Current Students

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My name is Martin Burt and I live and work in Paraguay. I guess I would say that I am a social entrepreneur interested in developing social innovations to address chronic problems related to poverty around the world. Although my home is in South America, I moved to New Orleans for the 2013-2014 academic year to work on my PhD from the Payson Center at Tulane University. I travel extensively, since I oversee development programs throughout Latin America and Africa. During the past few years I have been working on two initiatives: self-sufficient schools for the rural poor and the Poverty Stoplight to eliminate poverty. I am the founder (1985) and CEO of Fundación Paraguaya and work closely...

Monica Carlson

Doctoral Student

Monica Carlson is a PhD candidate with Tulane University’s Payson Center for International Development. After spending the past three years working for USAID in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ms. Carlson became interested in the association between gender-based violence and conflict in the DRC context. Using Demographic Health Survey data released in October 2014, Ms. Carlson’s doctoral research will explore individual and community level factors that place Congolese women at greater risk of experiencing violence. Her research is titled “Individual and Contextual Determinants of Gender-Based Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Role of Armed Conflict: A Multilevel...

Adelia DeMarsico

M.S. Candidate

My name is Adelia and I am a South Florida native. As an enthusiast for Latin America, I majored in Spanish as an undergraduate at the University of Florida and have spent significant time in Latin America traveling, teaching English, and interning. Before moving to New Orleans to pursue my post graduate degree in International Development, I worked as a middle school Spanish teacher. Through this experience, my passion for children and education became apparent to me. I am currently working towards my degree at Tulane with the intention of working to develop and improve educational programs to include underrepresented populations, focusing on females as well as low-income...

Susie Dudis

Doctoral Student

Susie Dudis grew up working on her parents’ Christmas tree farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. She graduated from Pomona College in 2001 with a BA in Economics. She spent a few years teaching English in Korea and Costa Rica. Upon completing the Payson MS program in 2007, Susie began working for Junior Achievement of Greater New Orleans, the local branch of an international non-profit dedicated to teaching children financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and life skills. At JA, she directed the organization’s education programs in schools and afterschool programs in 12 southeastern Louisiana parishes. Susie left JA in 2010 to become Education Manager for the...

Rebecca Emel

M.S. Candidate

I am originally from Pennsylvania, and graduated from the University of Delaware in 2012 with a BA in Sociology with a concentration in Law and Society and BA in Women’s Studies with minors in Political Science and Black American Studies. I was fortunate enough to take part in a short internship in Rondebosch, South Africa where I worked in a human right’s law firm writing legal opinions and offering free legal advice through a local clinic. This experience was extremely transformative and has greatly impacted my areas of interest. I came to Tulane to advance my knowledge of International Development and policy-making. I am particularly interested in access to contraceptives and family...

Hilary Nicole Zainab

Doctoral Student

Hilary Nicole Zainab Ervin is a Management Analyst with the HIV/AIDS Bureau at the Department of Health and Human Resources (HHS), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). She currently serves as a Board of Director and Operational Coordinator for the Standby Task Force where she provides crisis informatics and mapping services to organizations such as UNOCHA, MSF, NetHope and others responding to complex humanitarian emergencies. Hilary served as the Nairobi Community Manager for Urb.im for two years where she authored a monthly column focused on urbanization challenges and opportunities. She is a contributor to Pambazuka, a Pan-African social justice online magazine....

Sefira Fialkoff

M.S. Candidate

Originally from Connecticut, I graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 2009 with a BA in Global Economics. Upon graduating I worked for Innovations for Poverty Action as an evaluation coordinator in Busia, Kenya. We conducted small-scale health and micro-finance studies. After Kenya I moved to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico where I lived for four years. I was involved in a number of community development projects and worked with Banamex to extend financial services to community members. In my graduate work I am focusing on Latin America. I am particularly interested in immigration issues and urban development policies. Aside from school, I like to do yoga, make pottery and bake.

Shea Garrison

Doctoral Student

Shea Garrsion holds a Master of Science (MS) in International Development from the Payson Center. While pursuing her MS, Shea worked with Drs. William Bertrand and Elke de Buhr developing capacity building classes and reporting documents for a Department Of Labor contract with the purpose of eliminating the Worst Forms of Child Labor (WFCL) in cocoa production in Western Africa. The classes focused on Community Needs Assessment, Survey Methods, Intervention Planning and Management, Data Collection, and Capacity Building.Shea is currently conducting field work for a qualitative research study for a PhD dissertation on the female labor market in Kuwait, with emphasis on the Kuwaiti female...

