Current Students

A look at the incoming IDCE Class of 2011:

Every effort was made to represent each student correctly. If you did not send us a bio, we may have created one from your admissions materials. In some instances, we edited for space and content. If you would like to send, adjust, or correct your bio, please send a note to idcenews@clarku.edu and we will update your record. If you have requested confidentiality, we have excluded you from this list.

Elisa Abelson, ES&P (U.S.) received her B.S. in environmental studies at the University of Maine at Machias. After graduation, she completed two AmeriCorps terms. The first was in West Virginia working with energy efficiency and pollution prevention measures, including setting up the first public recycling program in the county. The second was in New York City, working outside in parks, doing ecological restoration work and environmental education.

Sarah Abrams, IDSC (U.S.) was the recipient of the prestigious Compton Mentor Fellowship during the fall of 2008. She graduated with a B.A. in international development and social change from Clark University in 2008. She has a passion for helping underprivileged Haitians in the Dominican Republic. 

Eric Agyekum, IDSC (Ghana) graduated from the University of Cape Coast with a degree in B.S. Tourism in 2002. His previous experiences include teaching in a secondary school, working with Kwabre District Assembly and the Ghana Tourist Board. His interests include community-based development and resource management and he hopes to become an international development practitioner.

Helaine Alon, ES&P (U.S./Israel) graduated from the University of Vermont with a B.A. in international health and development with a minor in anthropology. During her undergraduate studies, Alon was a student organizer around issues of international trade justice and global health. Most recently she worked in Israel with an NGO called Bustan, where she coordinated volunteers and assisted the Children’s Power Project, providing solar panels to Bedouin families who lacked access to electricity, all in order to care for the children’s health needs. Her research interests include environmental health, sustainable food systems, indigenous rights, and traditional medicine.

Jenner Alpern, ES&P (U.S.) graduated with a B.A. in environmental science from Clark University in 2009. While at Clark, he was part of the HERO program, conducting research into residential lawn management practices in order to learn more about the drivers of socioeconomic drought, a condition that occurs frequently in Massachusetts.

Maureen Amadi, GISDE (Nigeria) received her B.A. in mining and geology. Since graduating she has worked as a practicing hydrogeologist at GEOPROBE International Consultants in Nigeria. Her responsibilities included office and personnel management, field coordination, groundwater exploration, and data processing and analysis. Amadi has also interned with SHELL Petroleum within their National Youth Service Corps Program, where she worked on environmental impact assessment as well as data processing and management. Her research interests include environment and community, application of GIS in groundwater development and management, and engineering site investigation.

Soumaia Amin, IDSC (Egypt) has been working in the field of community development since 1983. She has been working with a focus on gender and economic programs to improve the status and conditions of poor families, particularly women through community-based income generation and small enterprise projects. She has worked as a professional and as a volunteer in different countries, including Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, and the Republic of Georgia. Her professional experience ranges from community-level field work to designing and negotiating projects with counterparts at the national level.

Glen Aronson, GISDE (U.S.) received a B.S. in anthropology from Montana State University in 2004. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal, where he promoted sustainable agriculture and agroforestry practices. For the past two years Aronson has worked as an environmental consultant in Washington, D.C., supporting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s internal energy and water reduction programs and its nascent WaterSense public outreach program. His interests include the use of GIS to investigate relationships between climate change and freshwater resources.

Amanda Barker, IDSC (U.S) received her B.A. in international studies from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Barker seeks to work towards environmental justice and sustainability through grassroots efforts developed through community engagement. For her, sustainability will come through alternative energy sources, conservation, clean-up efforts and incentives to improve our ways of living.

Ananya Baruah, GISDE (India) completed her Master’s degree in environmental management from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia in 2007. During her studies, she was actively involved in a Climate Change Mitigation Project in the Environment Unit at UNSW. Upon graduation, she joined an NGO called ATREE in India to work as a research associate in the hydrology component of a UNDP Project called “Post Tsunami Environment Initiative.” Her role was to study the periodic trends of the water resources in the Tsunami affected areas in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. After the completion of this project, Baruah joined Wilbur Smith Pvt ltd in Bangalore, India where she worked as an environmental planner. There her responsibilities involved organizing baseline environmental monitoring, conducting field surveys and preparation of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Management Plan (EMP) Reports for infrastructure development projects such as highways, buildings, water supply, sewerage, etc. Baruah’s research interests include the application of GIS and related Spatial Information Systems in the case of urban and rural planning, sustainable development, and environmental advocacy.

Ezra Becker, ES&P (U.S.) recently graduated from Purdue University with a B.A. in political science and environmental policy. For the past year, he has been working for the Sonoma County Water Agency where he has interned on projects such as winery GHG emissions and grants for electric car funding among a few. His interests include the environment and energy delivery systems.

Megan Behrle, IDSC (U.S.) received her B.A. in international affairs and economics with a minor in environmental studies from Sweet Briar College.

