Photo: Preparing to Paraglide with fellow alum Andres Fernandez (MARS-REERS ’18) outside of Almaty, Kazakhstan in August 2017.

What do you miss most about the Harriman Institute?
Honestly, I miss the people the most! I miss class discussions with my fellow Harriman Institute and SIPA students and visiting professors during office hours. I miss going to various talks and lectures. I also miss sherry hours and holiday parties. I miss everyone on the 12th floor—chatting in the Atrium or the Reading Room. There was a great sense of community at the Harriman Institute. I made life-long friends in the program, and for that alone, I am truly thankful.

What are you reading right now?
I’m reading the Harry Potter series for the first time and enjoying it!

What is your favorite experience related to the region?
I cannot name one experience, so I will name a few: conducting field research on juvenile justice in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Serebryansk, and Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan with UNICEF; presenting my preliminary thesis research (“The Question of Universal Human Rights Norms: Securitizing Identity in the Soviet Union and Russia”) at the University Consortium Module at Oxford University; and, in relation to my thesis, speaking with several Russian Orthodox Church priests in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia.

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