That’s why, every week, she took time to work with Lutheran Social Services, a refugee resettlement agency in Northern Virginia. There, both in-person and online, she co-taught classes to an all-female club of Afghan refugees, covering topics from financial literacy to feminine health and English as a second language (ESL). 

“It felt natural to join initiatives dedicated to migration and ESL because I wasn’t a stranger,” said Ahmed. “As a daughter of immigrants, education holds a central role in my personal and professional aspirations. Since childhood, I’ve been raised to know that education is not simply a title one accomplishes through an institution, but, rather, an experience that requires academic, emotional, spiritual and physical toiling.”

In the spring, Ahmed was recognized alongside seven other graduating seniors in the ������̳ of Arts & Sciences with the Lena Landegger Community Service Award, celebrating and honoring their commitments and contributions to service. The award, which has recognized Hoyas for exceptional service for more than 25 years, is given in honor of Lena Landegger (H’87), the mother of George F. (F’58) and Carl (C’53).

Listening to the Call to Serve

Recipients of the award, which is given each year to twenty students across the university in memory of its eponym, embody the call, articulated by Rev. Pedro Arrupe, S.J., for alumni of Jesuit universities to be “people for others,” engaged in the struggle for justice to protect the needs of the most vulnerable. 

For Ahmed, that call was deeply personal, and reflected the personal growth that is essential to a Georgetown education. 

“I didn’t seek out these opportunities because they were service-oriented projects, but rather because they resonated with my values, interests and own past,” said Ahmed. “Having these shared experiences, such as translating for my parents during medical appointments, college applications and day-to-day life, allowed me to better connect with the communities I worked alongside.”

In addition to her work with the Lutheran Social Services, Ahmed became involved with the , or DCSP, a program of the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching & Service. There, she also taught ESL lessons to recently-arrived migrant children from the United States’ southern border. 

“My responsibilities included family outreach, leading information sessions on the Washington, DC, migration context and organizing local advocacy initiatives like distributing school supplies” said Ahmed. “Through this role, I honed my leadership and communication skills by advocating for migrant justice.”&�Բ�����;

The through line connecting both programs was an attitude of service in collaboration and fellowship with others. 

“It can be tricky to traverse how to be in solidarity with a community, without disempowering them,” said Ahmed. “What I’ve learned is that service can not be done with the perspective that you are ‘helping’ or ‘giving a voice’ to the communities that you are working with, rather, service must be done from a place of solidarity, and by using your resources to amplify and uplift their narratives.”&�Բ�����;

Combining the Personal and the Academic

Like Ahmed, Caroline Vail (C’24) found a second home in the DC Schools Project during her time on the Hilltop. 

“I worked with the DC Schools Project during all 4 of my years at Georgetown,” said Vail. “I was a tutor for 5 semesters, and in the spring of my junior year, I became a coordinator on our school-based team.”&�Բ�����;

As a coordinator, Vail supported a small team of tutors as they worked with immigrant students in DC Public Schools on their English language skills. This role involved coordinating with the group’s on-site contacts at the school, communicating with parents and building community among the tutoring team. 

“The biggest lessons I learned from this work were from the relationships that I built with the tutees and their parents, which taught me the importance of working in collaboration with a community rather than simply providing a service or charity to or for a community,” said Vail. 

Vail’s interest in service-based education extended into her academic life. While double-majoring in both linguistics and Portuguese, Vail tacked on a minor in education, inquiry and justice. Her senior honors thesis in linguistics explored the language learning needs of the recently-arrived migrant population that she worked with through DCSP and sought to create a task-based curriculum for tutoring centered on those needs. 

For Vail, her passion for justice is inextricably tied to her faith. On the Hilltop, Vail was deeply involved in campus ministry, serving as a student leader with Chi Alpha, an inter-denominational Christian community. 

