IPD Research Apprentices
Undergraduate Researchers
Alexis Mulkey
BA, Humanities; BA, Government IPD Member since Fall 2018 Lexie is a senior pursuing a double degree in Humanities and Government with a minor in Geography. Her academic interests include political geography and Scandinavian culture. She hopes to research the impacts of immigration on host nation’s political infrastructure and consolidated democracies. As well as studying at UT, she has attended Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden, where she studied under their prestigious Peace and Conflict Department. Her future endeavors include pursuing a graduate degree focusing on political geography and urban planning. 
Amila Lulo
BS, Biomedical Engineering; International Relations &Global Studies IPD member since Fall 2018 Amila is a fourth-year undergraduate student studying Biomedical Engineering and International Relations and Global Studies, with a focus on computational methods, European Studies, and Spanish. She is interested in the intersect between empirical data analysis and policy formulation/evaluation, specifically with regards to technology, innovation, and international development. As the Director of Marketing Analytics for the Student Engineering Council, Amila has employed her technical skills in the management of databases to critically and insightfully analyse data to better understand and serve the needs of the Cockrell community. She hopes to apply her technical skills to stimulate and support new sources of equitable, innovative growth through intergovernmental organisations such as the OECD. In her free time, Amila enjoys tending to her ever-growing indoor plant collection, serving the greater Austin community, and biking around the city. 
Ashley Frey
BA, International Relations & Global Studies IPD Member since Fall 2018 My name is Ashley Frey and I’m a second year at UT. I’m majoring in international relations and global studies with a track in science, technology, and the environment. My area of interest is Latin America and I’m also minoring in Anthropology. Currently, I’m the financial chair in the UT NAACP Chapter. I work on helping the org raise money most of the time, however, since we’re an action based org I also plan on visiting local high schools to spread good financial habits and explain what FAFSA does for college bound kids/ how it works. I’m not too sure about what specific career I want to have in the future, but I do know that I love conducting research, advocating for human rights, and learning about modern technology’s impact on law-making globally. 
Benjamin Vega
BA, International Relations & Global Studies; BA, Arabic IPD Member since Fall 2018 Benjamin Vega is a senior studying International Relations and Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures. His interests revolve around understanding global health and the implications of globalization on public health programs as well as health specific policy. He is specifically interested in health care policy in the Middle East North Africa region, and spent the past summer in Morocco studying Arabic with the Language Flagship Program. In the future, Benjamin hopes to use his skills to work on policy that bridges global indicators and local health institutions, especially in regards to serving the health needs of under served communities. 
Danielle Garcia
BA, Government; BA, International Relations & Global Studies IPD member since Fall 2018 Danielle is a second year student double majoring in Government and International Relations and Global Studies, with a focus on European Studies. Her interests include international security, international development, governance, immigration policy, and refugee migration. She is excited to be a part of the IPD team to expand her interests and knowledge. After graduation, she plans to further her studies by attending graduate school. 
David Venish
BA, International Relations & Global Studies; BA, European Studies IPD Member since Fall 2018 David is a senior in the College of Liberal Arts perusing a double major in International Relations & Global Studies along with European Studies. He is currently writing his undergraduate thesis on EU Security and its effects on international institutions. Through IPD, David hopes that his work with contemporary issues will help him complete additional schooling and, soon, work directly with international institutions to improve global governance. 
Devika Kumar
Plan II; BA, International Relations & Global Studies IPD Member since Fall 2018 Devika Kumar is currently a sophomore majoring in International Relations and Global Studies, and Plan II Honors. Devika is a first-generation Indian-American and thus has a strong connection to the South Asian region. This background inspired her to create The MAHI Project (Menstrual Awareness and Hygiene in India), for which she was selected, as one of ten, to receive the National Young Women of Distinction Award. Through her long-standing study of the Spanish language and culture, she also has a special interest in Latin America and its development. Devika is also pursuing coursework in Economics with hopes to further study economic gender equality in developing nations. 
Elena Ivanova
Plan II; BA, Government; BS, Public Health IPD Member since Fall 2018 Elena Ivanova is an third-year undergraduate student pursuing degrees in Public Health, Government, and Plan II Honors, with a minor in Business. She is interested in how climate change affects the public health, economic development, and citizen rights of those living in lower-income, conflict-prone countries and communities. Elena serves UT's student body through her role as the Vice President of the Senate of College Councils. She also dedicates her time to volunteering at KIPP Austin through the Plan II/KIPP partnership, and at Posada Esperanza, a transitional refugee shelter for women and children in Austin. 
