Spring 2013 Scoville Fellows
Jessica Bufford (Nuclear Threat Initiative) is working with Corey Hinderstein on next steps in disarmament verification and new approaches to the nuclear fuel cycle and with Page Stoutland on nuclear material security. Bufford received an MA in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies with a Certificate in Conflict Resolution from the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) in 2012. While at MIIS, Bufford worked as a Graduate Research Assistant at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) on their disarmament monitoring report and a database of statements by the Non-Aligned Movement. During the summer of 2011 she worked as an intern at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where she researched information barriers and their use for disarmament verification. Bufford also attended the Institute for Nuclear Materials Management (INMM) Annual conference, and presented her research on disarmament verification at the 2011 PONI fall conference. She served as a junior political officer in the WMD branch at the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs in New York in 2012. While at the UN, Bufford provided substantive support to the Chair of the UN Disarmament Commission and the Secretary of the 2012 Nonproliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee in Vienna, Austria. Before starting at MIIS, Bufford graduated summa cum laude from Austin College in 2010 with a BA in Political Science (Honors) and French, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. While at AC, she was active in the Model UN chapter, both as a head delegate and as a participant, and was selected to be a Hatton W. Sumners Scholar. She is also a member of the PONI Nuclear Scholars Initiative Class of 2013, attending monthly workshops with experts from across the nuclear enterprise hosted by CSIS and preparing a research paper for publication by CSIS. Bufford spent her junior year abroad at l’Université de Paris IV: La Sorbonne, and is proficient in French. She hails from Vancouver, WA.
Homa Hassan (National Security Initiative) is working with Heather Hurlburt and James Lamond on issues of nuclear non-proliferation and U.S. foreign policy with Iran, as well as post-Arab Spring peace and security in the Middle East. Hassan graduated summa cum laude with a BA in Political Science, Public Affairs, and Communication from Columbia College (SC) in 2010, where she served as the Student Government President and President of the Honors College. She studied abroad in Germany and Greece and was selected as the National Honors Student of the Year by the National Collegiate Honors Council in 2009. During that time, she also co-hosted a nationally syndicated radio show on domestic and international politics, spent time working for Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), and served as a Program Analyst for the International Broadcasting Bureau in Washington, DC. In 2012, Hassan completed a Master in International Affairs specializing in Economic and Political Development from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. During her Masters, she was selected as one of thirty Columbia International Fellows on American Foreign Policy and as an Alpha Lambda Delta Graduate Fellow. She has also spent time working with the United Nations Development Programme in Kosovo on security and post-conflict development, with the Qatar Red Crescent Society conducting needs assessments during the Somalia drought, and with Transparency International in Colombia and Liberia assessing development cooperation and aid (the report was released in November). Hassan has published numerous op-eds on American politics for newspapers across the Southeast and is currently serving as a research assistant for journalist and author James Traub for his upcoming book about John Quincy Adams. Hassan was born in West Lafayette, Indiana, and grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. She speaks proficient German and Bengali, can read and write Arabic, and has a basic knowledge of French and Urdu.
Kerry Kraemer (Center for National Policy) is working with Leigh O’Neill and Rachel Kleinfeld on strategies for sustainable international security, as well as on issues at the intersection of climate change, resource scarcity, and energy use. Kraemer graduated from Stanford University with a BA in International Relations in 2012. During her final year at Stanford she served as research assistant to Professor Stephen Stedman and the Global Commission on Elections, Democracy and Development. For this project she investigated the efficacy of external influences on the integrity of elections as well as the best practices of international campaign finance. Throughout her time at Stanford she worked on a number of international relations research teams and co-coordinated events for student-led human rights groups, including an annual conference to combat human trafficking. She was a Stanford varsity swimmer with All-American and Academic All-American honors as well as a team captain. Additionally, in 2010 she travelled to Tanzania where she assisted in performing health assessments for orphans living in rural areas. Back in her home state of Minnesota she worked with local organizations combatting human trafficking and led street outreach for women employed in prostitution and women fighting chemical dependency. Following graduation she served as a career counselor for a newly settled refugee in Minnesota and traveled to Uganda where she was the Project Coordinator in the Nakivale Refugee Settlement. For three months she lived in the settlement and conducted interviews and needs assessments among women and children to identify gaps in service provision. She speaks conversational Spanish and Swahili. Kraemer was born and raised in Burnsville, Minnesota.
