Cuba / Executive Assisant Fiorella Mejia
Fiorella graduated from Brown University in 2010 with a degree in International Relations, specifically in Political Economy and Development. She focused her regional studies on Lusophone Africa and Cuba. In her junior year, she studied abroad in Havana at Casa de las Américas, and she had the opportunity to travel throughout the country. She is very interested in the socioeconomic and cultural changes that occurred in Cuba during and after the 'Special Period' of the 1990s. She has interned at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council and has worked at Los Angeles World Airports. At CIP, she is excited to learn more about Cuba and general international policy. For fun, she loves to read and travel.

Latin America Security Claire McCleskey
Claire is a rising senior at the Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She is majoring in International Politics with a concentration in Security Studies. During fall of her junior year she studied abroad at Pontificia Católica Universidad del Perú in Lima. Her personal research and interest lies in US training of foreign police, counterinsurgency strategies, counternarcotics, and US-Latin American relations. She previously taught English as a second language and volunteered as a Spanish interpreter at a public hospital and at public schools in her native Atlanta. She is also studying Mandarin Chinese and will begin Portuguese this fall. She hopes to pursue graduate studies in Security Studies and to return to Latin America soon.

Common Defense Campaign Esha Mufti
Esha is a recent graduate of the University of Oklahoma, where she earned a degree in International and Area Studies and minors in International Security Studies and Spanish. During the summer after her Junior year, she studied abroad at Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey, where she studied the politics of the modern Near East from a regional perspective. She is very interested in the socio-economics and politics of South Asia and the Near East. She speaks Urdu, Kashmiri, Spanish and enough Turkish to barely survive. She hopes to pursue graduate studies in public policy and a career in foreign policy. She loves to travel, try exotic foods, and learn at least a smidgen of the local languages.

Social Media, Operations, and Communications Teddy Woodhouse
Teddy is a rising junior at the University of St Andrews, where he studies International Relations.  During his most recent semester, he was a research intern with the Centre for the Study of Religion and Politics, based at the University of St Andrews, submitting a paper on Christian influence on contemporary Western foreign policy.  Outside of his studies, Teddy attends evening language classes on Mandarin Chinese and competes with the St Andrews University Lifesaving Club.  In his spare time, Teddy enjoys going to the movies, swimming, traveling, and playing games of Scrabble.

Afghanistan Study Group Edward Kenney
A graduate of Wesleyan University (BA) and Johns Hopkins SAIS (MA), Edward has spent the last two years researching U.S. foreign policy and counter-insurgency in regions as diverse as El Salvador and the Philippines. In May he completed a Masters of international relations with a concentration in economics and Latin American Studies. He has worked throughout Latin America, most recently in Mexico as an economic analyst for the IDB. In 2004, he advised presidential candidate Mel Zelaya in his successful bid to become president of Honduras. At CIP, Edward will continue to work on national security issues, assisting the Afghanistan Study Group’s attempts to positively change U.S. foreign policy. Edward is an avid traveler who speaks four languages. He loves the outdoors and recently completed several mountain ascents in the Cordillera Blanca (Peru) and the Serra dos Orgaos (Brazil). He is also an aspiring jazz musician (clarinet/piano).

National Security / Fundraising & Development Alyssa Warren
Alyssa is a rising senior at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She is majoring in Science, Technology, and International Affairs with a concentration in Security Studies. During the fall of her junior year, she spent a semester abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark studying human rights and war crimes from a European perspective of international law. Alyssa is particularly interested in the role of technology can play in conflict prevention and resolution. Outside of her studies, Alyssa teaches a global issues class for 8th graders at a local public school and enjoys reading, cooking, and hiking. While she is open-minded about future career plans, she is considering pursuing graduate studies in security studies and conflict resolution.

Afghanistan Study Group Mary Patterson
Mary is a recent graduate of DePaul University where she studied Political Science with concentrations in Middle East Politics and Islamic World Studies. Her research focused on the role and ramifications of US policy in Central Asia and the Middle East. She participated in an international business seminar in India with DePaul University during the summer of 2009, where she visited Indian businesses and examined a variety of business models. Her past experience includes an internship with former Senator Barack Obama and campaign work for Senator Claire McCaskill. She speaks Spanish and studied Arabic her senior year of college. In her free time, Mary enjoys running, watching the Colbert Report, and exploring DC. Mary is law school bound in the fall.

Americas Program Murphy Woodhouse
Murphy is a proud 2008 graduate of the University of Montana’s School of Journalism and an even prouder Idahoan. Before joining the Americas Program, he spent three years fighting wildfire with the Snake River Hotshots and travelling the states, Mexico and Guatemala in the off-season. His work has appeared in the Missoulian, the Helena Independent Record, the Santiago Times, and Counterpunch. As Americas Program intern, his responsibilities include editing, posting, translating and promoting articles; writing and researching stories; and pretty much anything else that comes up. He will be starting the University of Arizona’s Latin American Studies Master’s Program in the fall.

Colombia
Anthony Dest
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

Global Financial Integrity
Anish Savani
Georgetown University

Colombia
Stephanie DiBello
Beloit College

Fundraising & Development
Aya Sakaguchi
Bowdoin College

Colombia
Virginia Brown
Colby College

Fundraising & Development
Caroline McEaddy
Davidson College

Central America
Andrea Bustard
University of California, San Diego

Cuba
Malvina de la Canal
American University

Fundraising & Development / National Security
Megan Mcqueeney
University of California at Santa Barbara

Colombia
Gareth Smail
American University

Global Financial Integrity
Monica Stich
Iowa State University

Asia
Megan Miller
College of the Holy Cross

Colombia
Alessandra Miraglia
University of Wales

Global Financial Integrity
Tommy Shen
Georgetown University

Asia
Lourdes Villanueva
California State University

Colombia
Mariam Khokhar
American University

Global Financial Integrity

Asia
Aaron Siirila
American University

Colombia
Christina Sanabria
Brown University

Global Financial Integrity

Asia

Colombia

Global Financial Integrity