Patrick Bird, ES&P (U.S.) comes from Westminster, MA, a small town in north of Worcester. He received his B.S. from the University of Vermont in public recreation management in 2007. Bird has worked with the National Park Service at Cape Cod National Seashore as a park ranger, conducting public programs on the seashore’s natural and cultural resources. His interests include public land management, marine fisheries, and climate change. Bird is also a member of Massachusetts Power Shift, a non-partisan network of young professionals advocating for solutions to climate change through clean energy initiatives.

Samantha Blank, CDP (U.S.) recently graduated from Clark with a B.A. in sociology with a concentration in urban development and social change. Her research interests involve issues surrounding youth and families, specifically single-parent households.

Stacy Bogan, GISDE (U.S.) holds a B.S. in environmental science from Northland College. During the summers you could find her removing invasive species from wetlands, helping high-school students study loons, coordinating a volunteer culvert survey, helping children grow a garden at a domestic violence shelter, or working at a sustainable farm. Bogan has served in AmeriCorps at the ReStore, a new-used building material store, and is currently scheduling tours for FoodPlay, a children’s nutrition theater company. She’s interested in using GIS to address issues such as global climate change, sustainable community development, and watershed management.

Amintas Brandão Jr., GISDE (Brazil) graduated from the State University of Pará with a B.S. in environmental engineering. Since 2003 he has been working in the remote sensing and geoprocessing laboratory at Imazon, a Brazilian NGO whose mission is to promote sustainable development in the Amazon through scientific studies, support for public policies and professional training. His responsibilities at Imazon include performing scientific research and conducting training in geoprocessing and remote sensing. Brandão’s main interests are models of optimization, decision support tools, and environmental models.

Christine Brown, IDSC (U.S.) received her B.A. in communication from the University of Maryland in 2005. While volunteering for a community development initiative in the Volta Region of Ghana, she encouraged higher education among the Junior Secondary School students. She also introduced a sexual education program, and discussed income-generating ideas with community members to complete construction of a village library. She recently developed a scholarship fund to provide tuition assistance for the children of Saviefe to attend Senior School. Her research interests include human rights, sustainable economic development, public health awareness, and education.

Pamela Burghardt, ES&P (U.S.) recently graduated from Daemen College with a B.A. in history, government, and environmental studies. She has been a member of the Girl Scouts since 1991, and she was awarded the History and Government Department Best Senior Thesis in 2008 from Daemen College.

Nicholas Burnham, CDP (U.S.) received his B.A. in geography with a concentration in urban and regional planning from Framingham State College. Recently, he has worked as an intern with the MetroWest Growth Management Committee in Framingham as assistant to the planning staff. Prior to that, he interned with the Town of Londonderry, New Hampshire working as the planning intern with the Community and Economic Development department to help create an overlay ordinance for the town’s Historic District. His areas of interest include housing and transportation planning, public policy, geography information systems use in town planning, and sustainable development.

Alex Carnes, GISDE (U.S.) recently graduated from the University of Connecticut with a B.A. in geography. Recently, he has worked with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to map inundation zones in the state of New York in the event of 1-4 foot sea level rise as well as aid in the generation of new datasets. Prior to this, he has interned at TRC Environmental Corporation, helped promote UConn’s Map and Geographic Information Center (MAGIC), and used GIS to visualize climate change in the Northeast U.S. over the past 50 years through an independent study. Carnes’s main research interests are analyzing the effect of climate change on our environment and its associated impacts to development.

Hannah Caruso, IDSC (U.S.) graduated with a B.A. in international development and social change from Clark University and now wants to pursue a Ph.D. in development anthropology. Her academic interests are political economy, democratization, participation, community organizing, movements for social change and Latin America and the Caribbean. As a component of her Service-Learning study abroad program in the Dominican Republic this past year, she worked with a public health team at a local non-profit organization to perform scientific investigation of the effectiveness of their clean water education and water filter distribution programs.

Vijay Chellappan, GISDE (India) graduated from the Birla Institute of Technology & Science at Pilani in India with a dual degree in physics and civil. During his undergraduate studies, he worked on several GIS projects as part of the C-DDR (Center for Desert Development Technologies) at BITS-Pilani. He was a prominent member of the team that had worked on the project “Aakash-Ganga - River from Skies” that developed a prototype for a rainwater harvesting model in Raila village in Rajasthan in India, which was one of the 30 projects selected by the World Bank for funding. Upon graduation, he joined ESRI-India as a software developer in New Delhi where he worked with state-of-the-art GIS technologies and implemented GIS applications for private and public clients in India and abroad.

Yingying Chen, ES&P (China) received her B.S. from the school of environment and natural resources from Renmin University, China. Her area of interest lies in policy studies involving sustainable development. For the past year she has been working in the renewable energy division of a CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) consulting company in China. During this period, she has engaged in both a wind farm and a hydropower development project. Chen has also lead the development of three wind farm GS-CDM projects, helping the project owner and the local people improve their financial and living conditions.

Amy Connery, IDSC (U.S.) received her B.A. in international development and social change from Clark. Her experiences include interning in Windhoek, Namibia in an informal school for orphans and vulnerable children. Her current research interests involve land and agrarian reform in southern Africa as well as immigration and refugee issues both abroad and within Worcester. She currently works with the African immigrant and refugee population in Worcester through education and leadership programs.