“Grounding my commitment to enter into the struggle of the migrant community through solidarity is a firm belief in fundamental human dignity, which encourages me to see each community member as an image-bearer of the Creator,” said Vail. “I see a faith that does justice as one way that I can honor that dignity.”

Today, Vail lives out her ethos of service working as a Student & Family Engagement Coordinator with Center for Supportive Schools, a nonprofit organization contracted by New York City Public Schools to provide support to under-resourced schools. Working at 3 high schools in the Bronx, Vail focuses on projects to increase attendance, improve school culture and climate and promote the wellbeing of the community as a whole.

“I think my faith, and specifically my commitment to honoring fundamental human dignity, was the through line between my academics, my work with DCSP and my leadership in Chi Alpha,” said Vail. “A lot of the information that I learned in the classroom about how we learn languages or about educational equity was directly applicable to my work with DCSP, and vice versa.”&�Բ�����;

“I think that the reason that a lot of these things were intertwined was because my motivation was always to honor people and serve the community out of my belief that everyone is made in the image of God.”

Cover illustration by Bratislav Milenković.

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Powell, who is graduating with a major in biology of global health and a minor in justice and peace studies, wasn’t exactly sure what path she’d take when she started her first year of classes via Zoom four years ago. 

“I knew that I would do something with biology,” Powell said. “And immediately, I thought it was fascinating to look at the world through a microscope, but I didn’t know how to combine that scientific interest with my desire to solve real-world problems, problems that we can see without sitting at a lab bench.”&�Բ�����;

Powell’s academic and extracurricular journey has been defined by research and mentorship that taught her how to blend together those distinct interests. 

“One of the unique things that Georgetown allowed me to do was to merge these two pathways,” said Powell. “I could say yes, it’s about the disease, the pathogen, and all these cellular things, but also at the end of the day it’s about people, their lives, their families, and their communities.”

Research All Around the Globe

After her first year at Georgetown, Powell traveled to Boston, Massachusetts on a Royden B. Davis Fellowship. There, she interned at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute investigating cellular indicators in breast cancer and melanoma tumors.

“I got there and loved looking at problems under a microscope,” recalled Powell. “And while I found the research intellectually engaging, I felt emotionally disconnected from the effects of the work because, realistically, it wouldn’t impact people’s lives for decades.”

That experience, Powell remembers, confirmed her love for science but left her with a desire to do more immediate, people-facing work. Upon returning to the Hilltop, she began working with , who was studying neonatal mortality in Jordan. 

“We focused on infants with low birth weight in a country that has comparatively good healthcare outcomes for the region,” said Powell. “With Dr. Narayanan, I asked: ‘How can we practically improve this?’ And I loved that. I felt like I was getting close to what I wanted to do because we were talking about policies and programs and we were translating our research and knowledge into real-world change.”

After connecting with Narayanan through the , Powell was accepted into the GHI fellowship program, which allowed her to work with . Haumba, who was studying barriers to cervical cancer screenings in Eswatini, placed Powell in charge of the internal review board, or IRB, process, which includes an in-depth outlining and justification of research methodology.  

“Cervical cancer is treatable and, if caught early enough, curable. Since the screening process is so effective, we wanted to figure out why certain populations in Eswatini were being underscreened,” recalled Powell. “The barrier wasn’t the screening itself but getting people to the screening, for a mix of social and economic reasons.”

Working with Haumba opened Powell’s eyes to the ways that cultural factors, such as stigma, can affect healthcare seeking behaviors and, ultimately, the lives of patients. That insight affected an independent study program she conducted in Himachal Pradesh while studying abroad in India. Home to the government-in-exile of Tibet, Himachal Pradesh has the largest population of Tibetan refugees in India. Powell’s research project explored HIV and tuberculosis stigma within this community. 

“I looked at how cultural stigmas around certain diagnoses affect patient mental health and their healthcare-seeking behaviors,” said Powell. “This project allowed me to both look at the science, how these behaviors are affecting the epidemiological landscape of this population, and the broader scope, how those same factors affect patient wellbeing and mental health.”

