IDEX Fellowship

Catherine Appleton

Catherine Appleton graduated from Rhodes College in May 2011 with a degree in Economics and Mathematics. She became interested in development economics after studying abroad in summer 2010. She completed a short study abroad trip at the beginning of the summer in India where she studied Religion and Theatre, then continued on to Bangladesh for the rest of the summer to intern with a microfinance company for two months. After her internship she became extremely interested in development issues and focused on this topic in her classes throughout her senior year. She continued to look for opportunities to go abroad again after graduation to further her knowledge of development issues. She chose the IDEX fellowship due to its focus on social enterprises and she hopes to learn new ways through market based solution to help those in poverty.

Kate Balderston graduated from Bowdoin College in May 2011 with a BA in Art History and Economics. New to the field of social enterprise, Kate is working to fuse market based strategies with creativity to produce innovative solutions to challenges facing the Affordable Private School sector. For example, she is currently developing an art education program with a Hyderabadi gallery to promote Spoken English, raise awareness about the APS system, and encourage students to think “beyond the test.” Kate is passionate about the educational power of art and led an arts-enrichment mentoring program at Bowdoin. She also wrote an Independent Study on college museums as fertile grounds for innovative learning strategies, founded and co-captained a club lacrosse team, studied abroad in Bologna, Italy, and worked to promote gender parity and community leadership at an all-girls boarding school in Kenya. Kate loves travel, running, painting, and living in India, and she hopes to apply the lessons learned at IDEX to start her own business someday.

Kyle Black

Kyle Black graduated in May 2011, with a BA in Economics concentrating on Business Policy and African American Studies from Emory University. Kyle worked at Emory’s Office of Multicultural Programs and Services serving as a coordinator for the Crossroads Diversity Retreat, Unity Month Planning Committee Programming Coordinator and worked as a Multicultural Outreach and Resources (MORE) mentor for first-year students. Kyle also worked with Emory’s University Conferences were he also helped coordinate various conferences held at Emory over the summer. Kyle was also active in student government, serving as a College Council Senior Legislator and as a member of the College Council’s administrative committee where he reviewed the charter status of various student organizations and distributed operational and supplemental funding to student organizations as well as assisted generating revenue to bring in guest speakers for Emory’s annual State of Race. Kyle has also worked with the American Friends Service Committee were he assisted in researching alternative measure to reduce the impact of budget cuts on Georgia’s public schools

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Maddie Brandenburger graduated from Wake Forest University in May 2011 with an Economics Major and Double Minor in International Development Policy and Anthropology. During her time at Wake Forest, she focused both on her education and gaining experience in the developing world. She made four  trips to East Africa studying sustainable community development. During the summer of 2009, she worked as an Development Intern at the Grameen Foundation in Washington, DC and gained a strong understanding of micro-finance and technology. During her junior and senior years at Wake Forest, she served as a research assistant for the Center for Enterprise Research and Education and started a Grameen U chapter on the Wake Forest campus. In spring of her senior year, she recently received an entrepreneurial grant and started a non-profit venture called the Snap Project, www.thesnapproject.org, which empowers Kenyan youth through photography.

Kim Campbell

Kim Campbell is a recent graduate of Georgia State University with a BA in Economics and a minor in Sociology. What began as a research paper on the Indian business, e-choupal quickly grew into a passion for social enterprise. As a junior she initiated a 6 week research survey of Trinidad’s microfinance market which was presented at Georgia State’s Undergraduate Research Consortium. She continued her study of the field by taking Georgia State’s first master’s level social enterprise course at Robinson business school where she presented local social business models to University of Madrid graduate students. Kim deepened her experience with social enterprise by working with Hub Atlanta, the local chapter of an international  network of co-working spaces for social entrepreneurs. She is currently working as the Communications Associate for Georgia’s first B-Corporation, Innovation for People. Kim sees IDEX as an opportunity to understand how market based approaches to education that are emerging in the developing world can be applied to education challenges in low-income communities in the United States.