Shelagh Cooley, IDSC (U.S.) earned a B.A. in public policy analysis with an emphasis in economics from Pomona College in Claremont, California. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bangladesh where she worked with women and youth on education, health, and employment. Upon returning from Peace Corps, she started a non-profit, BELIEVE, Inc. partnered with two local NGOs in Bangladesh to positively enhance the impact of the local leaders on the community. She hopes one day to expand BELIEVE’s capacity and dedicate all her time to it. For the past two years she has worked for Boston Public Schools Department of Extended Learning Time, Afterschool and Services working with youth in afterschool and measuring the impact of afterschool on the child. She hopes to use her graduate school experience to gain the skills to a more effective agent of grassroots development.

Nicholas Cuba, GISDE (U.S.) graduated from Amherst College in 2007 with a B.A. in geology. After working in Montana and North Dakota as a research assistant to a paleontologist and, later, as an oilfield worker, he returned to his hometown of Worcester, MA, where he has since worked as an employment counselor at Lutheran Social Services, helping resettled refugees enter the workforce. 

Jeffrey Desmarais, CDP (U.S.) is looking to improve his understanding of critical issues facing humanity and to be part of building solutions. The main issue that he has experience with and an interest in is food security, especially in the U.S.

Christine Dunant, CDP (U.S.) recently graduated from Clark with a B.A. in theatre arts, specializing in directing. During the duration of her undergraduate career, she worked at Main South CDC as a homebuyer coordinator. In the future, she hopes to work on community revitalization through the promotion of visual and performing arts.

Nicholas Durham, IDSC (U.S.) received his B.A. from UC Santa Barbara where he majored in business economics and minored in philosophy. While living in Santa Barbara, he worked on the Governance for Sustainable Development project through the School of Environmental Science & Management at UCSB. He then worked for Oakland Unified School District’s New Teacher Support & Development program for a year before taking time off to travel. His academic interests include property rights systems, sustainable development policy, and improving the quality of life of via universal access to equal rights, clean water, and education.

Annalise Erkkinen, GISDE (U.S.) began a career in international development consulting at Chemonics International with the intention of learning how GIS was applied in practice. She feels that very few development projects are even using GIS and most projects don’t incorporate any data analysis techniques to design, develop, or implement their work. She is sure that there is great potential for using GIS to do all this immediately.

Consuelo Fernandez, CDP (Bolivia) received her B.A. in architecture at the University of San Andres. Currently, she is working in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a NUNV Specialist in the Project “Practical tools of Youth volunteerism in municipal strengthening and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) in Bolivia”. She is also the leader of a nationwide non-profit organization named VAMOS BOLIVIA that works to support the local development of impoverished communities through implementing interdisciplinary projects to improve living standards. Fernandez has also has written two publications regarding housing, gender and leadership concerns, and she has produced a documentary video “Un Nuevo Paradigma” focused in the local development achievements through the municipal strengthening. Additionally, she has worked on a project focused to revitalize depressed natural areas in the urban area of the city of La Paz. Her principal interests include leadership, gender, housing, sustainable development, and governance.

Carolyn Fischer, CDP (U.S.) graduated with a B.A. in geography from Clark University in 2009. She has an interest in the physical rehabilitation of structure and how effective urban design can contribute to revitalization. She believes that real estate development has the potential to foster environmental sustainability. She also has research brownfields redevelopment and how that relates to issues of sustainability.

Vaughn Frisby, IDSC (U.S.) recently graduated from Goucher College with a B.A. in sociology. During his time at Goucher, Frisby interned with the Major Donor Program at Human Right Campaign, based in Washington D.C. While studying abroad, he also interned with the prisoner’s right group Justice Action. Frisby also served on the board of trustees sub-committee on Alumni Affairs at Goucher College, among being active in other student organizations. Most recently, he has been working as a database coordinator for the Development and Community Relations office of Planned Parenthood in Maryland.

Erica Getto, CDP (U.S.) feels that community organizing gives her a chance to work with people in her own community to make a more just society. She is looking forward to understanding the complicated processes of city planning, government funding, and how to participate at the grassroots level while working with these other entities.

Andrea Gibson, IDSC (U.S.) graduated from Houghton College with a B.S. in biology in 2007. While in college she spent a semester studying abroad in Tanzania, where she was able to assist with several development projects. After graduation, she went to Namibia to volunteer at a children’s home for orphans. Her interests include environmental sustainability and education in development, particularly in East Africa.

Christy Gillmore, IDSC (U.S.) has a B.A. in anthropology and economics from the University of Virginia. Upon graduating, she joined the Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa, where she worked primarily with a women’s group to create income generating activities. In particular, she helped the women improve their shea butter quality so as to be able to export for a higher profit. After returning from the Peace Corps, she became a healthcare coordinator for Refugee and Immigration Services in Roanoke, Virginia, helping refugees and immigrants gain access to healthcare in the community.