Michael Lipton Gerber

Doctoral Student

I‘m a Nutritional Epidemiologist by training. I’ve worked in global health since I wound up in Tanzania at age of 19 doing visual communications work for a very unique German NGO. I’ve worked in humanitarian health for the past 15 years and currently serve as the Chief of the Emergency Response and Recovery Branch at The Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Our branch covers a broad humanitarian health portfolio for the USG that ranges from responding to emergencies on behalf of the US and our UN partners all the way to post-emergency health systems recovery. That work is dead center in the middle of a dialogue about the intersection of...

Sydney Gray

M.S. Candidate

My passion lies at the intersection of women and water and I spend every minute I can with Mama Maji, a New Orleans-based nonprofit dedicated to using water to empower women. For over forty years the largest organizations (UN, USAID, DFID, etc.) have told us that women must be included in every level of water development. But to this day only an estimated 14% of projects include women in any meaningful way. Women are the ultimate stakeholders in water access yet they are routinely ignored or used as tokens in marketing campaigns. With Mama Maji we have gone a step further and utilize water as a platform where we can engage women and train them in all the skills necessary to run a successful...

Nkiama N. Konde

Doctoral Student

Nkiama N. Konde holds masters degrees from both the Kinshasa School of Public Health and Tulane University's Payson Center for International Development. Nkiama is currently on faculty at the Kinshasa School of Public Health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His research focuses on the hygenic processing of septic waste in high population areas via lagoon sewage treatment.

Rebeccah N. Lane

M.S. Candidate

Hi Y'all:My name is Rebeccah Lane and I am a M.S. Candidate of International Development with The Payson Program for Global Development at Tulane Law. I am originally from Virginia and received my B.S. in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Virginia. During my undergraduate career, I cultivated a strong interest in comparative politics and economics, with particular interest in the Middle East and North Africa. As my interest in the region gained intensity, so did the Arab Spring. Therefore, most of my undergraduate research was primarily focused on political movements, globalization, and the like for the MENA region.As my enthusiasm for learning has...

Susan Lightfoot Schempf

M.S. Candidate

Susan Lightfoot is a community food systems development professional with 15 years of hands-on experience in food and nutrition security, sustainable agriculture and youth development programming. After co-founding and directing the Noyo Food Forest, a 501c3 non-profit organization based in rural northern California, Susan designed and implemented an innovative regional Farm to Fork program to increase smallholder farmers' income and improve school feeding programs in the region. A 6-month sojourn to work with the Organic Technology Extension and Promotion of Initiative Centre, a young farmers' association in western Kenya, renewed Susan's passion for international collaboration and...

Sarah Lionel

Doctoral Student

I am Sarah Lionel from the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia. I just recently concluded my employment with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency in Barbados. There I worked managing projects and provided disaster preparedness and response support. My various roles with the Agency allowed me to work with 18 Caribbean countries and various development partners including USAID OFDA, US SOUTHCOM, the Government of Italy, DFID, Australian Aid, CIDA and the European Union etc.Overall I have over 9 years experience in the disaster management field spanning the U.S and in the Caribbean. During that time I participated in the assessment teams for Hurricane Tomas 2010 in Saint Lucia...

Janet M. Lopez

M.S. Candidate

I am originally from Miami, FL and attended Florida International University, from where I have a B.A. in International Relations and Cultural Anthropology as well as a Certificate in African and African Diaspora Studies. I am currently in Panama with the Panam Field Work Experience as an intern for the United Nations Development Programme Regional Centre for Latin America and the Caribbean. As an intern in the Office of Information Systems and Technology/ Global Information Advisor, I directly assist in ICT4D projects (information and communications technology for development) as well as offer support to the Country Offices in the region. My interests in the field include LGBTI Rights...

Stephanie Manciagli

M.S. Candidate

As a first year M.S. candidate, I am thrilled to begin my academic career with Tulane in Panama, through their Panama Field Work Experience Program. Here, I am working as an intern at the United Nations Development Program´s Regional Service Center, taking one online class, and taking one in-person class in Panama´s Ciudad del Saber (City of Knowledge).Before beginning at Tulane, I received my undergraduate degree from Florida State University, where I was able to spend my first twelve months abroad in Panama through their First Year Abroad program. I completed my degree in 2011 with a B.A. in International Affairs with a focus on Political Science and a minor in Spanish. After...

