2008 Summer Symposium Participant Biographies
Shahla Al Kli is a Kurdish woman from Iraq, born and raised in Baghdad. She lived through the Saddam era, has witnessed three wars and one economic blockade, and has been privileged with a Fulbright scholarship. Currently, she is working on her masters in Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University’s Fletcher School focusing on Conflict Resolution and Southwest Asia with particular interest in Iraq and Iran. She is graduating next fall and is planning to write her thesis on Iraq–Iran relations. She is looking forward to using this opportunity to explore the security influence of Iraq’s neighbors, especially Iran, on the progress of political process and efforts to stabilize Iraq. Similarly, she is interested in exploring challenges of empowering women in Iraq, with particular interest on their role in security. She speaks fluent Kurdish, Arabic, English, and basic Persian and Turkish.
Abiodun Baiyewu attended the Obafemi Awolowo University and holds a law degree from the Nigerian Law School. For six years, she worked with civil society organizations in Nigeria, four years of which she worked with a non-governmental peace building organization, the Negotiation and Conflict Management Group, where she was also a certified mediator. Currently, she is a Fellow of the Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa Program at the Georgetown University Law Center, where she is also a candidate for an LL.M in International Legal Studies with a certificate in International Human Rights.
Uli Baumgartner studied at the University of Tuebingen, Germany and holds a master degree in International Relations/Peace and Conflict Studies. She also studied at the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies at Geneva, Switzerland. She has had professional experiences and various internships in national and international organisations, such as Amnesty International (Ireland in Dublin), the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe (Brussels) and the Heinrich Boell Foundation (Stuttgart). From 2006-2007 she served as advisor to Boris Palmer, Member of Parliament of the federal state Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Since 2007, she has served as Research Associate at the Department of International Affairs, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland and is working on her Ph.D. thesis.
Anika Binnendijk is a doctoral candidate at the Fletcher School, Tufts University. After finishing her undergraduate studies at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, she interned at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the National Democratic Institute, becoming increasingly interested in the intersections between security and democratic development. Her dissertation examines the responses of state security forces to popular democratic movements in Ukraine and Serbia. Anika is sponsored by the U.S. Institute of Peace as one of USIP’s Peace Scholars for the 2007-2008 academic year.
Annina Buergin was born in Zurich, Switzerland, and finished high school with a focus in history and Latin. From 1998 to 2004, she studied political science at the University of Berne with a focus in constitutional, international and European law. Her master thesis dealt with the International Criminal Court and analyzed the rationales of why states had signed the Rome Statute. Since 2004, she has been working as a scientific assistant at the Europainstitute, University of Basel. Her Ph.D. questions whether states agree or disagree to integrate private security and military companies into peacekeeping missions. Her aim is to become a lecturer or professor. Her mother tongue is (Swiss) German. She is also fluent in French and English, and has a basic knowledge of Spanish.
Ashley Bybee has been a full-time researcher at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) for 5 ½ years, where her current research focus is on the African Command (AFRICOM), interagency collaboration in stabilization and reconstruction operations, and the political implications of the proposed missile defense system in Europe. Arriving at IDA with a BA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia, Ms. Bybee received a Master of Public Policy from George Mason University and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Public Policy with a concentration in military operations. Ms. Bybee speaks conversational French and is an avid equestrian with a passion for travelling, animals, and the arts.
Beatrice Daumerie is a Ph.D. student in Demography from Stockholm University. She wrote her Bachelor thesis on European Common Security, comparing France and Germany on security discourses. She also holds a bachelor degree in Demography and wrote a Master in Political Science and Economy about the fertility differentials in various part of Europe. Her areas of interest are International Relations with a special focus on China, Security Studies from a demographic perspective and European Foreign and Security Policy. Her current research project is a macro quantitative study of the relationship between internal conflicts and a population’s age-structure using data are from the Uppsala Armed Conflict Dataset.
Karin De Angelis is a Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland specializing in military sociology, gender, work, and family. She earned her B.A. in Sociology from the University of Chicago. Karin’s research interests include diversity in the military, military families, and civil-military relations. Her current projects include an examination of the Air Force Academy’s policies regarding sexual assault and an analysis of the military’s post 9/11 personnel policies. Karin served as a personnel officer in the United States Air Force from 2000-2006 with assignments in the Washington, DC area, northern Italy, and Qatar.
Jana Dorband is a doctoral fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, SWP) in Berlin. Her current research focus is on U.S. regional strategy, U.S. Middle East policy, democracy promotion and the securitization of foreign aid. She has contributed to the work of the SWP through various publications, presentations, and advisory meetings with German government officials. Interested in global challenges for the transatlantic community, she has worked at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Johns Hopkins Center for Transatlantic Relations, and the German Council on Foreign Relations. She received her M.A. in International Relations from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Ilze Dzenovska is a graduate student in the Peace and Justice program at the Joan. B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, USD, and will receive her M.A. degree in August 2008. She received her B.A. in Political Science from Riga Stradins University, Latvia and Professional Law Degree from University of Latvia. She is also an accredited mediator by the School of Psychotherapy and Counseling at Regent’s College, London. For the past four years she has worked on victim’s rights advocacy, restorative justice practices, and police reform projects. She speaks Latvian, English, and Russian.