 

Brittany Coppola

Brittany Coppola graduated from Centre College in May of 2011 with degrees in International Studies and Spanish. While at Centre she served as a Resident Assistant, Secretary of the Student Judiciary and President of the leadership honor society, Omicron Delta Kappa. She was also involved in Tri Delta, the Panhellenic Council and Kentucky Bluegrass Ensemble. Brittany also pursued her passion for traveling while studying abroad in Puerto Rico, Cameroon and Spain. She is also passionate about development work, and was involved in several different development projects; in 2009 she organized a fundraiser for the Creative Women’s Center (CWC), an NGO in Cameroon that empowers women by teaching them artisan skills. $1600 were raised for purchasing seed capital for artisan projects and building a water-well in the village. This January she interned in Mérida, Mexico with an NGO that gave Mayan women the means to start their own businesses. She has also been involved with the organization NEST, which seeks to empower female artisans through micro-credit financing. She speaks Spanish and has also studied Catalán and French. She is excited about spreading her enthusiasm for women’s issues through the IDEX fellowship and learning more about her role in the context of development work

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Trevor Driscoll

Trevor Driscoll graduated in 2011 from Dickinson College with a degree in International Business and Management.  He focused on socially and environmentally responsible business practices. During the spring semester of 2010, he studied abroad in India, where he attended classes at the University of Hyderabad and immersed himself in local culture. He is a brother of Kappa Sigma Fraternity and he enjoys traveling, exploring, and photography. He also likes eating out, watching movies (his favorite Bollywood actor is Amitabh Bachchan) and DJing for his friends. One of Trevor’s best qualities is his ability to talk to anyone- he makes good friends wherever he goes. Trevor is excited to return to India with the IDEX team, and to resume his sitar lessons

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Jessica Frank

Jessica Frank grew up in Missoula, Montana and graduated with a B.A. in International Political Economy and Asian Studies from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington in 2009. She spent her senior year studying religion and politics throughout Asia as a participant in the Pacific-Rim Asia Study Program. During her travels, she took part in compelling projects, including locating and interviewing artisan felt-makers for a fair-trade toy company in Mongolia, assessing the impacts of eco-tourism in a national park in Sikkim, India, and photographing and documenting the efforts of Pathfinder International’s community-based family planning work in Bangladesh for international fundraising campaigns. Since graduating, she has volunteered as an ESL tutor and worked to provide higher education for incarcerated individuals, including assistant teaching pre-college English in the Washington State Reformatory. Currently, Jessica is helping to develop a revenue-building business plan for Planned Parenthood involving sustainable menstrual care and education, which will launch new products and educational models in clinics nation-wide this summer.

 

Nikki Gurley

Nikki Gurley is a 2011 graduate of Colorado College, with a major in Economics and a minor in Education. During college she focused on the education of at-risk-youth in the U.S., working with high school students on designing and implementing civic engagement projects, and examining dropout rates in CO. She also had a focus on international development, particularly through the context of technology. Her academic research focuses on the diffusion of technology, and in her spare time she is on the board of a non-profit that takes refurbished computers overseas on service trips for high schoolers. Besides research work, she has also worked in IT support for the past four years. In her free time she plays frisbee, does martial arts, and likes to undertake non-traditional art projects and cook. 

 Aidan Guy recently earned his Master's Degree in International Relations from San Francisco State University. He presented his graduate studies research on asymmetric development and political power in modern India at the International Studies Association World Conference, also publishing his work. Aidan earned his B.A. in psychology from San Francisco State University and has worked for the last two years as a mental health councilor at a San Francisco based NGO which provides mental health care to homeless people. As an Eagle Scout, Aidan has been engaged in service and community development from a young age. Volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in Tamil Nadu, India during the summer of 2006, he broadened his concept of community, and has since sought to address issues in the developing world and larger global community. He has engaged in cultural exchanges in Cuba, backpacked through Peru, and spent the summer of 2010 traveling around Northern India by train and motorcycle.

Faisal Jama

Faisal Jama is a 2011 graduate of University of Washington, with a degree in English. Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, he lived in Kenya before moving to the United States in 2001. He spent the summer of 2010 in India for a study abroad trip focusing on Social Entrepreneurship, Micro-finance and Women Empowerment. During college Faisal has interned for the Bank of New York Mellon as a performance analyst and the Grameen Foundation as a development intern.  In the fall of 2009, he co-started a youth mentoring program called Sky High Posse to help primarily East African students at Cleveland High School in Seattle. A believer in private affordable education, Faisal hopes to implement his experience as an IDEX fellow and provide the same opportunity for affordable education in his home country of Somalia. Faisal’s hobbies are traveling, playing basketball and soccer, meeting interesting people and outdoor adventures

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Nikhil Joseph

Nikhil Joseph graduated in May 2011 from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras as part of the first batch of its 5 year integrated Master of Arts program. He majored in Development Studies with a minor in Management. Nikhil has worked with such organizations as the Centre for Civil Society, a public policy think tank based in New Delhi, on housing access for the urban poor, and with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), where he co-authored a case study examining the effectiveness of government cash transfer scheme in effecting maternal heath improvements. Having had experience researching and writing about government successes and failures in effecting development, Nikhil hopes that the IDEX fellowship will help him understand how the private sector can play a proactive role in the same endeavour. Outside of work and academics, Nikhil’s major passions include theatre, debate, travelling, and manically following the fortunes of the Arsenal Football Club.

