Colloquium | Members

Samantha Lund

Samantha is a token Midwesterner, hailing from St. Louis, Missouri. She is a senior double majoring in international relations with a concentration in global health and community health. She also accidentally has a minor in German and dabbles in the pre-med world. Outside of class, Samantha is a leader for Tufts Wilderness Orientation, on the ski team, a clinic coordinator for the Sharewood Health Clinic, and a member of the Tufts Dance Collective. She studied abroad in India, focusing on public health and specifically researching adolescent sexual health education in Kerala. Those amazing, eye-opening four months combined with interning in Everett, MA this past summer working to reduce obesity by increasing access to healthy foods and physical activity, have convinced Samantha she is destined for a career in health (exactly what is still unknown). She has yet to pick up the Boston accent in her spare time, but she most likely can be found tramping around outside, dancing in pink crocs, reading with her cat, or watching a St. Louis sports game. She is honored to be in EPIIC devoting the year to intensive study and learning from her peers.

Sookrit Malik

Sookrit is a Khemka Fellow studying International Relations and Entrepreneurial Leadership at Tufts University. He lives in a small town called Panipat in rural India. He attended an elite boarding school at the foothills of the Himalayas called ‘The Doon School’ before joining Tufts. A very passionate social entrepreneur with a knack for developing profitable social enterprises, his latest project “The Udaan Initiative” has proved to be very effective against substance abuse and unemployment at the ‘Bindal Slum’ in Dehradun. He has had the honor of presenting Gwyneth Sorenson, Under Secretary of the United Nations, with a comprehensive resolution to the Libyan Crisis during the WEMUN Conference in China.  He loves to make films in his free time. He was the lead actor in a Oscar Nominated Directors film in 2011. He is also a successful public speaker with a Distinction in the field from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. He has also been the keynote speaker and panelist at multiple leadership conferences including the TGELF Harmony 2012. He is currently developing a company called “Social Mechanics” to connect ground level NGO’s with Corporates, Academics and Social Entrepreneurs in order to undertake effective and efficient social change.   He wants to explore the development of social entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa. Using and improvising the business models from this region, he wishes to create companies that can rapidly set up and operate in developing countries boosting employment and lifestyle.

Samira Manzur

Samira Manzur is sophomore from Dhaka, Bangladesh. She’s hoping to major in International Relations and Economics and is chasing the near-perfect balance of imbalance in life. Samira’s interests range from understanding socio-economic dynamics to documenting stories to creating comic strips. She owes a large portion of her growing passion for politics and human rights issues to 19th and 20th Century literature, and the moment when Nora Helmer slammed the door behind her in A Doll’s House. After spending the summer in her home country, Samira is excited to start her year with EPIIC and delve into learning and understanding the various dynamics of the MENA region. 

Jay Messenger

Elissa Miller

 

Elissa Miller is a senior from Mamaroneck, New York, majoring in International Relations with a focus on international security. She has been studying Arabic at Tufts since her freshman year and hopes to go abroad to the Middle East after graduating to immerse herself in the culture and work towards fluency.  At Tufts, Elissa has been active in Pi Sigma Alpha, the Political Science Honors Society. Elissa spent last summer interning in Washington, D.C. at the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty as a Tisch Active Citizenship Summer Fellow. She hopes to apply what she learned about nonprofit coordination and social justice advocacy to working at a nonprofit in the Middle East. Eventually, she hopes to continue her education by pursuing a graduate degree in international security in Washington, D.C. Elissa is excited to spend her last year at Tufts delving into the complexities of the Middle East with the EPIIC program and expanding her knowledge on such a ceaselessly fascinating region.  

Jonathan Moore

Jonathan Moore is a freshman born and raised in Detroit, MI, where he attended Southfield High School and directed the student newspaper and poetry club. He is a competitive slam poet and 2012 Detroit Youth Poet Laureate who hopes to create a Spoken Word Alliance at Tufts (SWAT) team. He is exploring studies in International Relations, Political Science, and Sociology with a focus on the dynamics of poverty, education, and minority groups in the United States and abroad. As an openly gay, bi-racial man, he is particularity interested in the LGBTQ community and its relationship with minority groups, especially in the Middle East, which is the driving force that has drawn him to EPIIC this year. In the past, Jonathan has served as an organizing fellow and youth volunteer recruitment director for Obama for America's Detroit office during the 2012 re-election campaign of Barack Obama. In the summer of 2012, his love for Spanish led him to Peru, where he lived in the country for a month and helped a community construct a recreation room for senior citizens in the Inca village of Ollantaytambo. On campus, he is a member of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the Association of Latin American students. Jonathan hopes to take away from EPIIC, along with a greater understanding of the unique issues that face the Middle East and North Africa, a more refined sense of what he wants to focus on academically and the role that the Middle East may play in his future. He is currently studying Arabic and enjoys the simple pleasures of listening to poetry, drinking chai, eating alfredo and playing with his Collie mix, Mary Jane.

Adam Nagy

Adam Nagy is a Tufts undergraduate studying International Relations and Political Science with a focus on International Security. Adam is greatly interested in the increasing role environmental issues will play in International Relations. He is also interested in the ways in which media impacts government decision-making. In 2011, Adam worked at Forbes as an online contributor. More recently Adam worked at the New York Public Interest Research Group, New York state's largest environmental and consumer advocacy group. Adam is fluent in Hungarian and French and keeps himself busy as President of the Interfraternity Council and as a host of a radio show on a WMFO 91.5.

Bahar Ostadan

Bahar (class of 2017) is an Iranian-American from the San Francisco Bay Area. She plans to major in International Relations with a focus in global development and poverty alleviation, but is always open to any unexpected interests. Throughout high school she interned for her local city government and non-profits addressing issues ranging from micro-finance to campaign finance. With a fiery passion for people-watching, Bahar hopes to meet many strangers while living abroad during and after college. When she's not falling asleep in the library Bahar sings in Essence, Tufts' all-female a cappella group specializing in music of the African diaspora, and strives to be a disco queen through Tufts Dance Collective.  

Maddy Pelton

Maddy Pelton is a sophomore majoring in International Relations and Arabic from Oakland, California. She is fascinated by the culture, language, and the continuing political evolution of the MENA region. Following an internship at the local NPR station in San Francisco, Maddy has become increasingly interested in pursuing a journalism career. On campus, she is involved in the Tisch Scholars program, where she works at the YUM Project, a program that fosters cultural exchange by promoting immigrant-run restaurants in Somerville. She is also an avid foodie and Frisbee player.  

David Riche

Originally from Flemington, NJ, David Riche is a senior studying Quantitative Economics and International Relations with a focus in International Trade. At Tufts, he has applied development theory to practice with BUILD, a program that fosters collaboration between Tufts students, NGOs, and communities in developing countries. This year in EPIIC, he is looking forward to learning more about francophone North Africa while exploring urban formation, development, and specialization in the greater MENA region.