Spring 2019 AILA International Fellowship
Aigner Torres is looking to transition his career from a “thought leader”-style advisor in companies such as SAP, Deloitte, IBM, EMC, and Accenture towards an approach looking at examples of the best problem solvers in history whose knowledge should be packaged and imported into the different domains of corporate life as well as governments and NGOs. His goal is to found his own consulting company in 2019 with a focus on helping decision-makers get better business technological insights for their challenges.
Aigner Torres is a husband and father, and likes the ocean where he grew up, along with history and statistics. His undergraduate and M.Sc. (Vienna University, Austria) and Ph.D. (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) degrees are all in geology/geochemistry. He has spent most of his time in Europe and Latin America.
Andrews' experiences range from supporting humanitarian relief efforts to authoring strategic policy assessments on crucial national issues, providing him with practical insight into the many challenges we face as a global community in today’s uncertain world. His areas of interest include China, threat finance, frontier and emerging markets, systems of governance, international institutions, corruption and transnational crime, negotiations & conflict resolution, and medical epidemics/pandemics. Andrews speaks fluent Chinese and German and elementary Russian. He is a GSIPM graduate of the Monterey Institute of International Studies, the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University in NYC, and holds an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the LC Smith College of Engineering at Syracuse University.
Arensberg oversaw CBS News' on-the-ground coverage of the Helsinki and Singapore Summits of 2018. She has produced interviews with Vice President Mike Pence, President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The recipient of two Emmy nominations, Arensberg’s contribution to CBS News' team coverage of the 2012 Newtown tragedy earned her a 2012-2013 Alfred I. duPont Columbia University Award.
Since joining CBS News in 2002, Arensberg has covered such major international and national news events such as the 2015 earthquake in Nepal; the Hong Kong protests in 2014; the regional disputes in the South China Sea; the 2004, 2008, and 2012 Presidential campaigns; the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Arensberg covered the White House for three years, traveling with President Obama to twenty-four countries across six continents. During her time in Asia, she represented CBS News on two trips to North Korea.
Arensberg earned a bachelor's degree from Barnard College and a master's degree from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. She was born and raised in Washington, D.C., and has enjoyed reconnecting with family and friends after long stints on the road.
Bateman holds a bachelor’s degree in international studies from Ohio Wesleyan University and a master’s degree in political science from New York University. Her professional interests focus on conflict resolution and post-conflict recovery. In her free time, she enjoys travel, dance, and reading.
Benscher continued to promote scientific and technological solutions while managing global government affairs for Halliburton energy services from 2011 through 2015. In 2016, Benscher started a consultancy business to help companies navigate Washington. For one client, Bloomberg Intelligence, Benscher has advised companies how U.S. and U.K. trade, sanctions, and immigration policy impacted business practices in the retail, auto, energy, and semiconductor sectors. Benscher continues to pursue a passion in science and geopolitics, exploring market-driven energy solutions that will mitigate environmental damage from climate change.
Benscher graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology from Macquarie University and a master's degree in international affairs from Sydney University. Benscher enjoys travel, dinner parties, and tennis. He is married with twin girls.
Blair received an Eisenhower Fellowship in 2011, taking him to South America for six weeks to study these technologies. During the fall of 2012, he spent three weeks in Germany on a McCloy Fellowship for agriculture. In Idaho, he was recognized as one of the most influential University of Idaho College of Agriculture and Life Science (CALS) alumni and received the 2013 Governor’s Award for Agriculture Technology and Innovation.
Blair has served as president of the Idaho Grain Producers Association, chairman of the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) Research & Tech Committee, chairman of the U.S. Wheat/NAWG Joint Biotech Committee, Idaho Farm Bureau Federation county president, an initial member of Idaho’s UAS steering committee, an initial advisory board member of the Drone World Expo, and a member of the AGree Conservation and Crop Insurance Task Force.
Blocker’s pro bono practice is extensive, including successfully second-chairing a trial with the New York City Law Department involving civil rights claims brought against city police officers and coaching high school and middle school mock trial students. She has spent a significant portion of her time in West Africa engaging in diversity, governance, and emerging market work as well as presenting on international employment law in Lagos, Nigeria, and pay parity law in Accra, Ghana. Blocker has held many professional leadership roles, most notably as the twenty-second President of the Association of Black Women Attorneys (ABWA). The New York Law Journal recognized Blocker as a distinguished leader in its 2018 Professional Excellence Awards for her exemplary leadership of the organization.
Prior to joining the Judiciary Committee staff, Brest spent several years as an attorney specializing in white collar criminal investigations. Working for two different large law firms, Brest focused on representing American and international clients in cases brought under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and in various banking, antitrust, accounting, and pharmaceutical investigations. He also clerked for Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuellar on the California Supreme Court, where he advised the Justice on civil, criminal, administrative, and constitutional legal matters. Brest received his A.B. magna cum laude from Cornell University’s College of Arts and Sciences, where his undergraduate thesis focused on the domestic political calculations behind the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. He received his J.D. from Stanford Law School, where he served on the Stanford Law Review.
A native New Yorker, Brest lives in Washington, D.C. When not working, he enjoys traveling and is learning to play the guitar.
