Alex is from Chicago, Illinois and majored in Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences, Economics, and International Studies at Northwestern University. He also received a philosophy certificate as a member of the Brady Scholars Ethics Program.  At Northwestern, he worked to develop financial literacy curriculums as programming director of his Moneythink chapter, helped devise a business model for a pilot transitional housing program for homeless youth, and worked with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. He studied abroad for a semester in Seville, Spain, where he gained fluency in Spanish, interned as an English Teaching Assistant, and taught computer literacy workshops to vulnerable populations. He also spent a summer interning for the Foundation for Sustainable Development in Jinja, Uganda, where he implemented a sustainable income-generating project in his village. Last summer, he conducted research on the globalization of the telecommunications industry in Africa, and as a senior, he wrote an honors thesis titled “Trade Liberalization, Volatility, and Crop Choice in East Africa.” Alex is incredibly humbled for the opportunity to serve as a Fellow with The BOMA Project, and can’t wait to learn Swahili, integrate into the local Kenyan culture, and enjoy the natural beauty of the country.

Fellow Bio:

Adam Herling ‘07 is a Woodrow Wilson School major from Santa Fe, NM. Adam will spend his PiAF fellowship year working with the One Acre Fund, a non-profit organization based in Bungoma, Kenya, that offers microfinance services to poor farmers. An avid snowboarder and novice Telemark skier, Adam is happiest outdoors or eating green chile. He studied in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and, before Princeton, attended the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales. At Princeton, Adam was a leader trainer with the Outdoor Action program as well as a board member of the Princeton Justice Project. Adam can’t wait to start leaning Swahili (and how to farm).