Elisabeth Foster
BA, Sociology; BA, International Relations & Global Relations IPD Member since Fall 2018 Elisabeth is a senior double majoring in Sociology with a focus on criminal justice and International Relations and Global Studies. She interns with Lone Star Justice Alliance, a non-profit that works to reduce the prison sentences for juveniles that were sentenced to life. Elisabeth started an organization at the University of Texas called Leaders for Empowerment Through Story, in which members volunteer at a local juvenile detention facility and mentor young girls. Elisabeth hopes that she can use her experience with IPD to expand her knowledge of national security, government, and conflict resolution. 
Ella Pettichord
Plan II; BS, Civil Engineering IPD Member since Fall 2018 Ella is a third-year undergraduate student studying Civil Engineering and Plan II Honors. She is a two-time recipient of the State Department's Critical Language Scholarship, which allowed her to study the Urdu languages in India the last two summers. Last year, she interned with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to complete a research project on water conditions in South Asia. On campus, she's the social officer for Women in Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering (WCAE), and a member of the UT Fencing Club. 
Erica Colston
BA, History, BA International Relations & Global Studies IPD Member since Fall 2018 Erica Colston is a sophomore majoring in History and IRG with a focus in Eastern Europe and International Security. She is a Jefferson Scholar with the Core Texts and Ideas department, as well a peer mentor to incoming JSP freshmen. In the past, she has interned with Comal County Habitat for Humanity as a grant writing intern and is currently an editor with The Texas Orator, UT’s first non-partisan political review. Her interests include human rights and social justice, housing and poverty inequality, and issues in international security. In the future, she hopes to intern with the US Department of State and join the foreign service. 
Evan Samsky
BS, Biology IPD Member since Fall 2018 Evan Samsky is a second-year student studying Biology and Middle Eastern Languages major. He's a student in the Polymathic Scholars Honors program and in the Arabic Flagship program. His most broad interest is in applying natural science knowledge to the field of international development. Evan has study abroad experience through the NSLI-Y program in Morocco, where he spent a summer, and in Moldova, where he spent a gap year learning Russian. He was also awarded a FLAS scholarship from the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies to spend a summer in Kyrgyzstan. 
Faridhe Puente
BA, Sociology IPD Member since Fall 2018 Faridhe is a third year undergraduate student at the University of Texas pursuing a Bachelors degree in Sociology. After pursuing research involving synthetic biology and neuroscience, she’s interested in how it affects people of different socio-economic statuses. She’s also interested in how research can affect public policies to maximize the amount of people accessing healthcare that are of low socio-economic status. Other interests include human rights, political activism, and the intersection of medicine with public policies. She has over 50 hours of volunteer service and works with local organizations to make the world a little better. 
Grace Stanley
BA, Humanities IPD member since Fall 2018 Grace is a third year Humanities student with a focus Political Narrative and a minor in French. She is interested in studying how narrative can be used as a mobilization and self-reflection tool. Other research interests include English literature, political psychology and communications studies. She is currently a Political Content intern at WiseUp TX and a Student Assistant at the Department of Sociology. 
Hayley Reese
BA, International Relations & Global Studies IPD Member since Fall 2018 Hayley is an undergraduate student studying International Relations and Global studies, with a concentration in culture, media, and the arts. She’s interested in art, religion, and immigration. She pursues these interests by volunteering with the Liberal Arts Refugee Alliance, Blanton Museum of Art, and as a ESL teaching assistant for refugees. 
Hennessey Herrera
BA, International Relations & Global Studies IPD Member since Fall 2018 Hennessey is a third year student majoring in international relations and minoring in Arabic. Her region of focus is the Middle East with an emphasis on international security. In the past, she interned with the criminal justice division of the Office of the Governor, and in 2017 she was appointed by Governor Abbott to serve on his Juvenile Justice Advisory Board. She plans to go to either grad or law school and pursue a career in counter-terrorism. 
Hochul Song
BA, Mathematics IPD Member since Fall 2018 Hochul Song is a fourth year undergraduate student majoring in Mathematics. His interests lie in the measurements of variables in social science and the procedures used to model relationships between variables. 
Jake Reynolds
BA, International Relations & Global Studies IPD Member since Fall 2018 Jake is a fourth year student majoring in International Relations and Global Studies focusing on Science, Technology, and the Environment as well as minoring in Business. He is interested in sustainable development and the innovation of new energy technology, specifically in Latin America. 