Jaclyn Green-Stock, CDP (U.S.) received her B.A. from Clark in international development and social change and geography. Her research interests include youth community development, program evaluation, and how to bring ideas of community development into mainstream forms of media. Throughout her years at Clark, Green-Stock has been involved in All Kinds of Girls, a mentoring program for girls ages 9-12 in Worcester. This summer she plans to intern as a graduate assistant for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, assisting in the evaluation of their Youth In Action Program. She will also be involved with the Virginia Gildersleeve International Fund as an intern to the United Nations.

Sara Greenberg, ES&P (U.S.) received her B.A. in environmental science from Clark. Her research interests include water quality control and GIS-based work. This past summer she worked on water quality control and assessment in a research lab in Luxembourg. She is currently interning with the Department of Environmental Protection in their GIS lab, helping to map various environmental hazards and waste facilities that are monitored by the DEP’s central office.

Katherine Hanley, ES&P (U.S.) received a B.A. in economics and geography from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2009. She spent a semester abroad in London and has spent three summers in the health insurance industry interning at a non-profit in Boston. Her areas of interest include industrial ecology, sustainability, ecological design, and renewable energy. She wants to work with companies to advance the balance of economic development and environmental sustainability through green design and renewable energy technologies.

Rafael Harun, GISDE (Bangladesh) received a B.A. in environmental science from North South University in Bangladesh, and received his post-graduate degree from the University of New South Wales, Australia. Harun’s specialization is in environmental management and planning. He has also worked as a development trainee in India through AIESEC (an international student exchange program). Currently, Harun is working as a lecturer at Independent University, Bangladesh. He has assisted with research projects on river erosion and arsenic contamination. Additionally, he has worked as a consultant for conducting an Environmental Management Program (EMP) for the commencing hospital of Impact Foundation, UK. Harun’s dream is to help build a nexus among environmental changes, community adaption and sustainable development.

Andrew Hausermann, CDP (U.S.) received his B.A. in international development and social change from Clark. He is interested in working with Latino Youth in the United States at the grassroots level. Hausermann currently works as a Family Development Worker at Centro Las Americas. Andrew’s past projects have been focused primarily in Latin America, including research on the Bolivian wood products industry and sustainable forestry, child labor in the city of Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic, as well as the Latino population here in Worcester.

Trevor Heburn, GISDE (U.S.) recently received his B.A. in geography from Clark. He has interned for the Mohawk Valley Water Authority, updating and mapping the water system in Utica, NY. His interests include the development and growth of cities and application of techniques in GIS such as remote sensing to detect this change, as well as allocation and use of resources.

Kelsey Herrington, ES&P (U.S.) recently received her B.A. in global environmental studies with a minor in economics from Clark. She worked as a Mosakowski-HERO fellow while at Clark, conducting research on the drivers of suburban lawns. Her current research interests include cooperative business development and sustainable consumption and production, especially with regards to the food system. Herrington’s internship experiences include a researching position at the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, D.C. as well as grant-writing and cooperative development with the Institute for Washington’s Future in Seattle.

Luan Hoang, ES&P (Vietnam) graduated with a B.A. in forestry from Nong Lam University. Hoang’s previous professional experience includes conducting extensive research on issues related to forestry, such as finding more technical methods of tree-growing, exploring more technical methods of improving soil richness and productivity, as well as developing more sustainable forest management models. Most recently, Luan worked for the World Wildlife Fund as a field consultant.

Emma Hyatt, CDP (U.S.) graduated with a B.A. in international development and social change and Spanish from Clark University in 2009. She interned with the local Boys and Girls Club and found that she developed a passion for youth. She wants to study how environmental factors and social expectation contribute to the maturation and interactions of youth.

Lillian Jacobs, IDSC (U.S.) recently received her B.A. from Clark in international development and social change, while minoring in spanish. She traveled abroad to the Dominican Republic where she volunteered in the HIV and AIDS department of a public hospital. Jacobs also interned within the Grassroots Organizing Department for Planned Parenthood where she assisted in outreach events in the Worcester community. Her interests include public health, HIV/AIDS, gender, and Latin America.

Nanako Kudo, IDSC (Japan) obtained a B.A. in law from Tokyo Metropolitan University. Kudo has a diverse level of experience traveling all over the world as an urban planning and development manager for the second largest real estate company in Japan. She has also been involved with humanitarian causes, such as conducting research on orphanages in Southeast Asia and working with a local NGO on a child-empowerment program in Afghanistan.

Josiah Lamp, CDP (U.S.) graduated from Wheaton College with a B.A. in English literature. He worked for three years for World Relief alongside refugees in the greater Chicago area, and then with an HIV/AIDS program in Burkina Faso, West Africa. His areas of interest are the economic revitalization of urban communities from within the non-profit sector and the socio-economic integration of immigrants into their new communities.

Jillian Landry, IDSC (U.S.) recently received a B.A. in geography with a concentration in environmental studies from Framingham State College. She was a member of both the Green Team: ECO, an environmentally conscious organization, and HRAC, Human Rights Action Committee at Framingham. Landry’s interests include development and political theory with a stress on the importance of sustainable practices.

