Team

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Team members

Tiffany Basciano is the Associate Director of the International Law and Organizations Program at Johns Hopkins University – School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).  As Associate Director, she has organized and led several international academic field trips to South and Southeast Asia. Tiffany also teaches the International Human Rights Clinic and co-coaches the SAIS International Criminal Court Moot Team. She received her B.A., cum laude, in Politics and History from New York University (May 2003), and her J.D., with honors, from The George Washington University Law School (May 2007). While at GW Law, Tiffany attended the GW-Oxford Summer Program in International Human Rights Law (July 2005). She is also a member of the California Bar (April 2008). Her academic interests include international human rights law, rule of law development, and corporate social responsibility. Most recently, she edited the international human rights clinic report Justice Derailed: The Uncertain Fate of Haitian Migrants and Dominicans of Haitian Descent in the Dominican Republic (June 2015).

Sheimaliz Glover is a second-year MA candidate concentrating in International Law and Organizations. Sheimaliz is currently a Pickering Fellow at the U.S. Department State – Office of Intellectual Property and Enforcement, and upon graduation will join the Department as a Foreign Service Officer.  Prior to SAIS, Sheimaliz was a Market Research Analyst for IMCS, a biotechnology startup committed to delivering high impact products to the healthcare industry, and has previously served as a business consultant for the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce. As a Mayor’s Fellow for the City of Columbia Mayor’s Office, she created the first ever Hispanic Directory, highlighting the top 100 businesses and organizations in the midlands, and coordinated programs for social entrepreneurship. She is fluent in Spanish and Mandarin and is passionate about entrepreneurship and economic development.  Sheimaliz graduated from the University of South Carolina with a B.A in International Business and Marketing with a concentration in Chinese studies.

Nikhil Gupta is a second year graduate student from Washington DC, concentrating in International Economics and International Law. A member of the school’s 5-year BA/MA program, Nikhil earned his bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins in both Economics and International Studies. His previous experience ranges from assessing global child labor policy for the U.S. Department of Labor to serving as Emerging Markets Analyst for an institutional investment firm. Nikhil aims to build a career around helping to cultivate more inclusive economic growth in South and Southeast Asia. Specifically, he is interested in finding mechanisms that better align the economic goals and incentives of the private sector with those of state governments. Currently, Nikhil is in Jakarta working with the Millennium Challenge Corporation, an American aid agency that strives to reduce poverty through economic growth. In this capacity, he is helping to facilitate the Green Prosperity Project, a $330 million program that aims to expand renewable energy opportunities and improve natural resource management practices throughout Indonesia.

DaQuan Lawrence is an aspiring global public servant and humanitarian who hails from New York City. A devout social justice activist and human rights aficionado, DaQuan received his B.A. in Sociology, specializing in Philosophy and Criminal Justice from Morgan State University (May 2013) in Baltimore, Maryland. DaQuan has studied at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington D.C. since the fall of 2014, pursuing a M.A. in international relations with concentrations in International Law and Conflict Management, respectively. He has experience working on educational capacity building projects, community organizing, developing community outreach campaigns, and working with vulnerable women and ex-combatant youth on issues such as disaster risk reduction, urban poverty, and post-conflict and post-disaster recovery. Interested in international public policy and the politics of race, gender, education, class stratification and urban development, DaQuan is building his proficiency in Arabic. Furthermore, he is extremely passionate about developing and empowering civil society, working to serve marginalized communities, and educating youth in order to advance the global community.

Tony Mueller holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Dresden (Germany) and is currently a scholar of the German Fulbright program and the German National Academic Foundation at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) with an emphasis in International Economics and International Law & Organizations. He is also an alumnus of one of the most prominent and prestigious bilateral exchange programs, the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Scholarship. In addition to his studies, Tony is involved in the research project Delegation of Power to International Organizations and Institutional Empowerment over Time as a Junior Researcher at the University of Dresden, which is funded by the European Research Council. Furthermore, Tony had interned at the German Federal Foreign Office and recently completed an internship at the Delegation of the European Union to the United States in Washington, DC.