Callaway served three years as an expeditionary physician supporting the United States Marine Corps before returning to his training at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency, Boston, where he served as chief resident. In 2008, Callaway was awarded a Zuckerman Fellowship from the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government to study leadership, national security, and disaster response. In 2012, The World Economic Forum selected him as a Young Global Leader based upon his innovative work in disaster, humanitarian, and crisis medical response. After work in South Sudan (2011-13), Callaway was awarded an Eisenhower Fellowship to pursue work on health and security related to the impact of the Syrian crisis on neighboring Jordan.
Callaway also serves as the chief medical officer and Medical Director for Team Rubicon. Team Rubicon unites the skills and experience of military veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy multi-functional teams to crisis zones. In concert with academic, NGO, and government partners, Callaway mobilizes diverse networks to facilitate civil-military coordination, support disaster technology innovation, and promote high reliability operations during humanitarian and disaster response.
Chakarian represented VOA as a Nathanson Public Diplomacy Scholar at the Aspen Institute’s 2017 Socrates Program in Aspen, Colorado. Her professional career also includes research positions at The Brookings Institution and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She holds an M.S. in foreign service from Georgetown University and a B.A. in international relations and French from Mount Holyoke College. She is a member of The City Choir of Washington and also enjoys reading, cooking, and hiking.
Lieutenant Colonel Garrison’s volunteer activities include service as treasurer on the Army Strategist Association’s National Board of Directors and as an ambassador to the Academy of United States Veterans’ (AUSV) Annual Veterans Awards Program.
The 1997 Outstanding Graduate of Arkansas State University (ASU) earning a B.A. degree in political science, Lieutenant Colonel Garrison holds graduate degrees from ASU (communications and community college teaching), National Intelligence University (strategic intelligence), Marine Corps University (military studies), The George Washington University (legislative affairs), and he is all-but-dissertation complete toward an Ed.D. at The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development (policy and administration - emerging dissertation on leadership).
Before starting her role at OTI, Gudaitis helped manage and contribute to the knowledge management and communications activities for USAID’s largest global health procurement contract, the USAID Global Health Supply Chain – Procurement and Supply Management Project. Gudaitis began her international development career as a public information officer at the UN World Food Program in their New York liaison office. Following three years in that position, she moved to Nairobi, Kenya, where her primary work focused on teaching journalism at a local, globally-accredited college, United States International University. Upon returning to the U.S., she was a senior communications specialist for Family Health International, where she supported digital finance and technology activities within USAID’s Global Development Lab. Later, Gudaitis also oversaw various media, partner outreach, and advocacy plans for Malaria No More as their global communications manager.
Prior to working in international development, she worked in various journalism-related roles at NPR, C-SPAN, and WAMU 88.5 FM, as well as serving as a digital producer for ABC News. Gudaitis has an M.A. in journalism and public affairs and a B.S in multimedia design & development, both from American University.
Prior to joining USIP, she managed governance, citizen engagement, and election observation programs in Nigeria and across Southern Africa (Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, and South Africa) with the National Democratic Institute (NDI). Before that, she worked as program officer for West Africa at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) where for several years, she oversaw democratic governance projects and managed a multi-million dollar grants portfolio to civil society organizations in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Cameroon. Onubogu has consulted for the World Bank, observed elections with the Carter Center, and coordinated refugee resettlement programs with the International Rescue Committee. She earned her MA in International Development from the Heller School at Brandeis University, and BA in International and Area Studies from the University of Oklahoma.
Safarova has three years of teaching experience at the law faculty of Baku State University on private international law, international human rights law and international organizations law theory. She earned her bachelor's and master's degree in international relations and international law from Baku State University, as well as a second MA from the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights.
Previously, Saha spent several years in the international economic development sector with NGOs and think tanks, including serving as special assistant to the president of the International Rescue Committee and as a researcher at Harvard University's Hauser Institute for Civil Society. He holds a B.A. from Kenyon College and an M.P.P. in international trade and finance from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Sikazwe has worked for several years providing direct clinical patient care to people living with HIV and other infectious diseases in both urban and rural communities in Zambia. She continues to practice clinical medicine at the Adult Infectious Disease Centre of Excellence at University Teaching Hospital.
She served as the technical advisor to the Zambian Ministry of Health National ART program starting in 2010 for two years. In addition to her executive management role as the CEO of the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, Sikazwe is the principal investigator of a PEPFAR/CDC-funded HIV care and treatment cooperative agreement focused on transitioning HIV programs to the Ministry of Health. She has special research interests in HIV implementation focused on improving access and outcomes of patients in ART care and treatment programs.
Before he joined the Danish Foreign Service, Spliid worked for the World Bank’s Centre for Conflict, Security, and Development in Nairobi. He holds a master’s in political science focusing on international relations, European affairs, and market integration from University of Copenhagen (graduated 2012). His academic background and career reflect a broad interest in international politics and economy, in particular the impact and political economy of globalization. Spliid represented Denmark in several European and World Championships as an athlete with the Danish national kayak team between 1999 and 2009.
Staton is an avid writer, and has authored his own book, Through Fire and Flame based on a modernization of Dante’s Inferno. He has a large portfolio of essays and op-eds on numerous topics printed in a variety of publications. Among other topics, Staton has written about race and racial reconciliation, education and mentoring, education and international relations, and even DNA and personal data; he has published multiple pieces on foreign policy for the Strategy Bridge.
Staton currently works for the Literacy Lab, an organization focused on improving early childhood literacy. He is pursuing his master’s in international relations at the new joint degree program of CSIS and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Staton received his bachelor’s from Washington University in St. Louis with a dual degree in religion and history.