Colloquium | Members

David Riche

Originally from Flemington, NJ, David Riche is a senior studying Quantitative Economics and International Relations with a focus in International Trade. At Tufts, he has applied development theory to practice with BUILD, a program that fosters collaboration between Tufts students, NGOs, and communities in developing countries. This year in EPIIC, he is looking forward to learning more about francophone North Africa while exploring urban formation, development, and specialization in the greater MENA region. 

Lizzy Robinson

Lizzy Robinson is a junior from Albany, New York, double majoring in International Relations and Economics. On campus, she is involved in NIMEP (New Initiative for Middle East Peace), the China-US Symposium, Hemispheres (Tufts’ undergraduate research journal), and works as a research assistant in the Political Science department. Lizzy finds the Middle East fascinating because she believes that the current challenges, while seemingly intractable, create the possibility for significant progress in the future. She is primarily interested in foreign policy, security issues, and diplomacy, and hopes to join the Foreign Service. Outside of academics, Lizzy enjoys running and raspberries. 

Sam Rock

Sam Rock was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. At Tufts, he is a senior English major and an Arabic minor, and he spent the last semester studying Language and Culture in Amman, Jordan through CIEE. He is also a member of the Ultimate Frisbee team, the Tufts Mountain Club, and the Wilderness Pre-Orientation program. He has spent the last three summers leading youth canoeing trips in northern Wisconsin and southern Ontario, an experience that has taught him about himself and others in a way that he never foresaw. He is excited about EPIIC this year, and hopes that his experiences can add to the experience of the people around him.

Gia Rowley

Liv Rowley

 

Liv Rowley is a sophomore from Newtown, Connecticut, with plans to major in international relations. She studies Spanish and Arabic, which fits nicely with her interests in counter-terrorism and immigration. At Tufts, she is active as a member of The Advisory Council for Endowment Responsibility, a verbal SAT coach through Let’s Get Ready, and a new cadet with Tufts Army ROTC. Liv also enjoys writing, playing the saxophone, and volunteering. Her goal for the future is to change the world. 

Abuzar Royesh

 

Abuzar Royesh is an International Relations student at Tufts University, class of 2016. He was born in Afghanistan, just before his family relocated to Pakistan to escape the Taliban rule. He returned back to Afghanistan with his family in 2002, where he lives since. Abuzar is particularly passionate about International Security and the politics of Middle East and South and Central Asia. He spent this summer in Afghanistan, translating a book and doing a project for Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Afghanistan. He is resolved to work in Afghanistan upon graduation. At Tufts, he is a member of Muslim Students Association and New Initiative to Middle East Peace (NIMEP). Abuzar looks forward to learning more about the complex politics of Middle East and North Africa through EPIIC.  

Jennifer Sanduski

Jennifer Sanduski is a senior majoring in International Relations, concentrating in Economic Development. Hailing from Pleasantville, NY, Jennifer believes that the stuffed jumbo she dragged everywhere as a child was the first sign that she would be a good fit for Tufts. While here, Jennifer has served as the Mental Health Leadership Council Member for Peer Health Exchange, teaching workshops to ninth graders from underprivileged schools across Boston. She continued to look at public health issues halfway across the world in a small village in Tamil Nadu, India through BUILD, a student-led program that promotes sustainable development initiatives in rural communities in the developing world. Focusing on sanitation issues, Jennifer is now a self-proclaimed expert on urine-diverting toilets. Jennifer also spent her junior year abroad, studying both in Cape Town, South Africa and Paris, France. Her favorite part of traveling is the conversations found with strangers on public transportation. She also loves iced coffee. While unsure of where life will lead her after Tufts, Jennifer could not be more excited to actively engage and explore the field of global health security with EPIIC and for the adventures that lay ahead.

Katie Saviano

Katie Saviano is a freshman from Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin with plans to double major in International Relations and Arabic. Her interest in Arabic was sparked when she traveled abroad to Morocco in the summer of 2011 to study the language, funded by a U.S. State Department Scholarship. Katie is also passionate about Spanish and Latino Studies. As a graduate of the United World College of Costa Rica, a high school with a mission for international understanding and global sustainability, Katie believes that the topic of EPIIC 2013- 2014 could not be more timely. More recently, Katie was part of a small delegation of young adults representing the United States at the International Seliger Youth Forum in Russia. At Tufts, Katie hopes to become involved with the Sustainability Collective, Tufts Mountain Club, The New Initiative for Middle East Peace (NIMEP) and volunteer work through CORES, an ESL program for new immigrants to the Medford-Somerville area.

Shaan Shaikh

Shaan Shaikh is a senior from Buffalo, NY majoring in International Relations and Arabic. On campus, Shaan is the Senior Advisor of the Tufts’ Muslim Students Association and is also involved in ALLIES. His academic interests focus on security concerns in the MENA region, the role of Islam in Muslim-majority countries, and political philosophy. Previously, Shaan was a Tisch Summer Fellow at the Department of Defense, working on a cost-benefit analysis of US ballistic missile defense system sales to the Middle East. Shaan has also interned at The Syria Institute, a DC-based think tank focused on the ongoing civil war in Syria. In his free time, Shaan enjoys reading manga, exploring Boston, and poker nights with friends.

Umar Shareef

Umar Shareef is a Muslim Indian-American born in Warsaw, Indiana. After moving three times, he now finds himself in Windham, Maine, where he has been residing for two years. At Tufts, he plans on majoring in political science with a minor in English and Philosophy. He plans on joining the Muslim Student Association as well as the Debate Society. He wishes to contribute to the redress of politico-socio inequities such as economic injustices, racism, sexism, and classism, the deterioration of the democratic process.  He would like to study globalization because it has engendered these conditions, which will allow appropriate solutions to be made. He hopes to pursue a higher education in Law for social justice. In particular, his interests are in engaging in social justice, particularly in challenging Islamophobia, to create a necessary dialogue that bridge the perceived gap between Muslims and the West. He seeks to situate himself and understand the identity of an American Muslim living within a discursive context that reduces the complexities of Islam’s historical and contemporary relations with the West into reductionist binaries of “us” vs. “them.”