2001-2002 Undergraduate Student Associates :: Student Programs Archive :: Center for International Development at Harvard University (CID)

This is an archived web page; as of September 2007 CID is no longer accepting applications for this program.
Here are links to current pages:

Current Resources for Undergraduates
Current CID Student Programs | CID Archive

CID 2001-2002 Undergraduate Student Associates

Mawuena Agbonyitor
Leah Aylward
Radu Ban
Leila Chirayath
Albert Cho
Kimberly Collins
Melissa Eccleston
Matthew Feldmann
Celeste Fine
Kara Hamilton
A. Justina Hierta
Jennifer Hsaio
Shakirah Hudani
Neha Jadeja
Anna Joo
Martin Kanz
Scott Sang-Hyun Lee
Rita Magnusen
Cheryl Lee Mainland
Gordon McCord
Sara McKinley
Adrienne Minster
Nandini "Nina" Mukhopadhyay
Venu Nadella
Yi-Ching Ong
Scott Rechler
Kimberly Sanchez
Megan Sibole
Emily Spengler
Jordan Swanson
Sarah Tsien
Leah C. Tucker
Ashwini Vasanthakumar
Gernot Wagner
Erica Westenberg
Ben Wikler
Rosa Wu
Ethan Yeh

Current Undergraduate Associates | Undergraduate Associates Program

Mawuena Agbonyitor
Class: '04
Concentration: Biological Anthropology
Residence: Mather House
Email: agbonyit@fas.harvard.edu

I plan to be a physician one day, but I have a deep interest in public health issues - especially international health. One day I hope to practice medicine in a developing country, particularly Ghana or Sierra Leone since those are the countries that my parents are from.

Leah Aylward
Class: '03
Concentration: ESPP
Residence: Quincy House
Email: aylward@fas.harvard.edu

Leah's main interests lie within sustainable development issues in Latin America related to the environment, poverty, and education. In the future she hopes to be working in Latin American on a regional or community level. Last summer, Leah worked for the Costa Rican Foundation for Sustainable Development analyzing ongoing sustainable development programs in Costa Rica. She primarily worked with CENTAIRE, a program being developed to raise air quality standards by promoting unique technological applications and environmental approaches to sustainable development. Leah plans to return to Costa Rica this coming year for study and thesis research.

Radu Ban
Class: '02
Concentration: Economics Residence: Quincy House Hometown: Arad, Romania
CID Adviser: Andrew Warner
Email: ban@fas.harvard.edu

Radu's interest in Economics is focused on Development and especially on the privatization process in the Eastern European transition economies. In the summer of 1999 he interned with the Private Ownership Fund (the investment fund in charge of the newly privatized companies). He is also interested in the patterns of Foreign Direct Investment in developing countries. He is currently working at the CID on an FDI incentives project with John McArthur. He also works as a research assistant for Professor Michael Kremer, the most recent project being the estimation of the market size for different vaccines (Hepatitis B, Tuberculosis, HiB), as part of Professor Kremer's initiative of stimulating the provision of vaccines in African countries. Outside the class, he volunteers for Habitat for Humanity, watches French movies and European soccer, and is mad about downhill skiing.

Leila Chirayath
Class: '04
Concentration: African Development Studies
Residence: Winthrop House
email: chirayat@fas.harvard.edu

Albert Cho
Class: '02
Concentration: Social Studies Residence: Adams House Hometown: Tempe, Arizona
CID Adviser: Dani Rodrik
Email: acho@fas.harvard.edu

Albert's academic interests are international trade policy and economic development. He'd like to pursue a JD/PhD in international trade law and political economy, but those plans could change tomorrow. Probably the most interesting thing that's happened to him while at Harvard was getting tear-gassed at the WTO Ministerial in Seattle. His other interests and activities include working for the Harvard International Review, running a website on trade negotiations and taking woodworking classes.

