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Nick Enz, a Fellow in the Master of International Development Policy (MIDP) program, is the first student in the Sanford School of Public Policy to be awarded the Boren Fellowship for language and area studies abroad. As a result of the award, Enz will spend the 2013-14 academic year in Turkey studying the language and conducting research on social safety net programs with a special focus on Kurdish populations.
The Boren Awards provide U.S. undergraduate and graduate students with an opportunity to acquire language skills and experience in countries critical to U.S. national security. Since the program was created in 1994, over 5,000 students have received awards.
The program received a historically high number of applications this year. Out of 526 graduate applicants, Enz was one of only 110 to receive the award.
“It really was a dream come true,” Enz said. “I felt incredibly fortunate and excited for the opportunity to integrate my Turkish language and area studies interest with my degree in International Development Policy.”
Enz’s research will build on work that he completed during the MIDP program on a conditional cash transfer program in Turkey. These types of programs aim to reduce poverty by making aid conditional upon the recipients’ actions.
During the MIDP program, Enz was also able to pursue courses in economics, statistics and Turkish, which helped prepare him to apply for the Boren Fellowship.
“I appreciated the open-ended nature of the MIDP program and the exposure to a wide variety of subjects and analysis methods,” he said. “The program gave me access to valuable tools for policy analysis and problem solving.”
Enz said he also received advice and assistance with his Boren application from his MIDP professors, especially Rosemary Fernholz and Catherine Elkins.
Prior to joining the MIDP program, Enz spent four years in Azerbaijan – the first two years as a Peace Corps volunteer and the second two years working with Reporters’ Freedom and Safety, a media watchdog organization, and Save the Children.
During this time, he wrote reports and grant proposals to raise awareness of and help provide aid for imprisoned journalists. He also worked to help children in orphanages take an active role in their communities and make a successful transition to adulthood.
“We gave them a forum to discuss issues in their communities and raise those issues with the government,” Enz said.
In addition to the Boren, Enz is a recipient of the Paul D. Coverdell Fellowship, which provides returned Peace Corps volunteers with financial assistance for graduate study. He also was awarded the FLAS (Foreign Language and Area Studies) Fellowship by Duke University.
In exchange for funding, Boren Award recipients agree to work in the federal government for a period of at least one year. Enz plans to work for either the State Department or the U.S. Agency for International Development when he returns to the U.S. in May 2014. Having completed an internship with the State Department in Kazakhstan during the MIDP program, Enz hopes to conduct research that will help shape policy regarding Central Asia, the Caucasus region and Turkey.
“A lot of what we did was similar to what journalists do – reporting on issues important to the U.S. government,” Enz said. “It was a very fast-paced environment, but I enjoyed it.”
Thirty-eight officers from the Indian Revenue Service recently completed a two-week training program on tax policy and administration at the Duke Center for International Development (DCID).
“The course is extremely informative and interesting,” said Sanjeet Singh, who participated in the program. “It provides not only important skills, but also a variety of new perspectives.”
The program begins with three weeks of advance training at the Management and Development Institute in Gurgaon, India, which is taught by their faculty. The rest of the course is taught by Duke faculty in conjunction with experts from the Internal Revenue Service, the North Carolina Department of Revenue and the World Bank. The course concludes with a trip to Washington, D.C., to visit with officials from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Internal Revenue Service.
DCID faculty has trained over 160 Indian Revenue Service officers in its custom programs and expects to train a total of more than 400 over the next three years.
The cover of the current issue of the Journal of Cell Biology features a paper from the Sherwood Lab, "The netrin receptor DCC focuses invadopodia-driven basement membrane transmigration in vivo." The paper identifies subcellular structures called invadopodia (invasive feet), that allow cells to penetrate through extracellular matrix and invade other tissues. Kudos! [more]
The Project Appraisal and Risk Management (PARM) program graduated 26 students at a ceremony at the University Club on Friday, June 7. The two-week program drew participants from across the globe, including students from Haiti, Liberia, India and Japan.
PARM focuses on investment appraisal and management for professionals working in public and private-sector organizations. The curriculum explores modern and widely used techniques of finance, applied economics and risk management.
“Many times governments and the private sector end up implementing development projects without doing the necessary evaluations in advance,” said Niaz Shinwari, a 2013 PARM graduate who served in the Fiscal Policy and Economic Affairs Department in Afghanistan. “PARM is particularly important because it teaches you the skills of evaluation to determine whether projects are financially viable.”