Daniela Muhaj is a second year graduate student at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies concentrating on European Studies and International Law. Her previous degrees are in Mathematical Economics and International Studies. While an aspiring economist at heart, Daniela is especially interested in social entrepreneurship, sustainable development issues and innovative public policy approaches aimed at capacity and infrastructure building. Prior to SAIS, she was an ASIANetwork Freeman Foundation Student Fellow conducting research on the economic and social effects of urbanization policies in coastal China. Daniela was also involved with the Center for Innovation and Growth (Cleveland, Ohio) in a number of positions including that of Assistant Project Manager. During her tenure with the Center she gained experience in scoping new business ideas for various U.S. corporations, including but not limited to multinationals. Currently, Daniela is interning with the Financial Statistics Department at the Central Bank of Slovenia analyzing the financial crisis implications in the Slovenian economy from a real sector and macro-network perspective.

Deepika Padmanabhan is a current MA student at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins, concentrating in International Law. Previously, she studied Political Science at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, India. She has interned at the Bank on Human Rights Coalition in DC which works on human rights in development finance, Asia Society India Centre which works on socio-cultural and economic cooperation between USA and Asia, and in government bodies in India, working on governance, land and industry policy. Specifically, she is interested in the confluence of law, human rights and development.

Davide Pini is a second-year MA candidate from Parma, Italy, concentrating in International Law with a double specialization in international finance and emerging markets. He is part of the five-year BA/MA Program offered by the Johns Hopkins University. He has just earned his undergraduate degree with a double major in Economics and International studies, earning Phi Beta Kappa honors. Davide has just completed a summer internship at the New York office of JP Morgan Chase, in the Country Risk Department. This is the second summer at the firm for Davide, as he interned in the Credit Risk division during the summer of 2014, where he helped analyze the asset management and hedge fund industry. Davide is hoping to begin his career in finance, and eventually return to school for a PhD or move to the multilateral sector in order to apply the knowledge acquired at SAIS toward the economic development of the Third World countries.

Pastern Udomritthiruj is a second year graduate student at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), concentrating in International Law and Organizations. She graduated from Williams College in 2013 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Biology. She spent the past summer interning with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, Thailand under the Social Development sector. Her internship was focused on gender equality research for the Asian Pacific region. Prior to SAIS, she worked at Sexual Health Innovations, a non-profit organization that worked at the crossroads of sexual health education and technology. She hopes to pursue a career in women and children’s rights. She has lived in Thailand and the United Kingdom prior to moving to the US.

Kristina Wienhofer, originally from Wuppertal (Germany), is a second year student and Rotary Global Grant scholar at Johns Hopkins SAIS with a concentration in International Economics, Infrastructure Finance and International Law. Following some international experience as a high school exchange student in Idaho, USA, she received her Bachelor of Science degree in International Management focusing on economics and Latin American studies, including a semester abroad in Spain. Her work experience spans a variety of sectors focusing on trade and development issues. She interned at the Representative of German Industry and Trade (RGIT) in Washington DC as well as at the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and, prior to coming to SAIS, at the US Consulate General in Düsseldorf as a Foreign Commercial Service intern for the International Trade Administration. This summer she was engaged in development financing projects in the Latin American water and sanitation sector for the KfW (German Development Bank). She hopes to pursue a career in sustainable development, inclusive growth and capacity building.

Leslie Wilson is a second-year candidate for a Master of Arts in International Relations at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). She is specializing in International Law and Development Microeconomics. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in International Business at the University of San Diego. She currently works for the U.S. Department of Commerce on trade and investment policy in Mexico and Canada. Her research interests include the effects of trade on developing economies, bi-national economic development strategies, the role that public-private partnerships play in enhancing economic integration and competitiveness, and sustainable investment.

Irene Forzoni is a second-year MA candidate concentrating in Conflict Management and International Law and Organizations. A professional translator, conference interpreter and intercultural mediator, Irene earned her MA in Translation and Intercultural Mediation at the University of Bologna and her MA in Conference interpreting at the Zurich University of Applied Science. Her previous experience ranges from working at the European Union Commission to leading the Swiss chapter of the Erasmus Student Network, an international organization promoting students’ mobility at the higher education level in Europe. Before joining SAIS Irene was living in Switzerland and working as a translator and interpreter for the Swiss Ministry of Finance, the Federal Chancellery and for the Tribunal and Public Procurement of the Canton of Zurich. Irene speaks Italian, English, French, German, Russian, has a passive knowledge of Swiss German and is learning Arabic. She is fascinated by migration and intercultural learning, by the challenges they represent and the opportunities they bear.