Kimberly Collins
Class: '02
Concentration: History & Science
Residence: Mather House Hometown: San Luis Obispo, CA CID Adviser: Rob Faris
Email: kcollins@fas.harvard.edu

Kim's academic interests hinge on health and environment issues in Latin America. She spent last summer as a volunteer for Eco Bolivia, an NGO dedicate to conservation and development in the Bolivian rainforest. At Harvard, she is also very involved with Mather HAND, a house-based community service program, and Bhumi.

Melissa Eccleston
Class: '04
Concentration: Economics & Afro-American Studies
Residence: Pforzheimer House
Email: mecclest@fas.harvard.edu

Hi all...a little bit about myself...Well, instead of figuring out what I wanted to be when I grew up as a child, I determined last year that my ultimate aspiration is actually returning to the life I had as a kid. That's when I became interested in development--living in Burundi (where my mother was working for the World Bank) and visiting my relatives in Haiti. Though I have yet to do any specific coursework or research, I am particularly interested in the interaction of economic, political, social, and historical elements of development in the Caribbean. Currently, I am a research assistant for Professor Edward Glaeser, whose work focuses on spatial economics in analyzing urban and labor issues.

Matthew Feldmann
Class: '02
Concentration: Economics Residence: Adams House Hometown: Cedar Rapids, IA
CID Adviser: Calestous Juma
Email: feldmann@fas.harvard.edu

During the summers of 1998-2000 Matthew learned about development issues by conducting research in the Economics Program of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico. His research has resulted in a few articles, including "Why so Much Controversy over Genetically Modified Organisms? Answers to 10 Frequently Asked Questions about GMOS" (with Drs. Michael Morris and David Hoisington). An abridged version of this article was published as the lead article in the First Quarter 2000 issue of "Choices" (published by the American Agricultural Economics Association and received an AAEA annual award). Matthew was previously a research assistant for Dr. Joseph Stern at KSG and completed his senior thesis in March.

Celeste Fine
Class: '02
Concentration: Government Residence: Mather House Hometown: California
Email: cfine@fas.harvard.edu

Celeste focuses on international development in the post-soviet states, particularly Russia, and is most interested in the role of the rule of law in development. She worked last summer in Italy at the International Institute of Humanitarian Law.

Kara Hamilton
Class: '03
Concentration: Economics Residence: Cabot House
Email: hamilt@fas.harvard.edu

Kara's specific development interests are public health, women, economic development and public policy. I am pretty much interested in acquiring as much knowledge as possible about development. She is co-chair of the Pan American Health Organization of Harvard's OAS simulation and a board member of the Harvard Project for International Health and Development. She is also a research assistant for an anthropologist writing a book about child health in post apartheid South Africa.

A. Justina Hierta
Class: '04
Concentration: Government
Residence: Leverett House
Email: hierta@fas.harvard.edu

Jennifer Hsiao
Class: '04
Concentration: Social Studies House: Adams
Hometown: Danville, California

Jennifer is interested in the interaction between culture and economics as they relate to development in the Asia-Pacific region, issues related to internally displaced persons, refugees and transnational migration, as well as the application of social enterprise to the field of international development. In addition to the CID Fellows Program, Jennifer works with the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Student Council, and directs the Refugee Youth Term Enrichment program at PBH.

Shakirah Hudani
Class: 03/04
Concentration: Social Studies House: Quincy
Hometown: Nairobi, Kenya

Growing up in the world's greatest country nurtured my interest in development in general and African political development in particular. My other interests include African and South Asian post-colonial literature and Central Asian history and politics. In years past I have studied microfinance with the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, interned with the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong, and worked with the Kenyan Constitutional Review Commission. This summer, I hope to be in Rwanda studying community based mechanisms of transitional justice.

Neha Jadeja
Class: '03
Concentration: Neurobiology
Residence: Pforzheimer House
Email: jadeja@fas.harvard.edu

Anna Joo
Class: '04
Concentration: Economics
Residence: Eliot House
Email: ajoo@fas.harvard.edu

I am most interested in development issues of economic nature, particularly those with a microeconomic focus. Last summer, I interned in the finance sector of the Latin American and Caribbean Region at the World Bank in D.C., primarily doing STATA management work for a project analyzing the determinants of microenterprise profitability. I expect to return to the Bank this summer to participate in further research on microenterprises and certain facets of globalization. When I am not at the CID, you may find me writing for Yisei, working with the board of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, grading Ec10 unit tests, at Harvard Magazine, researching for Prof. Markus Mobius, lounging in Eliot, or partying with the Bee Club.