Sankarankutty Kartha

Sankarankutty Kartha completed his Masters in Development Studies from IIT Madras, Chennai. He was selected as DAAD Student Ambassador in the year 2006 to spend a semester in Germany in a Masters course in European and World Politics. He has helped non-profit development organizations in Chennai to help them make social documentaries for marketing. His research interests include climate change politics and education

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Shruti Kommineni

Shruti Kommineni graduated in 2011 with a degree in Electronics and Communication engineering from Vasavi College of Engineering, Osmania University. During college, Shruti was the head of the Arts club and was also one of the core committee members responsible for organizing the college fest. She was also an active member of AIESEC and served as a team leader for three terms in the Corporate sector and the Education sector. She dealt with various schools and companies during her term and added a few onto the AIESEC client list. From the IDEX program she hopes to understand how effective social business can be and also to learn how to design, conceive and execute a business plan.

Deborah Lubbe 

Deborah Lubbe is a Ringgold, Georgia native who has lived in Atlanta since her freshman year at Oglethorpe University. She graduated in 2008 with a degree in Economics and a minor in Mathematics. While at Oglethorpe her most memorable experiences include fundraising with her sorority sisters of Alpha Sigma Tau, being a part of the Economic Club, and running on the Cross Country Team. In recent years she has worked in childcare and interned with a grassroots non-profit, A School Bell Rings, as a volunteer intern and director of special events. Working with a local organization provided her with opportunities including collaborating for semiannual fundraisers, developing a social networking presence, and coordinating communication of all volunteers and board members. The IDEX Fellowship offers her the opportunity to tangibly contribute to a developing social eco-network and expand her knowledge of cross sector solutions to obstacles challenging quality education in low-income regions. Her goal is to embrace the words of David Bornstein and to inundate her self into “the beginning – a story, an example, an early taste of success” through all of the avenues IDEX has to offer.

 

Claire Mongeau

Claire Mongeau graduated from Georgetown University in 2011 with a B.A. in psychology and French. During her undergraduate career, she had the opportunity to explore her interests in human rights and government through internships at the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), the French Embassy, and with the State Department at the U.S.  Mission to the European Union. Her most recent internship at the U.S. Agency for International Development exposed her to the practices and projects that are most effective for sustainable development which she hopes to bring to her work in Hyderabad. Besides academics, Claire also spent her free time at Georgetown rowing on the varsity crew team, acting in plays, and participating in student government. Claire is excited to determine different ways to promote the empowerment of girls during her time as an IDEX Fellow as well as experience the diversity of cultures in India

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Lauren Moon

Lauren Moon graduated from Furman University with a degree in Communication Studies, and promptly tossed her degree aside and moved to rural Tamil Nadu, India where she taught Public Speaking, Rhetoric, English and Literature at Shanti Bhavan, a residential school for children from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Following India, she headed to New York where she worked with non-profits such as Artists Striving to End Poverty and Sing for Hope before beginning her graduate school career at Teachers College of Columbia University. In May of 2011 Lauren graduated from Columbia with a master’s degree in Higher and Postsecondary Education before returning to India as part of the IDEX cohort. Through this fellowship, Lauren hopes to assist in curriculum development, analyze retention and matriculation rates, and promote universal access to higher education while gaining a greater understanding of the complex education system in India

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Andrew Park

Andrew Park is from Athens, Georgia, and graduated from Emory University with an undergraduate degree from the Goizueta Business School in 2011. With a focused degree in information systems and operations management, he is interested in ways to leverage digital technology for the purpose of improving collaboration techniques and access to knowledge on a global scale. During college, Andrew has interned with the Coca-Cola company and involved himself with various community initiatives such as the Atlanta Bhutanese Refugee Support Group and Jones Boys and Girls Club of Atlanta. His hobbies include graphic design, music blogging, and experiencing culture through food. While building experience from the IDEX Fellowship, he hopes to one day establish his own social venture.
 

Jenna Ross

Jenna Ross recently graduated from the University of Georgia with a BA in Spanish Literature and Linguistics and a BS Ed in Foreign Language Education. Teaching experiences in both rural and urban areas of Georgia led Jenna to define an educational (and personal) philosophy based in social justice; she strongly believes that education is the only way to eliminate social stratification and structural inequalities faced by marginalized populations. Following graduation in 2009, Jenna immediately put her degrees to work in South America, teaching English in the northern coastal city of Trujillo, Perú, and working towards environmental conservation and sustainable development with a non-profit in Ecuador’s Amazon jungle. These experiences strengthened and solidified Jenna’s passion for education, and prompted a focus on curriculum planning and international development, particularly in low-socioeconomic environments. International travel has been incredibly fulfilling for Jenna, and has left her with an indelible love of language, culture, adventure, and people. This will be Jenna’s first trip to India, and she is very eager to explore India and continue her own international education.