Jenny Myung
BA, International Relations & Global Studies IPD Member since Fall 2018 Jenny is an 2nd year undergraduate student pursuing a degree in International Relations and Global Studies. She is focusing on East Asia and international security. Her interests include political interaction between Asian countries, diplomacy, preventive war measures, the juxtaposition of democracy and communism, and U.S. Foreign Policy in East Asia. She has interned at Dallas City Hall in the Welcoming Communities and Immigrant Affairs Office to help incorporate Immigrants better into Dallas' social sphere and economy. 
Jeremy Doran
BA, Government; BA, Political Communication IPD Member since Fall 2018 Jeremy Doran is a senior studying Government Honors and Political Communication with a certificate in Security Studies. Jeremy has previously worked with nonprofit The National Immigration Forum and the US House Committee on Homeland Security. He is interested in US immigration policy and the US/Mexico security dynamic. Jeremy will spend his senior year writing an undergraduate honors thesis about the United States' role in Mexico's enforcement of its southern border. 
Joshua Alexander Evans
Plan II; BA, International Relations & Global Studies; BA, South Asian Languages IPD Member since Fall 2018 Josh is an undergraduate senior with a quadruple-major in Plan II Honors, International Relations & Global Studies, Economics, and South Asian Languages and Cultures. He is interested in studying the viability of the use of economic and social methods to combat non-state actors in South Asia, especially the Taliban, alongside similar methods to protect the rights of the citizenry in smaller countries from exploitative foreign economic power. From his time living in India on a Boren Scholarship, he is fluent in Urdu and proficient in Hindi, and additionally has experience with several data and statistical applications. Following graduation, he hopes to work in South Asia advising national or supranational organizations towards putting his research interests into policy. 
Judy Lane
BA, Humanities IPD Member since Fall 2018 I am a junior in my first semester at UT. I am in the Honors Humanities program, combining Latin American and Asian studies in order to do research comparing social issues along drug trafficking routes. I also have contracted with law enforcement for the past 10 years as a Spanish translator. Additionally, I volunteered for 3.5 years with a startup non-profit seeking to start rehabilitation and vocational education centers in Central Asia for opium-addicted/at-risk children. At the community college I transferred from, I helped organize a collaborative effort between different academic departments and students to start an on-campus community garden. I love solving problems and fostering collaboration! I'm a total geek about sci-fi and fantasy, especially JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. I love travel, ethnic cuisine, being outdoors, coffee, and dark chocolate, too! 
Kassandra Barrera
BS, Public Health IPD Member since Fall 2018 Kassandra is a fourth-year undergraduate majoring in Public Health and pursuing a BDP certificate in Social Entrepreneurship and Nonprofits. Her passion lies in reducing poverty globally and uncovering the most effective method of doing so. For the past year she has been a project intern at the local Austin nonprofit, Rainforest Partnership, working closely with both Austin and Latin America’s Program Directors. She hopes to obtain a career in international development at a nonprofit after graduation. 
Kyler Wesp
BA, International Relations & Global Studies IPD Member since Fall 2018 Kyler is a sophomore studying International Relations and Global Studies. Her interests lie in civil conflict resolution, foreign aid policy in regards to refugee aid and resettlement, and international security measures. Currently, she is involved with Girl Up, an United Nations Foundation organization that advocates for the education, health, and economic status of refugee women and children as well as the executive branch of the University of Texas Student Government and Texas Leaders. She currently interns at National Alliance on Mental Illness, a non-profit that provides mental health awareness training and health services for underprivileged communities across the United States. 
Lillian Mauldin
BA, International Relations & Global Studies IPD Member since Fall 2018 Lillian is a Sophomore International Relations and Global Studies major with a Middle Eastern area studies concentration. She is currently studying Arabic and has research interests in culture surrounding LGBTQ+ identities in the Middle East, as well as the global spread of various economic systems and their impacts on disadvantaged populations. Lillian is the Vice President of UT Amnesty International, a student organization that holds weekly meetings to discuss solutions to issues of human rights and benefits the local Austin community through fundraising and activism. 
Mackenzie Salter
BBA, International Business IPD Member since Fall 2018 Mackenzie is an undergraduate student at UT. She is studying International Business and expects to graduate in May 2020. Her interests include international law, human rights, and civil rights. She aspires to attend law school in the future. 