Her journey in public health continued, carrying her from India to Thailand to work with the Research Triangle Institute on Inform Asia: USAID’s Health Research Program. There, she worked with the Division of Vector-Borne Diseases to devise a draft national strategy for the optimization of active case detection protocol, as well as a guideline for malaria elimination among school-aged children in border provinces. 

“My time in Thailand allowed me to fuse all of my passions and skills into comprehensive global health policy,” said Powell. “It was the first time I truly felt like I had the power and ability to genuinely impact the health of a community.”&�Բ�����;

Powell on the Hilltop

On campus, Powell has been heavily involved with the Social Responsibility Network (SRN), a mentorship program in the ������̳ of Arts & Sciences for students interested in pursuing service-based and social impact careers. 

“Social impact is this hard-to-define area and the Social Responsibility Network not only makes it easier to understand but connects us with people in the field,” said Powell. “The SRN is a space where current students come together with alumni and other practitioners to make impossible-sounding careers seem doable.”&�Բ�����;

During her senior year, Powell served as the co-chair of the group’s Sites and Services Committee, which was tasked with finding organizations to host the Social Responsibility Network and then designing service visits.    

“The visits that Isabel organized were truly inspirational for the SRN students as they allowed us to learn about the mission and philosophy of each organization, the structure of each organization, the personnel who run the organizations and its impact in the community,” said Thomas Chiarolanzio, a senior associate dean in the ������̳ of Arts & Sciences who administers the SRN. “Isabel was often the SRN spokesperson on each visit and offered the organization an overview of the SRN and its mission. She always did a fantastic job conveying our interests and why the SRN exists and what it hopes to accomplish.”

For her senior research project, Powell pulled on all of the research and classwork that she’d done as an undergraduate to arrive at the topic: preventative healthcare-seeking behaviors and social determinants of health for undocumented people in the United States. The project explored how migration and refugee status affect healthcare-seeking behaviors and an individual’s overall health. 

“Working with Isabel has been an absolute pleasure; she is truly exceptional,” said , a professor of biology who oversaw Powell’s thesis project. “Her steadfast dedication to her thesis research and to implementation of practical global health solutions highlights her capacity to effectively address global health challenges.”

For Powell, the senior research project allowed her to apply the skills she’d learned as an undergraduate to a topic that was near to her heart.

“Growing up, someone extremely close to my family was undocumented,” said Powell. “Learning, retrospectively, the ways in which she had to alter her life to do something as simple as visit a doctor, was eye-opening for me. I became acutely aware of the barriers that stood in her way but didn’t block mine. So, to me, it was a very personal project and I was motivated by that.”&�Բ�����;

Powell was recently awarded the Chapman Medal for this work, an honor that the presents to “the undergraduate student with the most outstanding research project.”

“Isabel’s senior research project not only exemplifies academic rigor but also demonstrates a profound sense of empathy and tangible impact, showcasing her strong commitment to driving impactful change in global health,” said Floyd.

Reflecting on both her senior project and the numerous research opportunities that Powell pursued outside of the classroom, she’s incredibly happy with her time at Georgetown.

“When projects mean a lot to you they don’t feel like work,” said Powell. “A lot of the time, it feels like an honor to be able to do it. I was lucky to always have something interesting to me.”

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One of the most prestigious awards for undergraduates in science, technology, engineering and math, the Goldwater Scholarship is given to support and cultivate the next generation of scientists, researchers and engineers. Established by Congress in 1986, the fund provides up to $7,500 to sophomores and juniors for up to two years.

“This is an indicator of the outstanding undergraduate research being done across majors here at Georgetown and how truly transformational the mentorship process is for applicants,” said Bill Cessato, deputy director of the Center for Research & Fellowships. “My colleagues and I congratulate the four recipients this year, their professors, and their mentors.”

This is the second time in the past three Goldwater application cycles that all four Georgetown nominees were selected for this honor. 

