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2024 Fellows
Kaashif Ahmed
Kaashif Ahmed is an Indian-American born in Long Island, New York and now lives in Richmond, Virginia. He is a junior studying Global Affairs at Yale where his interests lie in international security, intelligence, and public policy. He served as the Vice President of Yale’s International Relations Association, Yale’s largest student organization and Vice President of the Yale Muslim Students Association. Kaashif served as an intern for the United Nations Security Council primarily serving as a researcher and speaker on counterterrorism, warfare strategies, and the ethics of biological and chemical weapons. He regularly travels to give Friday sermons across various mosques in the northeast. He is a coffee aficionado and makes legendary Indian Masala Chai!
Tashroom Ahsan
Tashroom Ahsan is a junior in Davenport College studying Chemistry and the Humanities. He comes to Yale from Deep Springs College, where he worked as a cowboy and read many books. He's been researching energy storage solutions to address climate change with the non-profit EPRI. At Yale he learns chemistry in hopes of one day working on renewable energy. By dabbling in the humanities he strives to understand how human beings situate themselves in their worlds, a practice he also takes up through photography. His free time is spent outside, either on a field with the club soccer team or in the trees upon the mountains.
Ely Altman
Ely Altman is a junior in Yale College from Charlotte, North Carolina. He is majoring in History with a certificate in Modern Hebrew, and he is currently enrolled in the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy. Ely is broadly interested in crisis, ideology, liberalism, and religion as they relate to politics. Outside of academics, Ely has served as the President of the Yale Debate Association, and he is involved with campus politics. He is excited to further his interest in foreign policy in PDLI, and he is particularly looking forward to discussing the future of the region.
Sofia Arlen
Sofia Arlen is from Miami Beach, Florida, and is a junior at Yale majoring in Ethics, Politics, and Economics. At Yale, Sofia serves on the executive boards of the Yale Sustainable Consulting Collective and the Yale Undergraduate LGBTQ+ Business Alliance. Beyond Yale, Sofia leads a Miami-based chapter for Rhizome, a nonpartisan network focused on building youth power through inclusive civic leadership. She has previously interned in the Economic Analysis Division of the U.S. DOT Volpe Center, where she found a passion for transportation equity and trains. She is mainly interested in how power, creativity, and innovation can drive positive change. In her free time, Sofia loves rock climbing, snowboarding, and hot yoga.
Zakira Bakhshi
Zakira Bakhshi is a sophomore majoring in Political Science and Environmental Policy complemented by a certificate in French. She is a climate justice activist from Afghanistan and works as global ambassador with Youth4Nature. Her passion lies in the intersections of climate change, and global peace and security, as well as examining the impact of the environmental crisis in exacerbating war and conflict in frontline communities. Presently, she is employed as a research assistant at the Yale law school and works as an interpreter for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. On campus, she leads the Yale Afghan Student Association and is involved in Yale International Relations, Taekwondo and the ballroom club. She loves poetry, novels, playing piano, exploring local cafes and making chai.
Abe Baker-Butler
Abe Baker-Butler, a junior at Yale University and president of the American Jewish Committee’s Campus Global Board, is deeply involved in campus and community initiatives. At Yale, he serves as Student Representative on the Slifka Center for Jewish Life Board of Trustees and Co-President of the Alexander Hamilton Society. He's worked with notable figures like U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy and has led initiatives addressing community gun violence. Abe is also recognized for his leadership in organizations like Students Against Nicotine and Telehealth Access for Seniors.
Valentina Raghib Charry
Valentina is a sophomore at Davenport College pursuing a double major in Economics and Global Affairs. Originally a military brat from Colombia, she is passionate about the intersection between legal and military affairs. On Yale’s campus, she is a competitor on Yale Undergraduate Moot Court, a project member of the Yale Undergraduate Legal Association, and a board member of the Yale Foreign Policy Initiative. She is also a research assistant for West Point as part of the Countering Terrorism Center to examine the modern utilization of violent extremist organizations worldwide.
Ariane de Gennaro
Ariane de Gennaro is a junior at Yale from New York City. An alum of the Directed Studies program, she studies Western history and has a background in Classics, military history, and philosophy. She is an opinion columnist for the Yale Daily News, an officer for the Alexander Hamilton Society, and Communications Director for the Yale College Council. She is also a board member of Yale Friends of Israel and enjoys studying Yiddish, one of Yale’s youngest language programs. In her free time, she is usually writing, drawing cartoons, or singing with her a cappella group, Something Extra.
Aman Fikre
Aman Fikre is a junior at Yale University from San Diego, CA, majoring in Global Affairs and History. He is interested in examining the role of the U.S. in foreign affairs and policy, as well as international law. In the past he has worked in local government, interning for his local congressman. In his spare time on campus, you can find him singing with his music group Shades of Yale, serving as president of the club basketball team, or tutoring students in ASL.