Jasmina Glisic is an independent researcher in media and security studies. She founded her Belgrade-based consulting agency, Intermedion, in October 2007. She is a Ph.D. candidate at the Belgrade University, specializing in the role of public in security sector reform. She is also interested in the role of public opinion and media in civil-military relations. Jasmina obtained her M.A. in Political Science from the Belgrade University and was a professional journalist and editor. She is a native speaker of Serbian, proficient in English and speaks survival French.
Yan Hong completed her M.Sc. in International Relations at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her research interests include the international politics of East Asia, Chinese foreign policy, China’s relationship with the U.S. and the EU. After receiving her B.A. in Russian Language and Literature from the Beijing Foreign Studies University, she served in China’s Xinhua News Agency for five years, first as a reporter and editor, then as a foreign affairs officer. A native speaker of Chinese, she is fluent in English and Russian and has started learning French.
Molly Inman is a Ph.D. student in international relations in the University of Maryland's Government and Politics Department. Her interests include intercommunal conflict, state-sponsored violence against civilians, minority rights and refugee issues. Immediately prior to joining the Ph.D. program, she spent five years managing legal reform projects for Southeastern Europe at the American Bar Association's Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative. She has a M.A. in democracy and human rights from the Universities of Sarajevo and Bologna and a B.A. in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia.
Elizabeth St. Jean completed her M.A. in 2007 and proceeded into the doctoral program at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University. Her primary concentration is conflict analysis, her secondary field is international economic policy, and her doctoral research will focus on the behavior of non-state armed groups in asymmetric conflicts. For her M.A. thesis, she conducted primary research in the Democratic Republic of Congo on the incentives and disincentives to authorize the use of force in UN missions. Prior to her M.A., she conducted a research project on internally displaced youths in Northern Uganda that involved visits to 14 IDP camps.
Tugba Kurtulus is a Ph.D. candidate at Ankara University International Relations-European Union Department. Her research interests are regional trade agreements and the multilateral trade system, economic diplomacy, WTO dispute settlement mechanism and EU Trade Policy. She studied at London School of Economics in the Lent Term 2008 as Visiting Research Scholar. She holds a master’s degree in International Relations from Bilkent University. After graduation she received project management experience working in World Bank and EU funded projects. Since January 2006, she has been working in the Turkish Undersecretariat for Foreign Trade as a foreign trade specialist. She is fluent in English and is learning Spanish.
Mafwa Kuvibidila is an Air Force officer currently attending the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. An armed forces member for over 11 years, she has served in various jobs related to nuclear and satellite operations programs. She holds masters degrees in International Relations and Space System Operations Management and is currently pursuing a National Security Affairs degree with a Middle East concentration. Her current interests include international development in the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa and the Levant. She is fluent in French and will attend the Defense Language Institute to study Arabic in the fall of 2008.
Odette Lienau is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Government at Harvard University (GSAS), where she focuses on international relations. Her dissertation looks at the treatment of sovereign debt after major 20th century political upheavals, and her academic interests include political transitions and the rule of law, East & Southeast Asia, and security policy. She completed her J.D. at NYU School of Law in 2006, focusing on international law and legal philosophy. She grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia, received her B.A. from Harvard College, and has studied Indonesian, French, and Mandarin Chinese. She looks forward to a career that spans public policy and academia.
Sheila Mwiandi is currently pursuing a Masters of Arts in Conflict Resolution at Georgetown University. She holds a B.A. from Miami University, where she majored in Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs, and Sociology and minored in Black World Studies. At Georgetown, she is also a candidate for the Refugee and Humanitarian Crises Certificate. In addition to forced migration issues, she is interested in post-conflict stabilization and reconstruction. Her area focus is Sub-Saharan Africa. Professional interests are in scholarship and practice within her area of study. Hailing from Kenya, she speaks Swahili. She also has basic knowledge of French and Meru.
Ana Janaina Nelson was born and raised in Manaus in the central Brazilian Amazon. She received a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Brasilia. While in college she interned at the Carter Center and at the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations. She also studied at McGill University in Montreal where she directed her focus towards security studies in Latin America. She has presented at several conferences on topics such as transitional justice and decision-making processes in foreign policy.
Michele Poole is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy with a B.S. in Oceanography. As a Surface Warfare Officer, Lieutenant Commander Michele Poole has participated in operations around the world, serving aboard USS The Sullivans, USS Gettysburg, USS Cushing, and USS Chosin, as well as the Standing NATO Maritime Group Two staff. Ashore, she completed her M.A. in Strategic Planning at the Naval Postgraduate School, and the Navy War College Command and Staff Course, and served as an associate fellow at the Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group and a Federal Executive Fellow at the RAND Corporation. She is a Ph.D. student at the Naval Postgraduate School, focusing her studies on Chinese security and foreign policy.