Lauren Messina

M.S. Candidate

I currently live in Chicago, where I am starting the program as a distance-based student for my first two semesters before moving to New Orleans in 2016.After graduation from the University of Illinois and I worked abroad in Toulouse, France as an English language teaching assistant for the French Ministry of Education. After returning to the United States I went on to complete a Graduate Certification in Translation and an Online Applied Certificate in Literary Translation, both also from the University of Illinois. For the past four years I have traveled to over forty countries and have been working as a freelance French to English translator. I have honed a translation specialization in...

Sydney Petite

M.S. Candidate

Hello! I am a first year M.S. student in International Development, coming from Spring Hill College. There, I received my B.S. in International Relations with a minor in Political Science. I had the opportunity to spend two semesters abroad in Bologna, Italy with an amazing program that focused on Human Rights & Social Justice. I went to Bosnia and Croatia to learn about post-conflict development and broaden my understanding on what happened in the Balkans War. In Mostar, Bosnia I was exposed to an NGO that shelters sex trafficking victims- La Strada, which began a newfound interest in this area. In Italy, my main focus was targeted towards immigration policy and human rights- which...

Jessica H. Ports

Doctoral Student

Jessica is currently a PhD Candidate at the Payson Center, with dissertation research focusing on applications of information & communication technologies (ICTs) for disaster response and humanitarian aid. Research interests include ICTs for international development, the role of technology and social media in humanitarian response operations, leveraging ICTs for disaster resilience, disaster risk reduction in the Caribbean Basin, international humanitarian law, conflict and development. Since fall of 2011 Jessica has taught the IDEV4100: ICT4D course at the Payson Center. Jessica has been involved with the American Red Cross for more than 13 years, during which time she has served as a...

Sonita Singh

Doctoral Student

Evaluation Specialist currently evaluating international, federal, state and city projects in:Criminal Justice and Correctional ResearchChild Survival and Early Childhood DevelopmentHIV, specific to Prenatal ExposureCo-occurring Disorders (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Illnesses)Health Systems Research in West Africa (Gambia) Quantitative and Qualitative Research Development, Logistics, Execution and AnalysisSTATA/ SPSS/ NVivo/ eHARS/ STD*MIS/ EpiInfo/ Excel/ AccessDomestic/International Experience with Health Systems for High Risk and Vulnerable Populations including: Orphans and Vulnerable Children, Post-Conflict /Post-Disaster areas, Populations Most at Risk for HIV, Rural...

Moussa Lessi Traore

M.S. Candidate

My name is Moussa Traoré, and I am originally from Burkina Faso (West Africa). I am a 2014-16 Masters student in Global Development at Tulane University. In college I majored in English as a second language at the University of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. Prior to coming to the United States and enrolling in this program, I did several jobs, but mainly worked as a high school English teacher In Burkina. However, my interest in the field of development originated from a brief but enriching experience with the U.S. Peace Corps/Burkina. There I worked as a language and culture facilitator. From the commitment of the volunteers to better lives of others through education, health, and Small...

Lawliss Turner

Doctoral Student

I'm a native of New Orleans. After Hurricane Katrina, I wanted to come home and help play a part in the recovery efforts. I took a job at the Louisiana Department of Economic Development in the state capital where my main function was to attract large scale investment and job development. Thereafter, I took a job at the City of New Orleans, Office of Community and Economic Development. In this position, I was the lead project manager for the Fresh Food Retailer Initiative, which was a $14 million private/CDBG investment in grocery stores in established food deserts in the New Orleans. I am currently working for a family food development and import business called A La Carte Specialty Foods...

Scott Zienty

Joint J.D./M.S. Candidate

I'm from Sugar Land, Texas and attended the University of Texas at Austin. I studied anthropology and Spanish. Before coming to Tulane, I served for three years in AmeriCorps. Two of those years were in Burlington, North Carolina, where I worked in a Catholic Charities office called Centro La Comunidad that provided family and community resources for the Latino population in the area. It was here that I began exploring the nexus of community development and law. My third year in AmeriCorps was back in Austin, Texas where I worked with the Center for Public Policy Priorities to help design, administer and evaluate state-wide pilot projects that boosted the financial stability of low-income...

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