Adrienne LaPierre, IDSC (U.S.) earned her B.A. in international development from American University in 2005. She was fortunate enough to study abroad at the U.S. International University in Nairobi, Kenya. LaPierre is interested in entrepreneurs working as agents for social change, and using small business networks as a foundation for sustainable local economies. She has spent the past three years researching the topic of civil rights protection within marginalized populations through her work as a case manager for adults with developmental disabilities.

Emily Yajing Li, IDSC (China) received her B.A. in business from the University of Ballarat in Australia in 2007. She has taught Chinese language classes to Americans through echineselearning.com. She currently works as a systems consultant, providing technical support of dealer management information systems within the automobile industry. In the past Li was involved in several projects concerning environmental protection and natural resource reservation, and policy research. She is also a translation volunteer at Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center. Li’s research interests include sustainable development, climate change and renewable energy, and environmental policy.

Elizabeth Lock, IDSC (U.S.) received her B.A. in anthropology and political science from Hamline University. There, she also completed an independent study on the Somali community in MN and their interactions with the local social service non-profits. She also has spent time studying abroad in Amsterdam, Mexico, and Peru. Most recently Lock has spent a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA working with Lutheran Social Service of MN as an Employment and Resource Developer, working largely with refugee clients.

Zhenqi Lu, CDP (China) received a B.S. in urban and rural planning and resource management from the China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing. She has extensive community development experience. She has interned at the Transportation Institute of China Academy of Urban Planning and Design and participated in some planning programs. Her interests are environment planning, GIS in urban planning, and transportation planning.

Weina Lu, ES&P (China) received a B.S. in environmental engineering from the University of Science and Technology Beijing in 2009. She interned with the Beijing Environment Sanitation Engineering Group Company, Gaobeidian Wastewater Disposal Company, and Huaneng Beijing Thermal Power Company in 2007, and Shijiazhuang Steal Group Corporation in 2008. She also has experience as a volunteer, mending bicycles in campus, and helping the elderly in community. Her interests include water waste treatment, energy development, community planning, and more.

Kerry Markey, IDSC (U.S.) received her B.S. in kinesiology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  She has worked on community development projects in Central and South America in the construction of schools, hospitals, and radio stations. Markey is a state committee coordinator for Friends of the World Food Program and focuses on fundraising, educational, and advocacy initiatives in the fight to end global hunger. She also volunteers at Ten Thousand Villages which helps artisan groups in developing countries build small businesses and sustainable communities through the practice of fair trade. Her interests include refugee resettlement, post conflict/disaster reconciliation, and microfinance.

Fei Meng, GISDE (China) graduated from PLA Information Engineering University in China with a B.A. in geographic information systems (GIS). She has been involved in various research projects related to urban public transportation systems, a water and environmental technology program as well as urban transit mapping.

Michelle Miller, IDSC (U.S.) received her B.A. in political science and international studies from Iowa State University with a minor in economics and German. While her interest in international affairs has been growing since she was young, it was during her experience working as an intern in Washington, D.C. that she realized that the disparity of wealth in our country and in the world is a grave problem we must address. Miller’s interests have become increasingly focusing on economic development, she believes is one of the main causes and potential solutions to poverty and inequality. Her enthusiasm for creating change led her to study at the University of Ghana in Legon, where she narrowed her interests further in desiring to address the problem of modern-day slavery.

Emad Mohamed, IDSC (Sudan) received his B.S. in social anthropology from the University of Khartoum in Sudan. He has worked for the Adventist Development and Relieve Agency in central Sudan as a member of a humanitarian assistance team before moving to the United States. Since moving to the U.S. Mohamed has worked at the Sudanese American integration and Development Center as an Adult-Education program coordinator.

Mary Molnar, CDP (U.S.) received a B.A. in political science and minors in sociology and legal studies from the University of Maine in Orono, Maine. Molnar’s undergraduate Honors Thesis entitled, Intentional Communities: the Psychological and Behavioral Effects of Communities on Members, explored intentional communities, focused on Hilltop Community in Washington State, which has had long-running success. This research explored the aspects of a community that make it sustainable and considered how the physical design of the community and the homes within are reflective of the community’s founding principles. Molnar’s areas of interest include sustainable development, urban revitalization, and community studies policy.

Kari Mruz, IDSC (U.S.) recently received a B.A. in international development and social change from Clark. Her previous experiences include studying abroad and working with an NGO called Forum for the Future in Windhoek Namibia.

Etalem Mulu, IDSC (U.S.) received her B.A. in English from Western Illinois University in 2008 before taking a year off. In addition to working a regular job, she also began volunteer at the Ethiopian Community Association of Chicago (ECAC), a non-profit organization that is dedicated to helping Ethiopian immigrants settle in Chicago by helping them find jobs and places to live. Her work at the ECAC inspired her to pursue international development.

Patille Nargozian, CDP (U.S.) recently graduated with her B.A. in international development from Clark. Nargozian studied abroad in the Dominican Republic in 2008, where she worked with International Child Care, teaching adolescents sexual health and STD/HIV and AIDS prevention. She has also helped train students to become peer educators in their communities. Nargozian’s interests for community development are specifically related to community health as well as looking at how to move current agendas into progressive opportunities for future programs.

