Want to learn more about careers and pathways in international affairs?  Come to our virtual panel event on April 7 from 5-6pm featuring four fantastic Federal & Global Fellows alumni--representing careers in international relations and diplomacy, international development, and democracy-building initiatives. Their experiences include the Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, START, a Boren Scholarship, a Public Policy & International Affairs Fellowship at Princeton, a Public Policy & Leadership Conference at the Harvard Kennedy School, and acceptance into the Peace Corps. For more details about their incredible backgrounds, see their brief bios below!  

Event: International Affairs Alumni Panel
Date: Wednesday April 7, 2021
Time: 5:00-6:00pm
Location: https://umd.zoom.us/j/91211210025

Biographies of our Panelists

Sofia Alsamadi is a Foreign Affairs Officer working on democracy and human rights issues in the South and Central Asia region with the U.S. Department of State. Previously she served as a Regional Affairs Specialist working on international policy in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia under the Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Sofia is a 2018 David L. Boren Scholar where she lived in Amman, Jordan for one year to intensively study advanced Arabic and volunteer with urban refugees in female empowerment and youth capacity building programs. Sofia graduated from the University of Maryland in 2018 with a degree in Government and Politics and minors in Arabic Studies and International Development and Conflict Management.  Sofia was a 2016 Global Fellow in the Responses to Global Challenges concentration. During her undergraduate studies, Sofia had the opportunity to intern with various federal government agencies including: U.S. Department of State in the Office of Political-Military Affairs of Iraq; U.S. Department of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor in South and Central Asia; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; and the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START).

Gabriel Wach currently works as an Iraq Program Assistant at the U.S. Department of State since November 2020.  He is passionate about international security, development. He was previously scheduled to depart for Peace Corps Ukraine in August 2020 before COVID-19. Gabriel graduated from the University of Maryland in May 2019 with his Bachelor's in Government & Politics: International Relations. Gabe was a 2018 Global Fellow in the U.S. Diplomacy & Policymaking concentration and a 2019 Global Fellow in the Critical Regions & International Relations concentration.

Adwoa Boateng graduated from the University of Maryland in 2018, with a B.S. in Economics and a B.A. in Government/Politics. She was a 2016 Global Fellow in the Responses to Global Challenges concentration.  She completed her internship in the 2015-2016 Global Fellows program at the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of African Affairs. She also completed an internship at START, the Public Policy & International Affairs fellowship at Princeton University, and the Public Policy and Leadership Conference at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. After graduating, she worked on disaster relief oversight as a program analyst contractor at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General. Currently, she is a program analyst at the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, the U.S. Government's oversight agency on Afghanistan reconstruction.

Jen Bui graduated from the University of Maryland in 2020 with a Master’s degree in Public Policy, specializing in International Development. She is currently supporting democracy-building programs in the Asia-Pacific region with the National Democratic Institute as the Project Assistant to the Southeast Asia subteam. Prior to this position, she has had a variety of foreign policy and international development experiences, such as interning for the Department of State’s East Asia and Pacific Bureau in the Mainland Southeast Asia office and working as a consultant for the Grameen Foundation’s Bankers without Borders program, during which she helped design a health and women’s empowerment-related program with a local NGO in New Delhi. Jen was a 2019 Global Fellow in the Responses to Global Challenges concentration and served as a graduate assistant for the Federal & Global Fellows programs from 2020-2021.

***This event counts as a pre-approved event.***

Please RSVP below and leave any additional comments as necessary. If you have any questions, please email fedglobal@umd.edu