Jonah Bhide is a second year global policy studies masters candidate at the LBJ School where he studies the intersection of US national security and foreign policy. He interned with the US Military Delegation to NATO HQ in Brussels, Belgium in the summer of 2019. Jonah graduated from the US Air Force Academy in May 2018 with a BS in Political Science, and will attend pilot training upon completing his master’s program.
Anushree Deb is a graduate student at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and is pursuing a Masters in Global Policy Studies. Over the summer, Anushree interned at The Asian Development Bank HQ in Manila and worked on increasing urban resilience through low-income housing in Bangladesh & Philippines. Prior to LBJ, Anushree was a Senior Associate at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements in Bangalore, India where she worked on issues of urban development & governance, land use planning and violations, water & sanitation networks as well as urban heritage conservation. She has a masters in urban policy & governance from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences and a bachelors in history from Delhi University.
Molly Ellsworth is a first-year graduate student at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. She graduated from Carleton College in 2016 with a degree in environmental science and a specialization in conservation and development. Her studies are focused on environmental policy, particularly in air quality, climate change mitigation, and climate adaptation planning. Her prior work experience includes Adaptation International, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and the Wisconsin State Legislature. Recent projects include; The City of San Antonio Sustainability Plan’s Vulnerability Assessment and the Shoshone Bannock Tribes Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Plan.
Lara Eid is a Fulbright scholar pursuing a master’s degree in Global Policy Studies at the LBJ School of Public Affairs with an emphasis in International Development and a portfolio certification in security studies from the Clements Center for National Security. Overall, she has 7 years of experience in communications and Middle Eastern affairs. She managed, in 2018, the campaigns of three candidates to the Lebanese parliamentary elections and undertook, from 2016 to 2017, extensive research in French, Arabic, and English on over a hundred designated terrorist organizations. She is also the co-founder and former CEO of Hayda Baytak, a local Lebanese NGO that covers the tuition fees of orphan students. Most of her coursework at LBJ has been focused on migration studies and refugee laws and policies.
Grace Frazor is a third year dual degree student at the LBJ School and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. She attended Converse College for her undergraduate studies where she completed a degree in Vocal Performance. Her current research interests include Turkish-American relations and contemporary Turkish politics.
Charlotte Gorman is a final-year Global Policy graduate student at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. She graduated from the University of St Andrews in Scotland in 2016 with degrees in International Relations and Modern History. Her studies are focused on US foreign policy and diplomacy with a particular interest in conflict negotiation. She has previously held internships at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies at National Defense University, Middle East Institute, the U.S. House of Representatives.
Morgan Henson is a dual degree masters student with an MA in Russian and East European Studies and a Master of Global Policy Students at the University of Texas at Austin. He graduated with a BA in History from Fordham University in New York City in 2015 and has intermittently lived and worked throughout Eastern Europe in the last half decade. His graduate research covers identity politics in Eastern Europe and interethnic conflicts in the former Soviet space, mainly the ethnic Russian diaspora living in the region. He has recently written on Russian and East European policy decisions and conflicts for the School of Russian and Asian Studies’ Home & Abroad Internship.
Brittany Horton is in her second year at The LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. She is pursuing a Master of Global Policy Studies, with an emphasis in environmental and security policy. She came to the LBJ School after graduating from the University of Texas at San Antonio where she earned a Master of Science in Environmental Science. Her research areas of interest center on wildlife, and include human-wildlife conflict, Traditional Chinese Medicine, illegal wildlife poaching and trade, and the impact of conflicts on conservation outcomes.
Claire Huitt is a joint degree student at the University of Texas, pursuing her J.D. from Texas Law and her M.A. in Global Policy Studies from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. Claire is a Brumley Next Generation Fellow for National Security Law with the Robert Strauss Center for International Law and Security and holds a Graduate Portfolio in Security Studies from the Clements Center for National Security. She has interned with the Department of State at U.S. Embassy Tokyo and the Department of Justice with the Office of International Affairs on the team for Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Claire graduated from Southern Methodist University and holds a B.A. in economics, political science, and public policy.
Lauren Masey is a program design specialist committed to promoting food security by co-creating innovations alongside vulnerable communities. She is a technical advisor to two program portfolios in West and East Africa. Her focus is to build up communities to be the drivers of their own change using a participatory and adaptive approach, recognizing that the barriers to food security are complex. By empowering farmers to dissect information about climate, environment, culture, market access and supply, community and household dynamics, Lauren aims to support resilient, self-reliant communities. Lauren actively works towards cultivating teams that develop effective monitoring, evaluation, and learning tools to strategically inform programming to better serve their partner communities. She’s a Masters Candidate in Global Policy Studies at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Policy, specializing in evaluative methods and non-profit management. Lauren holds a BSc in Natural Resources and Environmental Science.
Christopher Matos is a current student at the University of Texas seeking a Masters in Global Policy Studies at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and a Masters in Energy and Earth Resources at the Jackson School of Geosciences. An energy industry professional, Christopher has 5 years of electric utility experience. He has worked for a variety of companies including rural electric cooperatives, state agencies, and large multinational power developers. Chris specializes in market based solutions to energy problems, while keeping consumer, public, and environmental interests in mind. His research interests include energy security with particular emphasis on new technologies and policy.
Matthew Preisser is a second year dual degree student at the LBJ School and Cockrell School of Engineering (Master’s of Public Affairs and Environmental and Water Resources Engineering). He graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Biosystems Engineering and minors in German and Sustainability in 2018. His research interests include the application of technology and applied sciences to benefit at-risk communities impacted by climate change and extreme weather events. Matthew is currently a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow where he is researching the incorporation of socioeconomic factors into predictive flood modeling. He is also a Brumley Next Generation Fellow through the Robert Strauss Center.
Caleb Ray is pursuing an MA in Global Policy Studies at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and a JD from the University of Texas Law School. Before coming to the University of Texas, Caleb earned a BA in Anthropology from Lawrence University in Appleton, WI. He also served as an Agroforestry Peace Corps volunteer the Republic of Guinea and an Americrops volunteer at a Soil and Water Conservation District in Ottertail County, Minnesota. He speaks French and is interested in sustainable management and use of natural resources to facilitate development. His ultimate goal is to be involved with implementing environmentally sustainable development policies, either at home or abroad.
Andrew Robison is second-year graduate student in the Master of Global Policy Studies program at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. His academic interests focus on global environmental challenges, the politics of energy transition, and the environmental impacts of the global waste stream. He previously graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Marketing and International Business. Andrew currently works as a graduate research assistant at the LBJ School, studying the political and environmental implications of rising oil and gas production in the United States.
Aaron Wolfson is a third-year graduate student at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Aaron graduated from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities with a BA in international relations. His research mostly focuses on Islamist policies and US foreign policy in addition to broader Middle Eastern concerns. He has recently worked with the Bahrain Young Ladies Association and the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) project.
Chris Zimmer is a second year MA student in the LBJ School’s Global Policy program. This semester, he is diving deep into climate science, the geopolitics of energy, and commodity resource markets. Chris’ other academic interests include great power competition – particularly China’s rise – and how technological capabilities affect global supply chains, trade, and economic relations. Prior to coming to LBJ, Chris taught high and middle school in his home state of South Dakota and in Greece, where he completed two Fulbright grants. Chris dislikes writing bios about himself!
Harshal Zalke is a graduate student at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. He is pursuing a Masters in Global Policy Studies and is interested in the interaction between International Trade and Politics. Before entering the policy world, Harshal completed a Masters in Operations Research from the Cockerell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. In the summer of 2017, he worked as a GRA at the Energy Institute studying the adoption rate of clean technologies in the world.