Martin Kanz
Class: '04
Concentration: Social Studies House: Currier
Hometown: Neufra, Germany

I am a social studies concentrator and interested in just about anything related to development economics and political economy. Before coming to Harvard I spent 3 months teaching English to elementary and middle-schoolers in India, which was my first experience working in a developing country. Other than that, I have worked for the economic section of Germany's mission to the UN in New York where I dealt mainly with multilateral development cooperation and the logistics of humanitarian aid. Here at Harvard, I am active in the Woodbridge Society of International Students and the Harvard International Review.

Scott Sang-Hyun Lee
Class: '03
Concentration: Religion & Anthropology
Residence: Lowell House
Email: lee55@fas.harvard.edu

My interest in international development lies in the intersection of health, culture, and economics in sub-Saharan Africa. In other words, I study how illness and healing are mediated by local beliefs, institutions, and economic conditions. In the past, I have worked with Ugunja Community Resource Centre (Kenya), Partners in Health (Boston), and the Center for the Study of World Religions (Cambridge). My hobbies include: playing guitar, oil painting, working with kids, and rooting for the Dallas Mavericks (soon to be the NBA champions!).

Rita Magnusen
Class: '02
Concentration: Economics Residence: Eliot House
Hometown: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Email: magnusen@fas.harvard.edu

Rita's primary interest is in development on the African continent. She is the community service chair for the Harvard Project for International Health and Development. In her spare time, she likes to play tennis and surf the internet.

Cheryl Lee Mainland
Class: '04
Concentration: East Asian Studies & Economics
Residence: Adams House
Email: cmainlan@fas.harvard.edu

I was born in Taiwan, and have also lived in Los Angeles, Indonesia, Hawaii, and Hong Kong. My mom is Chinese and my dad is from L.A. At school I teach swimming and aqua-aerobics, lifeguard, train for the Boston marathon, and am involved in Women in Business, Isis, and Theta.

Gordon McCord
Class: '02
Concentration: Economics Residence: Eliot House
Hometown: Ayacucho, Peru
CID Adviser: Joaqu�n Vial
Email: mccord@fas.harvard.edu

Gordon's interests revolve mostly around Latin American economic development, especially the Andean region and the obstacles (political, social, economic, and geographical) to its sustainable development. He has lived in seven countries (El Salvador, Peru, Chile, Jamaica, Colombia, Puerto Rico, and the US) and hopes to return to Latin America to work with economic development following graduation. Some of his other interests include weaving (his adoptive father is a weaver), tennis, squash, and soccer

Sara McKinley
Class: '03
Concentration: Culture, Disease and Public Health
Residence: Winthrop House
Email: mckinley@fas.harvard.edu

My undergraduate work is focused on understanding how social inequalities (due to religion, gender, socio-economic class, sexuality, ethnicity and race) complicate disease definitions, associations, and treatments. I hope to argue that prevention strategies are most effective when they are compatible with a particular culture with reference to the aforementioned social issues are specifically addressed. Coupled with this I am curious to see how international agendas are negotiated, altered or otherwise compromised on the local level. I anticipate writing my thesis about the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. I hope to get an MD/MPH and work on infectious disease prevention abroad in the future.

Adrienne Minster
Class: '04
Concentration: History & Science
Residence: Currier House
Email: minster@fas.harvard.edu

My primary area of interest is public health in the developing world, particularly how it can be made more efficent. I worked last summer at the Center for Impact Research in Chicago on "The Sweatshop Project." I was looking at how effective various methods of fighting sweatshop labor in the United States are. I am also a member of the ballet and modern companies and love to choroegraph shows, the most recent of which was _The Who's Tommy_ in the Loeb Ex.