Dat Ngan, IDSC (Vietnam) received her B.A. in international relations from Dong Do Private University. Most recently, she served as a district planner, working with community leaders and civil society to develop economic and social plans for her district. Ngan seeks to use participatory evaluations methods in order to analyze and assess the impact of social and economic programs on people’s lives.

Ryan Norton, GISDE (U.S.) recently graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, with a B.S. in earth and geographic sciences, with a GIS concentration. A three season runner, Norton ran with the UMass Cross Country and Track Teams where he served as Captain for two years. As President, Norton served on the UMass Student Athlete Advisory Council where he organized department events to promote athletics and provide community events. He has always had a passion for geography and maps, an interest which started early and led to his role as Race Route Coordinator and Volunteer for the 2003, 2004, 2005 Matt Shea Make A Wish Relay. These relays rose over $40,000 for the Make A Wish Foundation to grant wishes to children with life threatening diseases. His Eagle Scout project was based on field research, boundary data, photos and maps for the Walpole Town Forest Committee.

Anthony Akuoko Oduro, CDP (Ghana) obtained a M.S. in management of Agro-Ecological Knowledge and Social Change from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He also obtained a B.S. in agriculture from the University of Cape Coast in Ghana. He did his master thesis on the discourses around HIV and AIDS in South Africa and later did an internship with the Conflict Mediation Services of Downsview in Toronto where he broadened his knowledge on conflict meditation using the Transformative approach to conflict resolution. He also worked with the micro finance wing of World Vision International in Ghana where he provided credit management training and business counseling to women in micro enterprises and assisted in developing methodologies that best fit the needs of rural women.

Seth Opoku, ES&P (U.S.)

Morning Star Padilla, CDP (U.S.) graduated with a B.A. in international studies and German. She has worked as an advocate for marginalized communities concerning access to communication services. She has also served as an AmericCorps member with the American Red Cross, where she taught emergency preparedness, First Aid/CPR, and responded to local and national disasters. Her interests are in helping communities negotiate, organize, and take action around issues of land use, displacement, and environmental justice.

Kristen Penkala, IDSC (U.S.) graduated from Assumption College in 2007 with a B.A. in psychology, sociology, and community service learning. Following graduation, she dedicated a year of service work as an associate missionary of the Assumption in Chaparral, New Mexico. In this border community, Penkala planned alternative activities for the youth, educated adults, and was involved in immigration related services. Currently, she works as the program coordinator of the Assumption Center and, in connection with St. Peter’s Parish, she organizes community programs in Main South/Columbus Park.

Mary Poor, IDSC (U.S.) received her B.A. in English literature from the University of Connecticut and her M.A. in English and American literature from Boston College. Early in her career she worked as a grantwriter for several non-profit organizations. After receiving her Master’s degree in 1989 she taught English literature and writing at the university level and worked on various education and cultural enrichment projects in the public school system. Currently, she volunteers at Grassroots International (GI), a human rights and international development organization that supports community-led sustainable development projects in the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas. She also volunteers as an ELL tutor at the South Sudanese Education Center (SEEC) in Arlington, Massachusetts. 

Sopha Ratana, ES&P (Cambodia) received his B.Ed. in TEFL with two outstanding student awards from the Institute of Foreign Languages of the Royal University in Phnom Penh in 2006. He is also pursuing another B.A. in international relations at Pannasastra University of Cambodia (PUC). He has been involved in various community service activities, ranging from national environmental debate forums on TV to volunteering at a local NGO working with orphans and HIV/AIDS-infection/affected children to environmental projects in Cambodia as well as in the ASEAN region. He was part of the tree-planting activity by PUC to commemorate World Environment Day in 2008.

Daniel Rees, GISDE (U.S.) received his B.A. in geography from Clark University in 2009. His senior capstone project used LANDSAT data to create a landcover map of Ocala National Forest in Ocala Florida. He used data to track changes in fire regime in Ocala National Forest.

Jordan Reeves, IDSC (U.S.) received his B.A. in political science from the University of California, San Diego in 2003. He spent three years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama, where he worked for two years with a local fishermen’s association to design and implement a sea turtle conservation and ecotourism project. His third year was spent evaluating rural communities’ needs and capacity to work with incoming volunteers in preparing them to serve in those communities. He has also worked eight summers for a non-profit organization leading wilderness whitewater rafting trips in California, Idaho, and Oregon in order to promote river conservation and environmental stewardship. His research interests include political ecology, environmental justice, and rural development and natural resource management issues, with a focus on Latin America.

Samson Reznik, CDP (U.S.) recently received his B.A in government and international relations with concentrations in urban development, social change and law and society from Clark. Reznik has spent the past few summers working in Washington, D.C. on Capitol Hill and at the State Department. As a native of Los Angeles, CA, Reznik is interested in the ways sprawling cities address the issue of affordable housing.

Thomas C. Rodriguez, IDSC (U.S.) recently received his B.A. in international development and social change and Spanish from Clark. His field experience includes a summer internship in Belize working form the Maya Mountain Research Farm-a sustainable agroforestry research farm. Rodriguez’s research interests involve comparative development theory, political economy, and sustainable development.