Fall 2012 Scoville Fellows
Que’Nique Newbill (Stimson Center) is working with Mona Yacoubian on Middle East security especially as it relates to the Arab transitions. Newbill graduated from Grinnell College with a BA in Political Science in 2011. He spent his last undergraduate semester enrolled in an intensive Arabic and Middle Eastern studies program while conducting research on the impact of economic crises on Arab countries’ social policies at Jordan’s premier think tank, the Center for Strategic Studies housed at the University of Jordan in Amman. During college, he conducted independent research on Yemen’s poverty, revolution, and prospects for democratization; another on Zimbabwe’s attempt to achieve constitution reform and rule of law; and a third project concerning the U.S. decision to refrain from intervening in the Rwandan genocide and its impact on other efforts by members of the international community. At Grinnell, he served in several leadership positions on student government cabinet, co-founded an international student dialogue group, and created new student initiatives encouraging civic engagement. In addition, he wrote for three undergraduate publications on a range of social issues. He taught English language classes for immigrants in San Francisco and did resettlement work with refugees in Atlanta. He has received a number of scholastic awards including the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award, the 2011 Student Affairs Art Prize, and the 2010 Grinnell College Poetry Grand Slam. He is an all-academic athlete in both cross country and track and field. He studied both French and Arabic. Newbill hails from Atlanta, GA.
Usha Sahay (Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation) is working with John Isaacs on nuclear issues in Iran and U.S.-Iran relations, as well as domestic defense spending and the U.S. nuclear weapons budget. Sahay earned a BA in history and political science in 2012 from Columbia University, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. In her junior year, she spent a semester studying at Central European University in Budapest, taking graduate-level courses in European history, international relations, and public policy, and participating in the university’s debating society. During college, she worked as a research assistant for several International Relations professors in Columbia’s Political Science department, researching civil wars, insurgencies, and other intra-state conflicts. While at Columbia, Sahay helped to found Youth for Debate, a student-led volunteer organization that teaches debate and public speaking to students in New York City public schools. She also wrote for several campus publications; in March 2012 she published a piece on U.S.-Pakistan relations in the Columbia Political Review. Sahay has also interned at Just Foreign Policy, where she worked on research and advocacy campaigns related to the war in Afghanistan, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the U.S. defense budget. A proficient Hindi speaker, she spent a summer during college in New Delhi, where she served as a research assistant to a noted historian for his upcoming book on Mahatma Gandhi. Originally from Berkeley, California, Sahay grew up in Short Hills, New Jersey.
Marcus Taylor (Arms Control Association) is working with Tom Collina on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and updating the nonproliferation and disarmament report card. Taylor received a BA in International Relations with honors from California State University, Sacramento in 2012. During his time at CSU Sacramento, he served as a research assistant to Professor David Andersen, himself a former Scoville Fellow, studying conflict triggers and their impact on civilian casualties, and also served as a teaching assistant to another professor in the Government Department. He served as vice president of Peace and Conflict International, a student organization dedicated to promoting awareness and actions on international issues, such as nuclear and conventional disarmament, the humanitarian crisis in Haiti, and international human trafficking, where he helped organize a seminar on conflict resolution strategies. In addition, he served as the Student Coordinator of University Mentoring Programs, where he successfully petitioned the university to adopt the Government Department mentoring program as a model for the university’s official Graduation and Retention Plan. Taylor was named the Jack Livingston Fellow in Political Theory and American Institutions and attended several Model United Nations conferences, where he received both group and individual awards for his participation and the production of research papers. He was born on Carswell Air Force Base, Texas and lived on military bases until the age of fifteen, when his family settled in Sacramento, California.