 

Chris Rudnicki

Chris Rudnicki will graduate Williams College in June 2011 with a degree in both economics and English literature. During college Chris was a varsity football player, an assistant high school English teacher, and an economics research assistant. In the summer of '09, he travelled to Uganda to assist local health agencies in conducting time-use surveys in households affected by HIV/AIDS. Shortly after that experience Chris organized a team of Williams students and returned to Uganda to fund and build a clean water system for a family-run orphanage. He also spent a summer working as a credit analyst at a commercial bank in his hometown of Barrington, IL. Chris joined the IDEX program in hopes of better understanding where APSs fit into the broader spectrum of community-based development, and hopes that his time spent working in Hyderabad will better acquaint him to the nuances of successful social-venture management. He is also looking forward to finally trying his hand at cricket (even at the expense of looking like a complete fool in front of on looking children who will inevitably find this amusing)

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Kashay N. Sanders

Kashay N. Sanders is a Women’s & Gender Studies major from Dartmouth University and has a double minor in Anthropology and Japanese. She spent her college career heavily invested in issues of youth empowerment, diversity and gender equity. She served as a member on, and later co-chair of, Dartmouth’s Girls Mentoring Program, and, her junior summer, went on a service-based trip to Houston, TX which focused on empowering youth with college knowledge and leadership skills. She was the co-chair of her Student Assembly's Diversity and Community Affairs Committee, which hosts events and creates initiatives geared towards the celebration of pluralism and intercommunity collaboration on campus. Through this committee, she spearheaded the "Pangea" initiative, which seeks to have people from all spheres of campus connect and plan issue-focused events together. In regards to issues of gender, she worked for the Women’s & Gender Studies Program and co-founded Women & Gender Studies Teas, a term-ly event which engages participants in discussions centered on various aspects of gender. Her junior fall, she received a grant to work as a women’s issues volunteer at the Cornerstone Foundation in San Ignacio, Belize and, her junior summer, she received an additional grant to work at the feminist policy organization, Feminist Majority Foundation, in Washington DC. Her senior year, she was an intern for the Center for Women & Gender and planned a string of events for V-Week, Dartmouth’s yearly campaign to end violence against women. These experiences have affirmed her desire to someday influence development and international policy as it relates to women's and human rights

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Jennifer Seward

Jennifer Seward majored in International Studies and Spanish at Willamette University in Oregon. Originally from Roseburg, Oregon, Jennifer worked as an International Peer Coach and an International Program Assistant for Tokyo International University of America. In addition, she has worked for the State of Oregon's House Majority Office and Housing and Community Services Division. Jennifer studied abroad for a semester in Granada, Spain and spent a summer as a Lilly Grant recipient researching microfinance programs and women's empowerment in Mexico. Jennifer hopes to pursue a career in international development in the future, focusing on sustainable social and human capital development. While in India she is interested in pursuing girl's educational empowerment programs and combining her microfinance experience with increased educational access.

Martice Sutton

Martice Sutton earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies from Spelman College in May 2011. Martice had the opportunity to serve as a multi-cultural marketing intern with McDonald’s Corporation, and a global inclusion intern with MTV Networks. Throughout her undergraduate career at Spelman College Martice has held leadership roles as the presidential advisor for the Student Government Association, executive assistant for the Women of Color Leadership Conference, and an international fellow with the Arche Worldwide, Inc. Both Martice’s professional and international experiences including research in Barcelona, Spain sparked her interest in international business and the impact it could have on developing nations if done properly. Martice is truly passionate about potential of the youth and believes that the IDEX fellowship will allow her to pursue her passions for change in business. 

Lyle Sweet

Lyle Sweet graduated the University of South Carolina with a degree in business administration. His undergraduate majors are marketing and management with a focus on entrepreneurship. He also studied Spanish and Portuguese at USC and in Brazil. At USC Lyle participated in several campus organizations including Net Impact, a sustainability and business club, Student Media as a radio DJ and also with the club lacrosse team. Learning is a passion of his and has encouraged him to try many things. Most of his work experience is with profit-oriented companies, and he has dedicated much of his spare time to community service. Last year he participated in the first wave of volunteer interns at the urban farm City Roots in Columbia SC. He spent his spring break volunteering at a homeless shelter and Atlanta, and last year used his time off in Brazil during a semester abroad to participate in a habitat for humanity project. He hopes to use his collegiate experience in India, and wants to look into the potential of starting a recycling program or planting an edible school yard.