Nandini "Nina" Mukhopadhyay
Class: '03
Concentration: Biology
Residence: Winthrop House Hometown: Brunswick, Maine
CID Adviser: Peter Ashton
Email: mukhopad@fas.harvard.edu

Rita is the co-chair of the Environmental Action Committee (EAC) at Harvard, and is a counselor for Peer Contraceptive Counselors. Her international development interests include reproductive health and freedom and HIV/AIDS. She has little spare time but wastes every Sunday of the fall watching football-an "addict" in her own words. She is now unsuccessfully trying to substitute the XFL for the NFL. Her interests are widely varied, from a budding one in computer science to organic farming to romance languages to hip hop dance to "cosmetology"-her mother tells her that if she had not gone to Harvard she would have gone to beauty school!

Venu Nadella
Class: '04
Concentration: Joint Sociology and Economics
House: Adams
Hometown: Copley, OH

I am a sophomore interested specifically in issues of educational inequality. This summer I plan to intern at the Embassy of the United States in Helsinki, Finland.

Yi-Ching Ong
Class: '03
Concentration: Biochemical Sciences
Residence: Adams House
Email: ycong@fas.harvard.edu

I am interested in the intersection of science/technology and public policy -- this includes bioethics, education, and public health. I'm currently conducting research in the Liu Lab (Harvard Chemical Biology Dept.) on evolving recombinases with altered specificity. I am also involved in the Harvard Project for Asian & International Relations (HPAIR) as a workshop chair. I will be conducting a workshop on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Asia in Sydney this coming summer as part of HPAIR 2002 (an international conference attended by hundreds of students from over 40 countries).

Scott Rechler
Class: '03
Concentration: Social Anthro. Residence: Winthrop House Hometown: Washington, DC
CID Adviser: Pauline Peters
Email: rechler@fas.harvard.edu

Scott is interested, in, well, many things. In particular, he is interested in Latin America. (He spent last summer on a Bhumi internship with an environmental organization in Bolivia last summer). He is also captivated by education, public health, and anything else in between. He is currently one of the internship coordinators of Bhumi.

Kimberly Sanchez
Class: '03
Concentration: Biological Anthropology
Residence: Leverett House
Email: ksanchez@fas.harvard.edu

Megan Sibole
Class: '03
Concentration: Economics Residence: Winthrop House Hometown: Clearwater, FL
Email: sibole@fas.harvard.edu

Megan, an economics guru known to frequent Harvard faculty gatherings, focuses on developmental economics. She is a former student of the London School of Economics. Her interests also include the history of economic development, politics, soccer, and hiking. She also recently spent a month living in Costa Rican rainforests, studying tropical ecology.

Emily Spengler
Class: '03
Concentration: Economics Residence: Mather House Hometown: Vienna, Virginia
CID Adviser: Ashok Rai
Email: spengler@fas.harvard.edu

Emily is particularly interested in African economic development and the AIDS epidemic in Africa. She has spent time at Kasisi Orphanage in Lusaka, Zambia and is currently working on creating a website for the orphanage. At Harvard, Emily is a coordinator for Mission Hill After School Program and volunteers for an adult education program in South Boston. Emily is also employed at the CID as a student assistant in the Science, Technology, and Innovation Program. Outside of school and other commitments, Emily enjoys classic movies, Seinfeld reruns, and brownie sundaes.

Jordon Swanson
Class: '02
Concentration: History & Science Residence: Winthrop House Hometown: Bainbridge Is., WA
CID Adviser: Amir Attaran
Email: jswanson@fas.harvard.edu

Jordan first became interested in international development while working as a field medic in Honduras. At Harvard, he studies the history and science of medicine, health, economics, and environment in developing countries. He has since returned to Honduras as the Coordinator of the Adolescent Health Development Programme in 2000, where he led an international team in developing and implementing a national health curriculum. On campus, Jordan spends his time spinning cds as a DJ, sneaking into concerts, and devising plans to sneak off for a ski weekend. Jordan is the Program Director of Harvard Model Congress Europe, directs the Asthma Swimming Program, and was recently chosen as Harvard's nominee for the Howard Swearer Student Humanitarian Award.