Rachel Ross, CDP (U.S.) received her B.A. in government with a concentration in urban development and social change from Clark. Her interests include better understanding how local governments interact with the communities that they serve. She has had the opportunity to intern with a Worcester city councilor along with the city’s economic development division.

Igor Rubinov, IDSC (U.S.) received a B.A. in anthropology from Cornell University. Since graduating, he has taught outdoor education to children and adults with disabilities for several non-profits. He has worked as a farm manager for an organization that provides job training to adults with mental handicaps. Rubinov is interested in the role of cultural preservation as a driving force in development discourse.

Kateryna Samoteskul, ES&P (Ukraine) graduated from St. Lawrence University with a B.A. in government and environmental studies. She interned at the American Council on Renewable Energy in Washington D.C. and the National Ecological Center of Ukraine, where she assisted with researching how Ukraine could lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Jeff Schuhrke, IDSC (U.S) received his B.A. in history from Colorado State University in 2004, where he then joined AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps in Washington, D.C. He then did a second year of AmeriCorps with Habitat for Humanity in Omaha. Schuhrke was next an English teacher with the Peace Corps in Turkmenistan, and worked as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the American Red Cross in San Francisco. Most recently, he was an intern with the Foundation for Sustainable Development in India. His interests include crisis prevention, management and recovery, transnational civil society, radical democracy and global governance, nonviolence and peace-building, and critical theories of social change.

Kaitlyn Sephton, ES&P (U.S.) received her B.A. in global environmental studies from Clark. She is interested in environmental education and sustainability science, and has spent last summer teaching youth ages 6-11 year at an environmental center in Amherst, MA.

Jonathan Sheets, GISDE (U.S.) graduated from the University of Alabama with a B.A. in GIS and anthropology. He has worked overseas in Uganda with a literacy project and in Togo, West Africa as a Peace Corps trainee in natural resource management. Sheets has also volunteered in Guatemala and Mexico, serving in agricultural projects, environmental clean-up, and language classes.

Sumayal Shrestha, ES&P (Nepal) received her B.A in economics and fine arts from Wilson College, Penn. Shrestha became interested in climate studies after she learned about the carbon market in a finance class, and became interested in climate legislation and trade policy when she moved to Washington, D.C. to test the waters in a “green” career. In addition to her academic background, her work experience at mission-driven organizations such as The World Food Programme and Carbon Fund has channeled her focus towards sustainable resource management. Her research interests include global climate policy/market and its impact on resource efficiency in emerging economies. She also continues to pursue her passion in the arts by partaking in community event and web activities.

Ryan Smith, CDP (U.S.) graduated in 2008 with a B.A. in international development and social change from Clark University. Smith studied at the London School of Economics and conducted research on forest certification in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

Carolyn Spitz, CDP (U.S.) recently graduated with a BA in sociology and a concentration in urban development and social change from Clark. Her area of interest includes issues involving urban youth and education. Carolyn’s past research includes studying the educational achievement gap. She has also worked alongside organizations that serve to empower youth.

Naomi Sully, IDSC (U.S.) received her B.A. in international development and social change and a minor in holocaust and genocide studies from Clark in 2008. Before working on the Racial Healing Project in the U.S. with Search, Sully’s focus was on international conflict. She wrote her senior honors thesis on the effectiveness of the Gacaca Courts in Rwanda, inspired by observing a Gacaca trial on a trip. Her thesis was based on primary research conducted by Naomi in Rwanda and Burundi, which included interviews with survivors and suspected genocide perpetrators in two prisons. Also in Rwanda, she participated in a youth human rights delegation with Global Youth Connect that looks at human rights and reconciliation in post-conflict countries and worked as the special project assistant. Sully has also worked as a policy analyst with Teach Against Genocide (TAG), a campaign to pass legislation that would mandate genocide education throughout the U.S., and held a competitive internship at the Genocide Intervention Network with the Education division. As an undergraduate, Sully was involved in STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, serving as co-director and then director and co-founded an Activism Fund at Clark.

Shurong Tian, ES&P (China) graduated from Northeast Forestry University with a B.A. in natural resource management. Since graduation, he has served for Forestry Bureau and National Nature Reserve in different positions which include field survey of resource background and co-management with communities. He has been responsible for the GEF project in the nature reserve for almost 6 years. His area of interest lies in the conflict between the natural resource conservation and local community development.

Jitka Tomas, GISDE (U.S.) recently graduated in from Harvard with a B.A. in government. Her areas of research and study include GIS, political science, economics, and statistics. Tomas has also worked as a research assistant with various projects such as immigration policy, electoral violence in Kenya, and the georeferencing and digitization of maps of colonial territories.

