Viviana Oquendo

Viviana Oquendo is a Colombian Fulbright grantee pursuing a Ph.D. in Public Policy at Oregon State University. She worked as an MSc in Economic Sciences, supporting several areas of public policy, until her personal life unveiled her passion for peacebuilding and rural welfare. As a Ph.D. candidate, she is researching how rural development can promote a culture of peace in countries that are overcoming civil war (such as her own home country). She acknowledges how public policy has influenced her life, so she wants to serve as a policy analyst for peacebuilding purposes.

Maham Furqan

Maham completed her master’s degree in economics from Government College University (Lahore, Pakistan) and has been working in academia and the private sector since 2013. As a PhD Fulbright scholar, she aspires to pursue her passion for international energy policy and renewable energy.

Usman Siddiqi

Usman Siddiqi is a Fulbright Ph.D. Candidate at School of Public Policy, Oregon State University. After his Bachelors, Masters, and MPhil in political science with distinctions, he has taught the subject at GC University Lahore, Pakistan, for about 10 years. Apart from teaching, he has served in various capacities including editor of the Journal of Political Science, deputy director of Centre of Excellence China Studies, advisor of Parliamentary Students Society, and focal person of various international conferences. In his Ph.D., he is working on the regulatory politics of energy policy in the US. He is working with Hillary on research related to public adaptation and risk mitigation behaviors/policy support in the wake of extreme weather events.

Mahmood Muttaqee

Mahmood Muttaqee is a Ph.D. student at the School of Public Policy at Oregon State University. Hailing from Bangladesh, one of the countries worst affected by climate change, Mahmood developed a passion and zeal to acquire research capabilities in the field of environmental issues and sustainability. Before starting his Ph.D. at OSU, Mahmood completed two Masters, in Economics and Development Studies, and an undergraduate degree in Economics. His research interests center around the environmental problems that climate change is expediting and how to counter these impacts, particularly through the adoption of sustainable clean energy technologies. He is working with Hilary on a project exploring community perceptions of microgrids.

Sadaf Photo

Sadaf Farooq

Sadaf Farooq hails from Pakistan and did her undergraduate work in Politics & International Relations. She earned her master’s in Development Studies from the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics. During her master’s, she worked with UNICEF on a project focused on Universal Birth Registration in Pakistan. For her PhD, Sadaf is interested in studying the social and cultural contexts of child marriage, its health impacts on young mothers, and how cultural and social norms impact the policy of preventing child marriage in Pakistan.

Muhammad Aatir Khan

Muhammad Aatir Khan was born and raised in the coastal city of Karachi, where he completed his undergraduate degree in Social Sciences and Liberal Arts from IBA, majoring in Political Science. During his final year, he started a research internship at the School Education and Literacy Department, Government of Sindh, where he eventually joined as a Research and Development Coordinator after graduation. Working at the provincial education department has been the highlight of his career since it enabled him to better understand the issue of literacy and education in more nuanced ways. While it was overwhelming and frustrating to deal with the numerous issues related to bureaucracy, corruption, and poverty, it was also an amazing learning opportunity. Having developed a deep interest in education policy, he decided to pursue a master’s degree from SZABIST, where his research was focused on education in Sindh. Currently, he is pursuing a PhD in Public Policy at Oregon State University under the Fulbright Foreign Student Program. His dissertation is focused on educational reforms in Sindh, particularly looking at how policy priorities are set; how interventions are planned and implemented in the field; and how various stakeholders, primarily local and international developing partners, impact the entire process.

Timothy Pape

Timothy Pape is a PhD student in the Environmental Sciences Department at OSU researching the USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program in the Columbia River Basin. He received his MS in Environmental Policy: Energy and Sustainability from the University of Denver and his bachelor’s degree in Philosophy: Ethics, Law, and Value Theory from USC.

Greg Stelmach

Greg Stelmach completed his Master of Public Policy degree at OSU in 2019, working on the Smart & Connected Kids for Sustainable Energy Communities project. He is now a PhD student in Public Policy at OSU. He has been working with Hilary on research related to public views of fossil fuel export.