Abraham Keita
Abraham M. Keita, a Junior in Branford majoring in Humanities, is a Liberian rights activist known for his tireless campaign for justice. His work, which began when he was just 7 years old, primarily focuses on combating violence against children. He has gained recognition for his fight against sexual violence and his advocacy for its victims.
Natasha Khazzam
Natasha Khazzam is a sophomore at Yale studying history with a certificate in journalism. Originally from Great Neck, New York, her academic interests include analyzing literature in its historical context, and the intersection of art, ideology, and historical rhetoric. On campus, she covers housing and homelessness in New Haven for the Yale Daily News and advocates for reproductive justice in carceral facilities with the Yale Undergraduate Prison Project. She is also a backpacking trip leader for incoming first-years and a captain of the club running team. In her free time, Natasha enjoys writing poetry, learning foreign languages, baking, and listening to Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season” on a never-ending loop.
Felix Leonhardt
Felix Leonhardt is a sophomore History major in Jonathan Edwards College at Yale. Felix likes reading about politics, watching the NFL, and playing board games with his family. He is the Treasurer of the Yale Debate Association, coaches debate through the New Haven Urban Debate League, and plays catcher for Yale Club Baseball. Last summer he worked on a French translation project at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. He is from Bethesda, Maryland.
Tyler McLemore
Tyler McLemore is a sophomore in Pierson College majoring in History. At Yale, he is involved in the Alexander Hamilton Society and Club Squash. His academic interests include Indo-Pacific commerce, cross-Strait relations, and American power projection. Outside of school, he enjoys reading biographies, running, and watching college football. After graduation, Tyler plans to attend OCS and commission as an Intelligence Officer in the U.S. Navy.
Abi Ndikum
Abigail Ndikum (she/her) is a senior from Maryland studying Global Affairs. She is a visionary interested in investing her time, energy, and resources into people and communities through innovative and sustainable strategies. Abi is the Founder and Executive Director of the Yale Africa Innovation Symposium, a conference for young, bright minds and African experts to problem-solve industry-specific case studies. In 2023, she completed a fellowship in her family's home country, Cameroon, where she helped develop an economic empowerment training program for internally displaced women. Abi is interested in venture capital, global development, and women's empowerment.
Hassaan Qadir
Hassaan Qadir grew up in Coos Bay, Oregon, with his parents and two younger sisters. He spent his time in the forest, on the sand dunes, and by the ocean, and is now a Computer Science major. At Yale, Hassaan is involved in the Party of the Right and the Muslim Students Association, but he is currently on a gap year confounding a startup, molbio.ai, to build software to speed up biology research!
Kate Reynolds
Kate Reynolds is a junior from New York City studying History. She’s particularly interested in the politics of memory and reconciliation in post-conflict settings. At Yale, Kate currently serves as the Print Managing Editor of The Politic and previously served as the Communications Director for the Yale College Democrats. She’s passionate about improving governmental effectiveness and has extensive experience within NYC politics, from volunteering for local campaigns in high school to interning for a city agency last summer. After Yale, Kate hopes to work in journalism or public policy.
Ted Shepherd
Ted Shepherd was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. He is a junior at Yale, double majoring in History and Global Affairs. Ted is interested in American history, foreign affairs, and law, and aims to pursue post-graduate history studies and law school at some point in his future. Ted has interned at the Hudson Institute and Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tanks in DC, and is involved in history and foreign affairs-related extracurricular clubs at Yale. Outside of school, he enjoys reading, writing, playing tennis, playing basketball, listening to podcasts, exercising, and chatting with friends.
Samantha Tishler
Samantha Tishler is a first-year in Saybrook College planning to study Engineering Sciences (Mechanical) and pursue a certificate in Russian at Yale. She is from Glastonbury, CT and attended the Loomis Chaffee School. She participates in Yale’s Air Force ROTC program and hopes to commission as an Air Force pilot after college. Furthermore, she currently serves as the secretary of the Independent Party, one of Yale’s political philosophy debate groups. In her free time, she enjoys flying small planes, playing a game of chess, and watching Survivor.
Zadie Winthrop
Zadie Winthrop is a sophomore at Yale University originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. She studies Ethnicity Race and Migration where she focuses on colonial and decolonial thought. At Yale she works as a Gallery Guide at the Yale University Art Gallery where she gives on tour on visual historiography and edits and writes for the Yale Historical Review where she is a Senior Editor. She is also a part of the Arabic program and spent a summer studying Arabic abroad in Amman, Jordan. In her free time, she enjoys exploring New Haven and chatting with her friends over dining-hall tea.
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