Amy Tran, CDP (U.S.) received her B.A. in environmental analysis and design from the University of California, Irvine. Upon graduation, she served as an AmeriCorps VISTA member for Experience Corps, an intergeneration program connecting older adults to tutor and mentor youth in San Francisco public schools. After the completion of her service, Tran joined the Chinatown Community Development Center, a San Francisco-based grassroots nonprofit that specializes in neighborhood planning, affordable housing development, property management, tenant services, housing counseling and community organizing. She has been with the organization for the past three and a half years as a tenant services coordinator empowering residents in the Chinatown community. Tran is passionate about her work in the community development field. In particular, she would like to promote civic engagement, build social capital, and revitalize communities.

Chau Tran, GISDE (Vietnam) received a B.A. in forestry from An Giang University. Over the last decade since graduation, Tran has held various positions related to his field of study, which include participating in forest zoning, helping create a biodiversity conservation plan, conducting forest land allocation, as well as helping classify forests according to levels of production.

Kristina Van Dexter Forcier, ES&P (U.S.) earned a B.A in economics and international studies from Manhattan College in 2007. She also had the opportunity to study sustainable economic programs and international development at American University’s School of International Service. Since receiving her degree she has worked at Fidelity Investments where through analysis of the market it became increasingly evident that the effects of global capitalism have compromised our perception of the natural world, resulting in undermined economic growth and environmental systems. Van Dexter is looking forward to exploring a sustainable relationship between economic systems, particularly food systems, and ecology as well as the role of nature in psychological, emotional and community development.

Emily Vander Does, CDP (U.S.) received her B.A. in political science from the University of Rhode Island. She has been working with the small business community in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles for the past four years. Her research interests include microfinance and entrepreneurship.

Daniel Velasco, IDSC (Peru) graduated from the University of Central Florida with a B.A. in political science, international relations and comparative politics. In addition, he has received a B.A. in business administration from the Institute de Commerce de Nancy in France. His work experience has ranged from financial charity accountability with the New York Philanthropic Advisory Service to fiscal policy in Washington, D.C. with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation. Finally, he joined the Teach for America, Bay Area Corps and served as a founding teacher at Voices College-Bound Language Academy. Velasco’s goal is to have a broader impact on educational inequality and immigration issues, with a focus on child protection.

Keleigh Waldner, CDP (U.S.) received her B.A. in international development and social change from Clark University. She worked at Clark’s Recycling Center for the past two years, helping to design a recycling program for Pernet Family Health Service, a non-profit located in Green Island neighborhood in Worcester. She also helped with Pernet’s Holiday giving programs, and made recommendations for improvements. She worked for the United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development where she did minority outreach and assisted clients in determining eligibility for loans and grants to buy or repair homes. She is currently working for Worcester Community Housing Resources doing a market analysis of greater Worcester, with a focus on home improvement loans, specifically with energy efficiency in mind.

Nicholas Wilson, GISDE (U.S.) received his B.A. in international development studies and sociology from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. As part of his undergraduate studies, he undertook course work at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and most recently he has returned from 2 years service in the Peace Corps in The Gambia, West Africa. His primary research interests include using GIS to better plan development intervention as well as using GIS to better understand the changing relations of people and their environment.

Siye Woldeabzghi, IDSC (Eritrea) received his degree in journalism and mass communication with a political science minor from the University of Asmara, Faculty of Arts. He also holds a diploma in drafting from the Asmara Technical School.

Wuxuan Xiang, GISDE (China) received her B.E. in cartography and surveying with a minor in English from Taiyuan University of Technology in 2009. She interned at The Remote Sensing and GIS Institute of Peking University, studying and establishing models for monitoring and assessing the percent vegetation cover in the Xinjiang Arid areas using MODIS satellite data. She did her graduation project and thesis on “A Study on Dynamic Monitoring of Land-cover Change in Shihezi Area Based on Remote Sensing,” and won the excellent thesis prize. Her interests include GIS in the application of urban planning and transportation, ecology sustainable development, and environment protection.

Jing Yang, ES&P (China)

Demetrios Yannopoulos, CDP (U.S) received a B.A. in political science in 2005 from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. He moved to Washington D.C to work on Capitol Hill, and then transitioned into commercial real estate, researching transit oriented development. He then worked with a non-profit conservation which educates inner-city high school students. Yannopoulos volunteered with the New Zealand Department of Conservation in open space preservation. As an Americorps VISTA for a homeless shelter in downtown Boston, he ran the volunteer program while starting a health program that enabled newly homeless clients to access physician care. His interests are urban revitalization, equitable business and non-profit initiatives, affordable housing development, and open space preservation.

Yao Yao, GISDE (China) has studied GIS and remote sensing for nearly four years and is interested in the application of the advanced tools. She is hoping to one day become an expert in areas like environment and land use.

Yue Zhang, GISDE (China) received her B.A. in GIS from Nanjing University in China. Zhang has investigated the natural, cultural, and economic geography of Nanjing and conducted topographical surveys. Her research interests include cultural and historical geography, urban and rural planning, and environmental protection.

Yao Zhou, GISDE (China) received her B.S. in geographic information systems from South China Agricultural University where she won third prize in the Excellent Students honor. She works for South Digital where she designs databases of houses and land in Guangzhou using ArcSDE technology. She is also active as a philanthropist in her district and has two publications to her name.

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