George Aquila is a sophomore currently majoring in International Relations and minoring in Computer Science. He has been an active member of PPRI since the fall of 2012 and plans on taking part in the groups spring research project. George joined PPRI as a result of his interest in international development and foreign aid and the role that corruption and poverty dynamics play in those areas.
Adrienne Larson is a freshman from Washington D.C considering a major in International Relations. She is Belgian-American, and before coming to Tufts she took a gap year and worked in Senegal, Togo, Haiti, and Brussels. Outside of PPRI, she is involved with BUILD Nicaragua, Hemispheres, the undergraduate IR journal, and Alpha Phi. She is interested in exploring corruption issues with regard to foreign medical aid and electoral systems in developing countries.
Gabriel Rojkind is currently a sophomore majoring in Political Science and Economics. With a particular interest in the countries of South America and Southeast Asia, he is greatly interested in exploring how corruption links with poverty in the context of poor and middle-income countries. Given that corruption occurs at the intersection of the public and private sector, its conjunction with "underdevelopment", entrenched and vested interests, and more generally the exploitation embedded in globalized capitalism makes corruption a dangerous force that simultaneously bolsters the power of elites while suppressing those with fewer recourses. This is what makes being a part of PPRI compelling for Gabriel. Otherwise, in his free time, Gabriel still enjoys politics, but also drawing, painting, reading, music, conjuring fond feelings for Chicago, and being outside.
Molly Rothschild is a member of the Tufts class of 2015, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is studying International Relations and is concentrating in Africa. In addition to PPRI, she is involved with Tufts Against Genocide and Peace Games, a program run through Tufts' Leonard Carmichael Society. Molly is really excited about the great projects that PPRI has done in the past and is looking forward to continuing PPRI's research.