PARM is one of four summer executive education programs offered by the Duke Center for International Development (DCID) to meet the diverse needs of policy makers, researchers and other professionals. Since 2002, when DCID began hosting these programs, over 928 alumni representing 100 countries have participated and are implementing their new skills around the world.
Prof. Shaw was interviewed for a story on Morning Edition about arctic mosses found under retreating glaciers by Canadian researchers. The mosses were not only green, they were still growing and flourished under cultivation in the lab. Prof. Shaw provided important background and analysis of homeowners' reactions to moss growing in their lawns. [more]
The Biosciences Collaborative for Research Engagement (BioCoRE) will be supported by a $1.8 million, five-year grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). One of its leaders is Prof. Julie Reynolds, Asst. Dir. of Undergraduate Studies in Biology. One aspect will be a new freshman seminar introducing students to research opportunities and the scientific community. This award is part of an NIH initiative to promote careers in biology and medicine to underrepresented minorities. [more]
Greg Bonito, senior researcher in the Vilgalys Lab, and A. Zambonelli edited "Edible Ectomycorrhizal Mushrooms," Vol. 34 of 'Soil Biology.' The book includes recent research on the ecology, systematics, genomics, medicinal properties, and cultivation of this large family of fungi. Everything you need to get into truffle farming! [more]
Justin Becker (JD/MIDP '12) advises us that he will be working as an attorney at the Department of Commerce in the International Trade Administration where he is expected to participate in the Commercial Law and Development program. This program is designed to support developing countries in the development of their legal systems to make them more market friendly. One aspect includes helping to develop international arbitral systems. Justin adds that what really excites him is that this assignment has direct connections to his studies in both the law and MIDP programs.
"A team from the Sanford School of Public Policy traveled to Boston in March to compete in the regional round for the $1 million dollar Hult Prize for student social entrepreneurs. In partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative, the Hult Prize is a start-up accelerator. Each year, more than 10,000 college students submit proposals and 200 teams are selected for the six regional competitions. The six winning teams pitch their start-up ideas at the annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting.
'We are a team of five international students, from Armenia, India, Italy, Mexico and Myanmar. Our backgrounds are as diverse as our nationalities: medicine, environment, business management and nonprofits. We call ourselves ‘Food Rangers’ and our brand is synonymous to healthy, hygienic and nutritious food which is culturally acceptable,' their proposal said. The five students are enrolled in the school’s international development policy master’s degree program."
The Food Rangers' efforts have also been recognized by Sanford schools' Social Entrepreneurship and Policy Initiative organization and have been won the 'Risk Takers Award' this year. [more]
On April 12, 2013, Sanford Dean Dr. Bruce Kuniholm and Dr. Joyce Teo Siew Yean, Dean Faculty of Business and Economics (FBEPS) & Director of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) at UBD signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and Cooperation Agreement. Others in the picture are Dr. Anita Aziz, Vice-President for Education and Internationalization, UBD, Associate Dean for Executive Education Dr. Francis Lethem, and Director of Graduate Studies (MIDP) Dr. Cory Krupp.
Under these agreements up to five students studying at UBD’s Institute of Policy Studies towards their Master’s degree in Public Policy and Management (MPPM) will be at Sanford for one semester as visiting students. They will attend classes under the MPP and MIDP programs starting in Spring of 2015. This will be the final semester of their 18 months program of studies.
This agreement is the culmination of discussions that started in November 2011 with a visit by a delegation from UBD headed by Dato Dr. Zulkarnain Hanafi, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University.
The Department is pleased to announce that Dr. Dorian Canelas has accepted the position of Assistant Professor of the Practice in Chemistry. Dr. Canelas has been teaching in the department over the past four years, and among other education related activities, developed the CHEM 99D "Introduction to Chemistry" course recently highlighted in a Duke News article.
DCID Faculty Dr. Natalia Mirovitskaya and DCID Founder Professor William Ascher have recently published the first in a series of books on economic development and conflict, entitled: Economic Development Strategies and the Evolution of Violence in Latin America. Their book explores the links between Latin American governments' economic policies and the nature and dynamics of inter-group violence. Based on the patterns of ten countries, the contributions to this volume trace the remarkable transformation from open ideological conflict to the explosion of social (seemingly apolitical) violence, the upsurge of urban crime, and the confrontations over natural resources and drugs across the region spanning from Mexico to Argentina. The variations in economic success and in conflict prevention and transformation can guide policymakers, development professionals, and activists committed to conflict-sensitive development.
