Summer 2007 Interns

Lucas Cometto is studying for an M.A. in Political Science at the University of Connecticut, planning to graduate in May 2008. He has a B.A. from Occidental College, where he majored in History and minored in Art History. Lucas interned at the Center on Policy Initiatives in San Diego, a progressive think tank, gathering and organizing research data on mayoral campaign finance. He was named Ronald E. McNair National Scholar and was awarded a University of Connecticut Predoctoral Fellowship. He has been active in Students United for Peace and in the Occidental College History Society, and has studied the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission of 2001-2003.

Nubia Macias graduated in May from the University of California at Berkeley, with a major in Spanish and a minor in Peace and Conflict Studies. She attended the University of California at Santa Barbara before transferring to Berkeley. Nubia conducted independent field research on the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) in the Mexican city of Querétaro, presenting the results to her professors and peers in Mexico City. She volunteered at the Foundation for Sustainable Development in La Plata, Argentina, working at a center for disadvantaged children. Nubia has been active in a number of campus organizations including the Center for Latin American Studies and Bears for UNICEF.

Carolyn McMahon is studying at the University of California at Berkeley, planning to graduate next May with a B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies and minors in French and History of Art. She will have completed a semester of study with the Centre de Recherche Ouest Africain in Senegal, combining coursework in international development in Dakar with a home-stay experience, and internship at a microfinance bank in the rural village of Ndangane. Carolyn also completed a month-long course at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, studying international organizations. She is interested in global law and governance as these relate to science, with a particular interest in the expansion of intellectual property rights and its impact on global justice and equity.

Saurav J. Thapa is studying at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, majoring in International Relations and Government and planning to graduate next May. He has interned at UNIFEM in Nepal, working on a national media awareness project on gender issues; prior to that, Saurav was a reporter for The Kathmandu Post. He is active in the Forum of International Students at Hampshire, serving as co-coordinator. A national of Nepal, Saurav has been inspired by the war in that country to study peace and conflict transformation. For his senior year, starting this fall, he will be doing his senior honors thesis on the civil war in Sri Lanka between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Hampshire College has awarded Saurav the Sander Thoenes Research Grant 2007-08 to enable him to travel to Sri Lanka to conduct research on the civil war. Sander Thoenes, a Hampshire graduate, was killed by Indonesian troops in East Timor in 1999 when he was covering the fight for East Timor’s independence as a correspondent for the Financial Times of London.

Elise Vaughan is studying at the University of San Diego, planning to graduate next May with a B.A. in International Relations and Economics, minoring in Spanish. She has interned with Congressman Adam Smith of Tacoma, Washington, and served as a delegate to the United Kingdom with Dwight D. Eisenhower's People to People program. Elise studied in Spain, living with a host family in Madrid and traveling in the country. She has also served as a volunteer at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice.