Denisa Albu
Tufts University, The Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy
Denisa Albu is currently a
Master’s student at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts
University, focusing on International Business Relations and East Asian
affairs. A native of Romania, Denisa graduated high
school in New York City and pursued a B.S. at the School of Foreign Service at
Georgetown University, where she concentrated on energy geopolitics,
international politics, and diplomacy. Her work experience includes consulting
for the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) in Washington, DC,
interning at the U.S. Commercial Service in Bucharest, Romania, and supervising
the commercial and legal aspects of a large wind farm project in Romania. As an
avid traveler, Denisa enjoys learning about
intercultural business communication and she plans to pursue a career in
international trade.
Hanna Azemati
Yale University, Jackson Institute for Global
Affairs
Hanna Azemati is a
graduate student in International Relations at Yale, where she is a Teaching
Fellow, a Managing Editor for the Yale Journal of International Affairs as well
as Yale’s Contributing Editor for the Journal of Public and International
Affairs. Hanna completed her undergraduate studies in Economics and Government
at Dartmouth College in 2007. She then worked as a Financial Analyst in
Leveraged Finance at Citigroup in New York and also volunteered for NYPACE, a
non-profit organization that consults disadvantaged entrepreneurs. After her
two-year program at Citigroup, Hanna volunteered for the ‘Iran Inside Out’
exhibition at the Chelsea Art Museum in New York, where she conducted a series
of interviews with artists, led exhibition tours, and organized
exhibition-related events. She then moved to East Africa to set up Kiva’s
partnership with six microfinance organizations in Kenya, Uganda, and the DRC
as a Kiva Fellow. Hanna was born in Tehran, Iran and grew up in Wiesbaden,
Germany.
Karinna Berrospi
American University, School of
International Service
Karinna Berrospi
is currently pursing a MA in International Economic
Relations with a concentration in international development at the School of
International Service – American University. She graduated magna cum laude with
a BA in International Relations with a thesis about Japanese Immigration in
Peru. It was her research in Lima with Japanese immigrants that sparked her
interest with Japanese culture, politics, and economics.
Her professional experience includes work at the
UN, think-tanks, and US Congress. She has also worked and studied abroad in
South Africa and Argentina. Karinna is fluent in
Spanish and French and is currently learning Portuguese. Her hobbies
include traveling, synchronized swimming, and dancing.
Sarah Charlton
Tufts University, The Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy
Sarah Charlton graduated from Harvard University
in 2004, where she studied intellectual history. Based initially in Toronto,
Canada, and later in Paris, France, she spent the next six years traveling the
world for her work as a management consultant for Monitor Group. With a
particular interest in the dynamics of emerging markets, Sarah worked
extensively in Eastern Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, where she focused
on advising companies on new growth opportunities. Now at the Fletcher School
of Law and Diplomacy in Boston, Sarah is specializing in international security
and Islamic civilizations. She speaks fluent French, as well as some basic
Spanish, Arabic and Japanese.
Nithin Coca
Columbia University, School of
International and Public Affairs
Nithin Coca is originally from Overland Park, Kansas and is
currently pursuing a Masters in International Affairs
from Columbia University, focusing on Environmental Policy Management.
Previously, Nithin worked as a Grassroots Media
Coordinator for the Sierra Club, and as a deputy field organizer for the Barack
Obama Presidential campaign. He did his undergrad in Communications at the
University of Southern California, and hopes to use
this experience and knowledge to help forge environmental solutions for a
growing, resource hungry world.
Nena do Nascimento
University of Maryland, School of Public Policy
Nena do Nascimento is a Master of Public Policy
candidate at the University of Maryland specializing in International
Development Policy. She also works part-time as a Research Assistant for the
United States Institute of Peace (USIP). Ms. do Nascimento began her career in
international development as a Program Officer at International Relief and
Development (IRD), a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC. In that
role, she spent time in Mozambique working on an income generation and health
awareness program for rural women and on capacity building for local HIV/AIDS
community based organizations. She also managed a portfolio of programs
supporting health and vocational training services for Iraqi refugees in
Jordan. In addition, Nena spent a summer as an intern with the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID) West Africa Mission where she
worked on trade, investment and export promotion in Sub-Saharan Africa. She holds
a Bachelors Degree with Honors from McGill University in International
Development Studies. Nena speaks Portuguese, French and Spanish, and she
volunteers with a recently-resettled Iraqi refugee family in her free time.
Morgan Greene
Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of
Public and International Affairs
Morgan Greene graduated from the United States
Military Academy in June 2002 with a Bachelor of Science degree in both
Mathematics and Physics and was commissioned as an Infantry officer. Over
the past nine years, MAJ Greene served in a variety of conventional and special
operations organizations culminating with twenty four
months of company command. During this time, MAJ Greene deployed three
times in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. His awards and decorations
include the Bronze Star Medal for Valor and Ranger Tab. MAJ Greene
attends Princeton University and will earn his Masters in
Public Affairs with a focus on International Relations and Development
Studies.