Sarah Tsien
Class: '02
Concentration: Economics & Anthropology
Residence: Off-Campus
Email: tsien@fas.harvard.edu

Raz is a crazy senior, writing her thesis on microfinance for poor women in the stony mountains of southwest China. She spent her junior year in China, hiking rocky roads, living in mud homes, sleeping in chicken coops, and rejoicing at pig slaughter festivals. She started her work in development through a literacy/early child development project in Senegal. She's been to Siberia, Mexico, India, and hitchhiked through the jungles of Laos, among other places; but she plans to work in China for the long term. She is making a documentary video, working to promote use of internet technology for poverty alleviation, and aspiring to be a good triathalete buddhist. She is also a part-time space-cadet.

Leah C. Tucker
Class: '04
Concentration: Economics
Residence: Eliot House
Email: ltucker@fas.harvard.edu

Area of interest: Latin America especially Colombia, Peru, and Cuba. Past research includes assistantship to Weatherhead Fellow Alfonso Gomez Mendez, former attorney general of Colombia, researching corruption within the Colombian legal system. On advisory board of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS). Traveled to Peru with Harvard class to help monitor 2001 presidential elections. Enjoyed first offering of Social Analysis 60: Wealth and Poverty in the World Economy, taught by Professor Sachs.

Ashwini Vasanthakumar
Class: '04
Concentration: Social Studies
Residence: Eliot House
Email: vasanth@fas.harvard.edu

Gernot Wagner
Class: '02
Concentration: Economics/ESPP
Residence: Off-campus
Hometown: Austria
Email: gwagner@fas.harvard.edu

Gernot is focusing on the interaction between ecology and economics. He is particularly interested in environmental evaluation issues and green accounting--how to adapt the current system of national accounts with such important indicators as GDP or GNP to reflect environmental services integral to our economy. Gernot is currently working at the Program for Technology and Economic Policy at the Kennedy School of Government in an effort to create monetary forest accounts for the US.

Erica Westenberg
Class: '02
Concentration: Government Residence: Winthrop House
Email: ewestenb@fas.harvard.edu

My focus is on African development. I'm specifically interested in the issues of stakeholder involvement and international financial institutions. I'm also a board member of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Student Council. I love cheesy 80's pop music, road trips and hiking.

Ben Wikler
Class: '03
Concentration: Social Studies Residence: Cabot House Hometown: Madison, WI
Email: wikler@fas.harvard.edu

Ben is interested in U.S. development aid policy, particularly with regards to AIDS in Africa. To this end, he works as a research assistant for the CID's Foreign Aid Policy Project. This spring, he will be organizing a student group to help build domestic constituencies for an increased U.S. financial commitment to global public health. He is also an occasional contributor to The Crimson and a frequent contributor to The Onion.

Rosa Wu
Class: '03
Concentration: Social Studies Residence: Kirkland House
Email: rpwu@fas.harvard.edu

Never having had any real exposure to the issues surrounding International Development before college, Rosa first became interested in the area after Professor Jeffrey Sachs' Ec 10 lecture. Still not sure of the most relevant and pressing questions to ask, she nevertheless hopes to write her thesis on some aspect of development in China. Any time not devoted to schoolwork is probably spent at Harvard Student Agencies, where Rosa is Director of the Center for Enterprise. Whether through academics or a career, she hopes to someday, somehow merge her interests in business and development.

Ethan Yeh
Class: '03
Concentration: ESPP & Economics
Residence: Kirkland House
Email: eyeh@fas.harvard.edu

I am interested in the intersection between health, environment, and development. A variety of problems and issues exist in this area including air pollution (indoor and outdoor), water quality, waste management, and even broader issues such as climate change. This semester, I will begin working as a research assistant on some of these topics. In addition to economic development issues, I am very interested in race relations/diversity and work with the Harvard Foundation.

Current Undergraduate Associates | Undergraduate Associates Program

Direct site comments or questions to CID's Webmaster.
Copyright � 2007 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Last revised 02/23/2006