The book was published by Palgrave MacMillian, New York, NY in 2012. For access to its first chapter please click on ”more", or go to http://vox.lacea.org/?q=books_latinamerica [more]
Six MIDP fellows and a graduate student from the Duke Law School formed two panels on this theme during the UNC-Duke Consortium Conference "Realizing Visions of Latin America and the Caribbean" on February 15-16, 2013. The panel members from MIDP were: Janina Cuevas, Susana Garcia, Zoila Navarro, Luisa Fernanda Cardozo Romero, Matias Arrau, and Carlos Guiza; and Xiao Recio Blanco from the Duke Law School. MIDP professor Fernando Fernholz, who served as moderator, helped organize the panels and provided the framework for the discussions. The MIDP program participated actively through presentations and panel discussions in this year UNC-Duke Consortium Conference following a tradition of past years.
The fellows presented their findings on the increase in size and importance of the middle class in the region, before a full audience (despite the falling snow) during the sessions on Saturday morning at the UNC Global FEDEX Center. They discussed significant changes in the region as an emerging and stronger middle class affects governance, politics, the economies and social outcomes. -- http://uncdukeconsortium.org/
Dr. Steven Malcolmson, Dr. Jennifer Roizen, and Dr. Amanda Hargrove will join the Department as Assistant Professors starting this summer. Dr. Malcolmson's and Dr. Roizen's research interests are in the area of Organic Synthesis and Dr. Hargrove's research interests are in the area of Chemical Biology. The Malcolmson Lab will be developing novel catalysts to access new modes of reactivity for C-C bond formation. The Roizen Lab will using novel reaction methods to access natural products and their derivatives for use as anti-infectives and selective ion channel inhibitors. The Hargrove Lab will be using small molecules to characterize the regulatory activity and therapeutic potential of long noncoding RNAs.
Check out Prof. Charbonneau's CHEM 89 class blog on the chemistry and physics of cooking.
An MIDP team made up of 5 fellows from 5 different countries has been selected to attend the Hult Prize regional challenge in Boston on March 2. 10,000 teams competed worldwide representing more than 150 countries and over 350 colleges and universities. Of those, 200 teams were selected to compete in regional finals in 5 cities across the world (Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai and Shanghai).
The Hult Prize is a start-up accelerator for social good, dedicated to launching the next wave of social entrepreneurs through identifying, funding, mentoring, advising and launching new social businesses. The 2013 challenge addresses the Global Food Crisis.
A detailed case study on the Global Food Crisis, narrated by President Bill Clinton, has been released to all selected teams to set the framework for this year's challenge. The challenge can be found here. Competitors are asked to develop social enterprises that answer the President's Challenge.
The MIDP team is comprised of Ana Lucia Garcia Briones, Pankhuri Dutt, Silvia Fontana, Aung Thant, and Hrachya Topalyan. Special thanks to Frank Webb for providing the inspiration and congratulations and good luck to our team!
-- http://www.hultprize.org/
Former Duke-UNC Rotary Center fellow Bautista Logioco (MIDP ‘04) was recently honored in his home country of Argentina with The Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) award in the “Contributions to Children, World Peace and/or Human Rights” category. This award was given to Mr. Logioco by the Juniors Chamber International (JCI) Argentina and the Argentinean Chamber of Commerce in honor of his outstanding work in the field of peace and conflict resolution. Mr. Logioco is currently working as a Programme Officer at the UN Peacebuilding Support Office in New York City, where he supports the development and implementation of peace building programs in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Prior to that he served as a Programme Specialist in the Secretariat of the UN Framework Team for Preventive Action, where he supported UN entities to “deliver as one” in developing conflict prevention/sensitivity strategies and programs.
DCID proudly congratulates Bautista on earning this award and wishes him the best of luck in his future endeavors. (B. Logioco pictured third from left)
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As part of DCID's community service effort, we actively seek out and participate in group volunteer projects around the local Durham area. This holiday season, several faculty and staff members came together at Urban Ministries of Durham to prepare food for the homeless and poverty-stricken population in our community.
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