2017 Summer Scholars
JAYNICE DEL ROSARIO | Summer Scholars 2017 : LAOS Fellowship
Jaynice Del Rosario was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in The Bronx. She is a graduate student at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), pursuing a Masters Degree in Public Administration and concentrating in Economic and Political Development. She expects to graduate in May of 2018.
At SIPA Jaynice is specializing in gender and public policy, and her research focuses on policy issues and solutions that affect women and adolescent girls.
At Wesleyan where she completed her undergraduate studies, Jaynice majored in government and international relations, and spent the spring of her junior year studying abroad in Cameroon, West Africa. There she completed an independent study on Muslim girls' access to education in Ngoundere, a town located in Northern Cameroon.
After graduating Wesleyan, Jaynice continued her work in gender by serving as National Coordinator of the Gender & Development Committee for the Peace Corps in Ethiopia and working for Sadie Nash Leadership Project, an organization dedicated to the advancement of young women of color in the greater NYC area.
Jaynice will continue to pursue her passion this summer by interning with UNFPA in the Lao People's Democratic Republic in South East Asia. There she will work on policy issues and programs centered on Adolescents and Youth, with particular attention on the needs of adolescent girls.
After SIPA Jaynice hopes to work at the UN and continue to work towards creating a more just and gender equal world. She is a scholar, a published writer, a gender specialist and an anti-racist feminist activist. She is an avid traveler that has traveled to 20+ countries and resides in the Dominican community of Washington Heights in New York City.
Read Jaynice's blog HERE
KATIE NELSON | Summer Scholars 2017 : TURKEY Fellowship
Katie Nelson is a first year student in Columbia SIPA's Master's in Development Practice program, focusing on reproductive health and WASH. At SIPA, she has enjoyed exploring New York and working on a health and technology project in the Dominican Republic.
Prior to SIPA, Katie worked in communications and fund development at a community development financial institution in the San Francisco Bay Area, to provide financing and technical assistance to under-served small business owners. She has also worked on a WASH project in rural Cambodia with IDE, served as an intern at nonprofit microlender Kiva.org, and worked in an infectious disease research lab studying the polio virus.
She is originally from Seattle, and lived in Indonesia for three years as a kid, which sparked her interest in travel and international development. She earned her BA in Human Biology and History from Stanford University, and is interested in the impact of cultural and historical factors on health outcomes.
Katie is excited to spend the summer in Istanbul with UNFPA, working with the Sexual and Reproductive Health Programme.
Read Katie's blog HERE
NIKI SHRESTHA | Summer Scholars 2017 : VIETNAM Fellowship
Originally from Kathmandu, Nepal, Niki Shrestha is currently a graduate student at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), specializing in economic and political development. She is interested in the cross section of data and international development, with a passion for ICT4D and rural development.
Prior to Columbia, she was a Senior Research Associate at J-PAL South Asia, where she worked on an array of randomized controlled trials and impact evaluations in the field of health and gender equality. She has had a lot of experience in field work – ranging from data collection to leading focused group discussions and has a knack for exploring diverse cultures and environment.
During her time at SIPA, she has worked as a Project Manager for the Columbia Impact Investing Initiative and consulted with various organizations in the field of innovative and sustainable development. She received her Bachelors degree in Economics from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, where she was involved in research on maternal health and adoption of clean cookstoves.
Niki is now set to pursue her experience as a UNA-NY fellow in Vietnam with Plan International work with their monitoring & evaluation systems. She is excited to experience a new country and hopes to apply her past learnings in a new setting.
Read Niki's blog HERE