Magdalena Ibarra
BA, International Relations & Global Studies IPD Member since Fall 2018 Magdalena is a fourth year International Relations and Global Studies major with a minor in Latin American Studies. She is also pursuing the Business Foundations Program certificate. She is interested in immigration policy as well as the relationship between the United States and Latin America. She interns at HOFT Institute, an ESL school for international students, where she has completed a comparative analysis to understand the communication preferences and immigration policy challenges that affect international agents. She also completed an analysis of international communication preferences tailored for HOFT’s outreach programs and worked on a targeted analysis for Latin America that outlined immigration policies and US politics and their effect on international student recruitment and morale. During the summer of 2018, she participated in an exchange program in Santiago de Queretaro, Mexico where she studied Latin American literature and Mexican citizenship and democracy. 
Mariana Tejada
BA, Government; BA, Economics IPD Member since Fall 2018 Mariana is a third-year Economics & Government double major and Business minor student at the University of Texas at Austin. She has a passion for analyzing data to explain or answer problems that are critical to understand in today's society. Her interests are in studying the relationship between economic development and its effect on governmental policies, and vice-versa, especially in impoverished nations. She believes that strong economies and businesses can lead the way in solving social crises of the world through innovation, collaboration, and empowerment. 
Mary Margaret Burniston
BA, Humanities Honors; BA, Human Dimensions of Organizations IPD Member since Fall 2018 Mary Margaret Burniston is a sophomore pursuing a double major in Human Dimensions of Organizations and Humanities Honors. As a Humanities major, Mary Margaret will craft a major centering around the intersections of government, psychology, and sociology. Mary Margaret is a Liberal Arts Honors student, as well as a Forty Acres scholar. Previously she has worked as a research assistant in the department of English. Her interests are varied, but primarily center around issues of human rights, education, and gender inequality. 
Maximilian Klaunig
BA, Economics IPD Member since Fall 2018 Max is a second-year Economics major in the Liberal Arts Honors program at the University of Texas at Austin. He is interested in the economy, law and human rights. He has interned in the office of a criminal appeals lawyer and has participated in Mock Trial. After graduating, he plans on going to law school, and he currently plans on pursuing tax law. 
Meena Pyatt
BA, International Relations & Global Studies IPD Member since Fall 2018 Meena is a second year student studying International Relations and Global Studies with an International Political Economy focus and a European Studies concentration. Additionally, she is pursuing a minor in Sociology along with certificates in Social Inequality, Health & Policy as well as Business & Public Policy. Her interests lie in understanding the complexities of and alleviating global issues through the application of policy and international development. Over the summer she interned for The Borgen Project, an organization working to alleviate global poverty. Currently, she is interning at Girlstart, a nonprofit that implements STEM education programs for young girls. On campus, Meena is involved with several organizations including Generation United Nations, TX Votes, She’s the First, and Texas Royals. 
Peony Ho
BA, International Relations & Global Studies; BA Asian Cultures and Languages IPD Member since Fall 2018 Peony is a sophomore double majoring in International Relations & Global Studies and Asian Cultures and Languages, with a minor in Business Foundations. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Peony has a great sense of cultural awareness due to her substantial travel experiences. At UT, she is an active member of the Central Texas Model United Nations (CTMUN), Dream Corps, and Chinese Students and Scholars Association (UT CSSA). Growing up in a multicultural environment, Peony is fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin. She is also taking Korean at UT in preparation for her exchange in South Korea before she graduates. Because of her strong language skills, Peony has been doing quite amount of interpretation work, including translating research papers for professors. Passionate about meeting different people all around the globe, Peony hopes to work at a culturally diverse organization, like the United Nations, to continue promoting world peace and cultural exchange. 
Rachel Boles
BA, History; BA, Government IPD Member since Fall 2018 Rachel is a sophomore majoring in History and Government with a minor in French. She is interested in researching democratization, anti-corruption and human rights. Through her involvement with Innovations for Peace and Development, Rachel hopes to learn more about research procedure, data collection and data analysis. 
Rebecca Atwood
BA, Sustainability Studies IPD Member since Fall 2018 Rebecca is a Junior studying at the intersection of sustainability, rhetoric, and law. She is interested in issues of environmental justice, especially along the Texas Gulf Coast, and the growth of renewable energy technology and policy in Texas. She also takes significant interest in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and hopes to work toward justly solving the problems of global climate change. Rebecca has studied renewable energy systems in practice in Denmark, Sweden, and Germany. Rebecca plans to attend law school and pursue a career in environmental law. 
Sara Ifteiha
BA, International Relations & Global Studies IPD Member since Fall 2018 I am an International Relations and Global Studies major and I am working towards a minor in Arabic. I hope to one day attend graduate school to study Global Policy and/or Middle Eastern Studies. I am a Palestinian American born to two Palestinian immigrants. I would like to work to help countries that have been negatively impacted by Western colonialism/imperialism. A fun fact about myself is that I have two cats that I adore! 
