Presenters
Samuel Cai | Brown University
Health is a Revolutionary Message: An Analysis of the Cuban State Rhetoric from 1959-1965
Health is a Revolutionary Message: An Analysis of the Cuban State Rhetoric from 1959-1965
Samuel is a third year student at Brown University concentrating in Economics and International Relations. His academic interests are the first and second order effects of global health policy. He is the president of Brown’s chapter of GlobeMed, which supports women’s education and empowerment in Nairobi. He intends to pursue an MD and a PhD in health policy and aspires to be a researching physician. Outside of academics, Samuel enjoys playing piano, ukulele, tennis, and writing.
Joshua Frankevich | King's College
Micro-Finance in Uganda: Differences in SACCO Members' Use, Perceptions, and Benefits
Micro-Finance in Uganda: Differences in SACCO Members' Use, Perceptions, and Benefits
Joshua Frankevich is a member of the Class of 2020 in the McGowan School of Business at King’s College, majoring in International Business and Marketing, with a minor in Economics. A recipient of the U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship, designed to endow students with skills critical to US national security and economic competitiveness, Josh spent six months abroad at University College Dublin in 2018. He is a member of the King’s College radio station, conducting a weekly business and economics commentary that examines both domestic and foreign news. Josh currently interns at CSS Industries as a digital marketing intern. In his free time, he enjoys travelling, hiking, photography and volleyball.
Thomas Hale | Virginia Polytechnic Institute
United States AFPAK Strategy
United States AFPAK Strategy
Thomas Hale is a senior at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, majoring in Political Science, with a focus in South Asia Regional Security, Urban Planning, and Mineral Resources. He is a first-generation college student who obtained an associates in Administration of Justice at Virginia Western Community College before attending Virginia Tech. Thomas is currently an intern at the U.S. Department of State Bureau of South and Central Asia, Office of Press and Public Diplomacy. He has worked on three State Department Diplomacy Lab projects during his college career, focusing on Pakistani Youth Radicalization, Working with Foreign Nations to Combat Terrorist Actors Online, and Kuwait Land Management. Thomas has a strong passion for geology and has worked with researchers and museums collecting over 6,000 mineral and fossil specimens over the last four years. He has given lectures on mineral resources in Virginia and plans to do future research on the mineral extraction industry and its relationship to terror financing.
Moez Hayat | Georgetown University
An Assessment of Brunei's Role in ASEAN from 1985-2018
An Assessment of Brunei's Role in ASEAN from 1985-2018
Moez Hayat is a senior in the School of Foreign Service majoring in International Politics with a concentration in Foreign Policy. He is also pursuing a minor in Arabic and an ACMCU Certificate in Muslim Christian Understanding. Moez is a writer for the MENA section of The Caravel, an on-campus international affairs newspaper, and a tutor for the DC Schools Program. He works for Campus Ministry’s Office of Muslim Life and serves on the board of the Muslim Students Association. Moez is a native of Shreveport, Louisiana where he has lived all his life with his family.
Gulru Inan | University of Toronto
How Does a State's Strategic Culture Determine its Nuclear Status?
How Does a State's Strategic Culture Determine its Nuclear Status?
Gulru Inan is pursuing a double major in Economics and International Relations at the University of Toronto. Her research interests include financial crises, counter-terrorism, and nuclear non-proliferation, especially in the context of the Middle East and South Asia. She has served as an executive at the Muslim Students’ Association, and as the MSA's Institutional Representative for Islamic Relief Canada. For the past three years, she has been providing interpretation during mock hearings and clinical counseling sessions for asylum seekers. Most recently, she worked as a Research Assistant at the Clarkson Centre for Business Ethics. In her free time, she enjoys drinking bubble tea and trying out new restaurants.
Paul Keh | Georgetown University
Dragon in the Indian Ocean: China, Economic Statecraft & National Security
Dragon in the Indian Ocean: China, Economic Statecraft & National Security
Paul Keh is a junior in the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service (SFS), majoring in International Politics with a concentration in international security. Paul’s research interests are centered around East and Southeast Asian foreign policy and security, which a specific focus on China, and has covered a range of topics from regional geopolitics to cybersecurity. Paul is passionate about public policy and civil service, and is an Paul F. Pelosi Public Service Scholar of the SFS as well as a member of the Jesuit Honor Society.
Justin Melnick | University of Pennsylvania
Sovereignty with Chinese Characteristics: Strategic Engagement in International Law and Politics
Sovereignty with Chinese Characteristics: Strategic Engagement in International Law and Politics
Justin Melnick is a junior at the University of Pennsylvania studying International Relations and Economics. He is an undergraduate fellow at the Center for Study of Contemporary China at Penn, as well as the deputy editor of the Sigma Iota Rho Journal of International Relations. He plans to use his interests in data science as well as his command of Spanish, French, Chinese, and Italian to pursue a Ph.D. in political science and conduct quantitative social science research. In his spare time he hangs out with his pet chinchilla, Tito.
Tim O'Shea | George Mason University
File Size and Cyber Spies: The Impact of ICT on Democratic Revolutions
File Size and Cyber Spies: The Impact of ICT on Democratic Revolutions
Tim O'Shea is a member of the Class of 2019 at George Mason University, where he majors in Government and International Politics with minors in Economics and Data Analysis. He serves as the Database and Intelligence Manager at Rise To Peace, a D.C.-based non-profit focused on countering violent extremism. He is also a member of the International Counter-Terrorism Youth Network, and previously served as a Research Assistant at Mason's Schar School of Policy and Government, focusing on the characteristics of terrorist attacks committed by Central Asian extremists. He'll be attending law school this coming fall.
Isaac Tong | Johns Hopkins University
Viewing the Cross-Strait Rivalry in the International Arena through the FRG-GDR Conflict Citizenship Law and National Political Identity
Viewing the Cross-Strait Rivalry in the International Arena through the FRG-GDR Conflict Citizenship Law and National Political Identity
Originally from San Francisco, Isaac Tong is a junior International Studies and East Asian Studies double major at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He has previously studied Advanced Mandarin Chinese at the Harvard Beijing Academy with funding from the Department of Education’s Foreign Language and Area Studies grant. His current research was supervised at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, where he studied Human, Social, and Political Science. Outside of class, he has served as a Peace Corps Student Ambassador, participated in the White House Internship Program by interning at the Office of Presidential Correspondence, and is now a Government Relations intern at the American Enterprise Institute. After graduation, he hopes to serve America and improve the lives of the American people by working on foreign policy towards the Indo-Pacific.