Colloquium | Members

Ananda Páez

Ananda Páez Rodas is an Ecuadorian freshman born in Japan. During high school, she was a member of the student government, was twice elected Secretary General of her school's Model United Nations, was secretary of the National Honors Society and won an award for her collaboration project with an indigenous community in the Ecuadorian Andes (called Salinas de Bolivar). She also practiced classical ballet, flamenco and won city awards and scholarships for academic excellence. Ananda is very involved in community service, having organized various projects and initiatives that benefited indigenous communities, senior citizens and teenage single mothers in Ecuador. After an inspiring visit to H.H. The Dalai Lama in India three years ago, she decided to study Economics and International Relations in hopes of advocating for human rights in Tibet.

Emily Paine

Emily may not be eligible for Medicare, but she is a senior as far as Tufts University is concerned. As a rising sophomore, Emily studied the provision of clean water by the US military versus nongovernmental entities in post-conflict northern Uganda as part of a Joint Research Project for the ALLIES program. Since then, Emily has begun her life’s-work exploration of community health, a framework that has so many different meanings to people around the world, yet so much power over everyone’s happiness and societal mobility. Throughout her classes at Tufts, semester abroad studying community health in India, Argentina and South Africa, and various research opportunities, she has become increasingly passionate about improving the translation of underrepresented patient perspectives into their given systems of public health. Emily’s decision to take EPIIC this year was undoubted considering the theme and support she has received from the IGL during her time at Tufts.

Alice Pang

Alice Pang is a senior at Tufts University, majoring in Philosophy and Political Science. She has lived in Edinburgh, New York City and most recently, Seoul, but she finds home with people all over the world. At Tufts, Alice has been part of the Tufts Community Union Senate, serving as the student representative to the Board of Trustees and as the Services committee co-chair. Her values of environmental sustainability has led her to be involved with a variety of green initiatives on campus, including the project to bring Hydration Stations to campus. Her favorite extracurricular activity is being a big sister in the Chinese Big Brother-Big Sister program, working with Chinese adopted children in the Boston area. Alice spent the Spring 2011 semester right outside of Kathmandu, Nepal, where she was working full-time at a local school – sharing with students the power of story for creativity and learning, while designing and establishing a children’s library for the community there. It was in Nepal where her passion for education in impoverished and troubled areas was ignited and is what she wants to pursue in the future. She also spent time in North Korea this past year, working with disability schools and facilities for children, specifically orphans. Alice also loves modern dance, photography, hiking, literature, picnicking and design.

Shawn Patterson

Shawn is a junior from Buffalo, NY, majoring in International Relations. Prior to studying at Tufts, Shawn received a Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange scholarship from the Department of State and studied German for ten months in the Erzgebirge region of Germany. At Tufts, Shawn has studied European affairs, Post-World War II German literature, and Western ethics. He proudly serves as the President of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity on campus. He is also a QuestBridge Scholar and hopes to set an example for other high-achieving, low-income students by succeeding in the academic and professional worlds. Last summer, Shawn received the Critical Language Scholarship to study Arabic in Ibri, Oman. This year, he looks forward to participating in EPIIC and is interested in European far-right political parties, the German demographic crisis, and Arab migration to Central and Eastern Europe.

Caroline Patterson

Caroline Patterson is a member of the class of 2013 majoring in Community Health and French. Caroline is from Toronto, Ontario and has devoted her past three years at Tufts to academically exploring the field of health while athletically competing for the varsity women’s rowing team.  Caroline has expanded her personal definition of health through a diverse combination of community health courses, pre-medical requirements, and extra-curricular involvement. As a sophomore, she volunteered at Partners In Health and spent her summer working in an Epigenetics Research Lab at the University of Toronto.  This past summer, she pursued her international interests through an internship with the Foundation for Sustainable Development in Jodhpur, India where she worked with a local NGO on an HIV education program to increase testing rates amongst female sex workers. Caroline is very enthused about her involvement with the EPIIC program as she hopes it will continue to broaden and deepen her understanding and personal definition of Global Health.

Dan Pechi

Dan Pechi is a freshman hoping to dual major in International Relations, with a thematic concentration in International Environmental Economics, and Russian and Eastern European Studies. Dan hails from the suburbs of Chicago, where he was a member of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a research assistant at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy. Dan was also selected for the State Department's National Security Language Initiative for Youth Russia Summer program in 2014. In addition to pursuing his academic interests in Russia at Tufts, Dan is writing for Tufts' music magazine Melisma and hopes to get more involved in Boston's rich music scene. He looks forward to developing a better understanding of Europe and creating valuable experiences through EPIIC.

Maddy Pelton

Maddy Pelton is a sophomore majoring in International Relations and Arabic from Oakland, California. She is fascinated by the culture, language, and the continuing political evolution of the MENA region. Following an internship at the local NPR station in San Francisco, Maddy has become increasingly interested in pursuing a journalism career. On campus, she is involved in the Tisch Scholars program, where she works at the YUM Project, a program that fosters cultural exchange by promoting immigrant-run restaurants in Somerville. She is also an avid foodie and Frisbee player.  

Rose Pollard

Rose Pollard is a junior at Tufts from State College, Pennsylvania. She is majoring in International Relations, with a concentration in Global Health, and minoring in Music. As the chair of Tufts Hillel's initiative Moral Voices, she is organizing a yearlong, campus-wide investigation of Food Justice. She is also on the travel team for the Tufts chapter of Health Horizons International. Rose plays classical violin and fiddles in the Dirty River String Band at Tufts, and works for the music department on the Music Event Staff. Rose is honored and excited to participate in EPIIC this year!

Lucy Qin

Lucy Qin is a sophomore from Stony Brook, New York. She is interested in studying social inequalities and economic development, which she hopes to focus on through her majors in sociology and economics. This past summer, Lucy spent two months teaching English in rural parts of China and in Beijing, which furthered her interest in education and poverty alleviation. On campus, Lucy is a resident assistant and involved in the Refugee Assistance Program (TU-RAP). She also enjoys reading, writing, adventuring, and trying new food.

James Randaccio

James is a senior majoring in International Relations, with a concentration in International Finance, and minoring in Economics. He is from Buffalo, New York, where he attended the Nichols School before going on to spend a gap year playing junior hockey in New Hampshire. A member of the hockey team at Tufts, he is an avid sports fan, and believes Sundays in the fall are for watching the Buffalo Bills. James' academic pursuits involve the intersection of politics and economics, especially in regards to developing economies and transnational economic policies. While excited about EPIIC's concentration on Europe this year, James is also very interested in Latin America and is working to improve his fluency in Spanish. James is pursuing a career in finance or economic policy through an internship with Merrill Lynch during the fall semester.