Theodore Ho
George Washington University, Elliot School of
International Affairs
Theodore Ho was born in Honolulu, HI and grew up
in Singapore. Most of his education and schooling has oriented him more
towards China, Europe and the US. Despite this, he has always been interested
in Japan and the politics of the country given its impact in the Pacific
region; he has pursued this interest in Japan by visiting numerous on numerous
occasions. For his undergraduate studies, he went to Cambridge University in
the UK where he completed a degree in Political Science focusing on Asia as a
whole. Immediately afterwards, he went to further his studies at George
Washington University where he is currently doing a MA in International Affairs
with a concentration on the Asian region, international business and security
studies. He has spent the past year trying to better understand the US-China
relationship by studying abroad at Peking University and working for the US
Dept of Commerce in Beijing. He is looking forward to learning more about
Japan, its relations with the United States, and the role that China plays
within this relationship.
Sean Lowry
University of Maryland, School of Public Policy
Sean Lowry is a Master’s in Public Policy
student at the University of Maryland. He lives just outside of Washington D.C.
His degree specialization is in International Security and Economic Policy, and
his academic interests include: international trade/finance, China, the
politics and economics of East Asia, and arms control/nuclear nonproliferation
policy. His hobbies include hiking, playing the guitar, and cooking. Sean is a
self-professed “foodie” and likes to blog about his passions for all things
edible. He has some travel experience in Japan, but sadly cannot speak the
language. Sean looks forward to meeting everybody in the program, traveling
with such a great group, and (finally) picking up some basic Japanese
vocabulary!
Manuel Manriquez
Georgetown University, Edmund A.
Walsh School of Foreign Service
Manuel (“Manny”) Manriquez is a Master’s
degree candidate at Georgetown University where he studies international
security with a focus on East Asian/Japanese security issues, nuclear weapons
and nonproliferation, and environmental security. Manny has been studying and
conducting research on Japanese security and foreign policy since 2006. He has
published three peer-reviewed works on various aspects of Japanese security and he plans to produce a Master’s thesis on
Japanese security challenges and grand strategy in the 21st century. Manny
earned his B.A. from UC Berkeley (‘08) in political science and Asian
studies—with a focus on Japan. He also speaks, reads and writes Japanese at the
intermediate level. Outside his academic interests, he is a vocalist, guitarist
and composer. Manny grew up in Oakland, CA and Albuquerque, NM.
Isaac Meyer
University of Washington, Jackson
School of International Studies
Isaac Meyer was born in Olympia, Washington and
raised in Peekskill, New York. As an undergraduate at Wesleyan University
in Middletown, Connecticut, he studied Japanese. He currently attends the
University of Washington, where he is studying Japan Studies. His focus
is on military history, the history of the Imperial Japanese Military and the
history of Japanese politics and political structures (in particular, the ones
created in the Meiji Period). Isaac also studies the history of the
martial arts, though that tends to be more as a hobby than an academic pursuit.
Cody Nelson
University of Minnesota, Hubert H. Humphrey
Institute of Public Affairs
Cody Nelson hails from northern Minnesota; he
received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Bemidji State
University in Bemidji, Minnesota. After graduation, Cody joined the
Minneapolis, Minnesota based start-up non-profit Students Today Leaders Forever
(STLF) as the Manager of High School Programs. In this role, Cody managed a
high-school student leadership program in 23 states with over 8,000
participants. Currently, Cody is pursuing a dual Master of Public Policy at the
Humphrey School of Public Affairs and a Master of Business Administration at
the Carlson School of Management, both at the University of Minnesota. Cody’s
academic studies emphasize finance, macroeconomic policy, and trade policy.
Most recently Cody received a fellowship with the United States Department of
the Treasury in Washington D.C. in the Office of South / South East Asia under
the Office of International Affairs and will work on both poverty reduction and
U.S. economic policy for the 17 nation region.
Porscha Stiger
University of Denver, Josef Korbel
School of International Studies
Porscha Stiger is an M.A. candidate
in Global Finance, Trade and Economic Integration focusing on economic
development, international trade, and risk analysis. She holds a B.A. in
International Studies and Japanese from the University of Alabama, and spent
her junior year studying Japanese language, history and culture at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan. Following graduation, Porscha moved to Chiba, Japan and spent two years working
as an Assistant Language Teacher. This summer, she will be working at the U.S.
Department of State in the Bureau of Energy, Economics and Business of Affairs.
After graduation, she will enter the Peace Corps and hopes to serve in sub-Saharan
Africa. Porscha is proficient in Japanese,
and hopes to work in Japan and continue to promote and further
partnerships between the U.S. and Japan, and examine how the two nations can
utilize their strengths to promote economic development in emerging
markets.
Mary Svenstrup
Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson
School of Public and International Affairs
Mary Svenstup: After studying economics
and international affairs at Northwestern University, Mary took a position at
JPMorgan’s investment bank, focusing on U.S. transportation and automotive
companies. This experience led to a position at the International Finance
Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. At
IFC, she worked to provide financing to private health and education companies
in emerging markets, based first in Washington, DC and then in Jakarta,
Indonesia. Mary just finished her first year of the Masters
in Public Affairs program at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton
University. This summer, Mary will intern at the U.S. Department of the
Treasury in the Office of International Affairs, focusing on the Middle East
and North Africa region.