Roya Rahmani is a candidate for Master of Public Administration at Columbia University. She has obtained her bachelor in Software Engineering from McGill University, Montreal Canada. Before starting her Masters at Columbia, she worked as Country Director for International Center for Human Rights and Democratic Development. While working for I.C.H.R.D.D, Afghanistan office, she supervised implementation of 72 project in 15 provinces of Afghanistan. Also during her work in Afghanistan she became a member of board of directors of five national and international organizations working to promote Human Rights and development issues. Ms. Rahmani received Afghanistan’s Best National Human Rights Activist Award in July 2007. Ms. Rahmani was born in Kabul Afghanistan.
Ekaterina Romanova is currently a doctoral student and graduate research assistant at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University. Her dissertation research focuses on the influence of immigration on the rise of nationalism and immigration policies in post-Soviet Russia. Ekaterina’s research interests include global migration, public policy, nationalism, ethnic conflict and roles of women in conflicts. Ekaterina holds an M.A. in Sociology from Kansas State University and B.A. in Philology and Education from Ryazan State Pedagogical University, Russia. She is fluent in English, Russian and German.
Jill Rough is a research assistant and full-time Ph.D. student in the School of Public Policy, George Mason University, specializing in national security and defense policy. She holds a B.S. in political science from the U.S. Naval Academy and an M.A. in international affairs from George Washington University. Jill is a former active-duty Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy and currently serves as a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy Reserve Intelligence Program. Her professional experience also includes work as a research assistant at the RAND Corporation, private sector homeland security analyst, and national security intern on Capitol Hill.
Anna Rulska is a doctoral candidate in the Graduate Program for International Studies at Old Dominion University. She has received her dual master’s degree in German and Political Science from Bowling Green State University, Ohio. Her research includes global and collective security, with a focus on energy security, European international and comparative politics, and the transatlantic relationship. Currently, she is working on her dissertation centered on the normative role of NATO and its relationship with the structural/political distribution of power within the organization. Anna teaches comparative politics and international relations and is fluent in Polish, with a working knowledge of German and Russian.
Melanie Sisson is a first-year Ph.D. student in the University of Colorado at Boulder Department of Political Science, and an adjunct member of the RAND Corporation National Security Research Division. She received a B.A. from Tufts University, and an M.A. in international affairs from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. Melanie was a Presidential Management Fellow at the FBI from 2003-2005, and subsequently spent two years as a full time member of the research staff at RAND. She has been published in the Washington Post, and is a contributing author on two RAND volumes. Her current research interests include causes of war, secessionist conflict, terrorism, counterterrorism, and U.S. intelligence policy.
Sarah Taylor is a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science at the New School for Social Research. Her dissertation is an investigation of high-level women conflict negotiators in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Chiapas, Mexico. She received her M.A. with distinction in Political Science from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, with her Master’s thesis on “Mothering the Fatherland: Nationalism and Gender in Eastern Europe.” Her current areas of interest include women and representation, international relations, and transitional justice. She is currently improving her intermediate level Spanish.
Evgenia Ustinova received her Master’s degree from the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University in Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies. She has received her undergraduate degree in Public Policy and International Relations from the Maxwell School, Syracuse University. Ms. Ustinova’s research interests include Russian domestic and foreign policy, energy security, and mass media communications. Her capstone project focused on the role that the Russian blogosphere may have in fostering development of Russia’s civil society and how it may impact Russia’s politics. Her native language is Russian, she is fluent in English and has intermediate knowledge of French.
Andrea Walther completed her B.A. at Tufts University in 2002. She subsequently worked at the United Nations, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the City of Newark, NJ Office of Homeland Security and Domestic Preparedness. Andrea is currently a second year Masters of Law and Diplomacy student at The Fletcher School where her current field of study is International Security Studies. Andrea is a Graduate Research Assistant with the Jebsen Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies. This summer she will be working with the U.S. Department of Defense Africa Command (AFRICOM) and the Kofi Anan International Peacekeeping Training Center in Accra, Ghana. She is a dual U.S./German citizen and speaks French and German fluently.
Li (Lili) Zhang received her B.A in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from St. Hilda’s College, University of Oxford in 2002 and an M.A. in East Asian Studies from Yale University in 2003. After working in the private sector for two years, she is now a third year graduate student in the Government Department at Harvard University, where she is developing her interests in behavioral economics, psychology and IR theory into a Ph.D. dissertation focusing on the problem of war termination and state choices to stay the course or withdraw. Her focus is on American foreign policy, though she is also interested in security in the Middle East and Asia. She is fluent in Mandarin and is a beginner in Spanish.