Savannah Whitmer
BA, Anthropology IPD Member since Fall 2018 Savannah is a third year student studying Anthropology and Human Rights and Social Justice. She is interested in law and its intersection with race, class, and gender. Savannah currently interns with the non profit law firm Disability Rights Texas and plans to attend law school after graduation. 
Shania Robinson
BBA, Finance; BA, International Relations & Global Studies IPD Member since Fall 2018 Shania is a second year dual major in Finance and International Relations and Global Studies. Shania is from the twin island Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago. She is particularly interested in the role energy plays in economic development, and the influence of the energy sector on the geopolitical terrain. After graduation, Shania wishes to work for an international monetary agency in the field of sustainable economic development in the Latin American and Caribbean region. 
Shawnia Ward
BA, International Relations & Global Studies; BA, East Asian Studies IPD Member since Fall 2018 Shawnia is a sophomore double majoring in International Relations & Global Studies and East Asian Studies with a minor in Chinese at the University of Texas at Austin. She is interested in international policy development concerning trade rights, security and militant involvement in society, and the emerging importance of environmental protocol with relation to finance and the sustainability thereof. On campus, she is a UT Austin Peace Corps Ambassador, as well as a conference member for Global Professional Training for East and Southeast Asia. 
Vanessa Gonzales
BA, International Relations & Global Studies IPD member since Fall 2018 My name is Vanessa Gonzales a transfer student from Lone Star College in the Houston area. I am 22 years of Hispanic heritage and am fluent in Spanish. This is my second semester here at UT Austin and I am studying IRG and currently waiting for a reply on whether I have been accepted to the Entrepreneurship minor. I am very active and I used to be a nursing major however after extensive traveling My passion lied somewhere else. I would love to participate and be more involved and I feel like this would benefit me and others. I want to take any opportunity I can get. I am ambitious and a very hard worker. I would love to be apart of IPD. |
Graduate Researchers
Anushree Deb
MA, Public Policy IPD Member since Fall 2018 Anushree is Master's Student of Global Policy Studies at the LBJ School. Her interests focus on increasing access to basic infrastructure, impact of land-use zones on the urban poor, and urban heritage conservation in India. Prior to the LBJ School, Anushree was a Senior Associate at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements. 
Christopher Scott Zimmer
MA, Global Policy Studies IPD Member since Fall 2018 Chris is working towards his Master of Global Policy Degree at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. His background lies in political science, history, and teaching. Chris is interested studying how technology and new economic methods such as automation and artificial intelligence will affect the developing world, trade displacement, and international security. 
Emily Acker
MA, Global Policy Studies IPD Member since Fall 2018 Emily is a first year student at the LBJ School starting a Master's in Global Policy Studies. Previously, she studied Economics and Spanish at Trinity University. Emily spent the past two years in Colombia working as an English Teaching Assistant for Fulbright. She is interested in Latin America, post-conflict countries, development, and linguistics. 
Kat Sisler
MA, Public Affairs; MA, Public Health IPD Member since Fall 2018 Kat Sisler is a second year Master's student pursing dual degrees in Public Health and Public Affairs. Her interests lie in food security, decision-making and behavioral science. Outside of her coursework, she works as the Program Evaluation Intern for Foundation Communities' Healthy Food Pantry Program and serves as Co-President of Society of Women and Leadership through UTHealth. She previously worked as the Program Assistant on the CATCH My Breath E-Cigarette Prevention Program at CATCH Global Foundation. 
Luisa Venegoni
MA, Public Affairs IPD Member since Fall 2018 Luisa is in her first year of the Master of Public Affairs program at the L.BJ. School. She has undergraduate degrees in International Development and Latin American Studies and has previously done research on informal urbanization--environmental conservation conflict in Lima, Peru's Lomas ecosystem. She is interested in demography, along with data mapping for international development. Luisa currently works on health care policy in the Texas Senate. 
Mohamed Abufalgha
MA, Global Policy Studies IPD Member since Fall 2018 Mohamed Abufalgha is a Masters of Global Policy Studies student at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. He is interested in conflict management, immigration, and refugee studies in Africa and the Middle East. He is currently working as a Teaching Assistant at the Sociology department at UT. Mohamed received his B.S. in Engineering Iowa State University. As an undergraduate, he worked as a research assistant, studying issues related to Syrian and Palestinian refugees in the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. |