Will von Geldern

Will von Geldern graduated from Grinnell College in 2011 with a B.A. in Political Science and Music. At Grinnell, he was exposed to the international development discourse through coursework in global development studies and economic development. His interest in the "developing world" led him to study abroad at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where he subsequently conducted independent research on political activism and national identity during the 2010 World Cup. Will was attracted to the IDEX Fellowship because of its emphasis on market-based solutions to poverty in a rapidly growing economy, and he is particularly excited about the possibility of incorporating music into the curriculum of the Affordable Private Schools in Hyderabad. In his free time, he likes to travel, play and listen to music, meet new people, explore new cultures, and partake in all sorts of general capers and shenanigans, and he looks forward to doing all of these things during his time in India

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Amy Watson

Amy Watson received her Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy in 2010 from the University of Sheffield and is currently completing her Master’s degree in Political Philosophy and Ethics, still at Sheffield. Her academic work focuses on human rights, particularly those of minority groups and of women, tied in with issues of cultural relativism. Always interested in social work, Amy joined Oxford Youth Council whilst still in school and worked on campaigns aimed at supporting young people locally. Her interest in international development grew with a trip to Asia before university, three months of which were spent living with a family in a remote village in Tamil Nadu, India, teaching English, working on an environmental project and developing a love for the country itself.  At university Amy is involved with a conversation club: a weekly meeting group for asylum seekers to exchange culture and language with local residents and obtain advice on legal documents for the UK. Amy is hugely excited about being involved in IDEX where sustainable change and long term solutions to poverty are being created through the merging of ideas and innovations from groups of different social and cultural backgrounds. Outside of the academics Amy loves to cook, practice yoga, (attempt to) play squash and take long distance journeys by train through foreign countries.

 

Tyler Webb

Tyler Webb graduated from the University of Georgia in 2010, and has led a nomadic lifestyle taking him all over the United States and Asia. After graduation, Tyler spent the summer working in Japan and living in a buddhist monastery in Taiwan.  At university, Tyler majored in Japanese and Music Business while focusing on bringing different communities together. Tyler interned at New West Records for two years helping them create and run their product distribution center. As Director of Promote Africa’s art division, Tyler helped with bringing foreign artwork to retail partners and creating fundraising events.  In the past year, he’s been a freelance photographer, IT specialist, and translator for disaster services within Japan.  Tyler hopes to bring both IT and art programs to schools to better engage students in the classroom.  While in India, Tyler wants to launch a company dedicated to the ethical sale of artwork

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Malika Whitley

Malika Whitley is a graduate of Oglethorpe University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Communications, Cultural Relations, and Social Economics. Whitley is a natural leader and follower of creativity, navigating to mostly arts organizations and leadership roles such as president of her Culinary Arts chapter, programming assistant and intern at the National Black Arts Festival, and Marketing assistant at Vibrations Studio in Cape Town, South Africa. She plans to use her experience in public relations, branding, management and event production to help guide her way through developing phenomenal programs for the IDEX program that will continue long after May 2012. Whitley's long term goals are to enter various sectors of the marketing industry such as public relations and advertisement through the combination of additional education and professional experience.

 

Anna Wolf

Anna Wolf graduated from Beloit College in 2010 with a B.A. in International Relations and Spanish. During her senior year, she served as an AmeriCorps volunteer and worked at several non-profit organizations in Wisconsin including the Stateline Literacy Council and Sexual Assault Recovery Program. In addition to studying abroad for two semesters in Valparaiso, Chile, she has conducted independent research projects in Ghana, Peru and India focused on gender, sustainable development and education. Anna lives by the May 1968 French slogan: "Be realistic, demand the impossible.

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Zachary Zahorka

Zachary Zahorka graduated from the University of Colorado in 2011 with a degree in Accounting and International Business. During his college career he supervised student fundraisers at the University of Colorado Call Center and also worked as an intern for Northwestern Mutual where he learned how to build his own financial planning practice. Zachary was further involved with CU Finance Club as an event coordinator and volunteered for Denver Kids, a program that works with children who face personal challenges in high risk environments. His studies in Spain helped him gain an appreciation of different cultures and inspired him to enroll in classes that took a closer look at comparative politics and developing nations. In hopes of helping find solutions to the world's inequality and gaining experience in the international arena, Zachary joined the 2011-2012 IDEX team.