Dua Mobin

Dua Mobin (C’25) is excited to pursue a medical career that bridges laboratory research, clinical application and healthcare policy to reach underserved minority populations. After finishing her studies at Georgetown, Mobin, a double major in biology of global health and government, hopes to become a physician-scientist. 

“As a first-generation, low-income student my experiences with the medical system have shaped both my academic interests and professional aspirations,” Mobin said. “I plan to become a physician-scientist so that I can translate laboratory research into real-world treatments that cater to minority populations.”

Mobin, who’s Muslim, has visited clinics and doctor’s offices with family members from a young age and seen firsthand how disparities in the American healthcare system manifest.  

“As a physician, I want to work with and serve patients from minority populations,” said Mobin. “As a scientist, I want those same clinical interactions to guide my laboratory research and potential novel treatments that can serve groups currently on the periphery of the medical system.”

Her life experiences inspire her to be a physician-scientist that integrates socioeconomic, religious and cultural factors into care and innovates treatments to meet the realities of underrepresented patients.   

“I plan to pursue research in tumor biology that focuses on microscopy,” said Mobin. “I’m interested in creating therapeutics tailored to minorities, treating patients and advocating to implement new cancer treatments in underserved areas.”

On campus, Mobin is actively involved in both laboratory research and emergency care. As a research assistant in the , housed within Georgetown’s , Mobin studies the biophysics of cancer cell proliferation across underrepresented populations.  

“During this upcoming year as a Goldwater Scholar, Dua will be studying how differences in the metabolism of amino acids may underlie health disparities in invasive lobular breast cancer,” said , an associate professor of oncology in the School of Medicine. “Dua’s intellectual curiosity and passion for improving the lives of people with breast cancer in an inclusive way is a joy to see.”

Already, Mobin has worked with Riggins to study molecular markers that are overexpressed in certain populations and are associated with larger tumor size.  

“My work in the Riggins Lab illustrates that treatment targeting cancers with specific genetic profiles may be more effective than the status quo,” said Mobin. “This research helps address health disparities by performing experiments to understand how the molecular underpinnings of cancer may differ across races.”

In addition to her research, Mobin has worked as Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Services (GERMS). Her time in GERMS has impacted how she views the patient-clinician relationship. 

“During shifts, I see patients undergo some of their most vulnerable moments and am amazed

by their trust in their clinicians,” said Mobin. “Working as an EMT, I improved my clinical skills while administering life-saving medication, but I also learned to treat patients with the utmost empathy as I assist them during their most vulnerable moments.”

Her research, coursework and emergency care work have all combined to prepare Mobin for the next step. 

“As I observe gaps in patient outcomes due to the lack of treatment available for minority populations, my research inspires me to pursue a medical career to both care for patients and use those interactions to guide my research, creating more effective treatments for patients from communities like the ones I came from.”

“Winning the Goldwater has been one of the biggest honors of my Georgetown experience,” Mobin said. “Coming to Georgetown, this was something that I never imagined I could have achieved. This would not be possible without the support and guidance of my mentors Adrian Kalaw (C’23), Rebecca Riggins, and .”&�Բ�����;

Giselle Rasquinha 

Giselle Rasquinha (C’25) plans to use the award to continue pursuing research opportunities related to virology. 

“My work has shown me that microscopic pathogens can shape the world in complex ways,” said Rasquinha, a biology major. “My ultimate career goal is to be at the forefront of understanding and eliminating persistent and re-emerging viruses.”

Last summer, Rasquinha worked in Dennis Ko’s lab, which is housed within the Duke University School of Medicine, investigating the relationship between genetics and susceptibility to the Zika virus. The virus, which is primarily spread by mosquitoes, can trigger autoimmune disorders and, when infected women are pregnant, can lead to birth defects. 

“Although it is common knowledge that genetically diverse individuals can interact with pathogens differently, I had never applied this to my research before; it was incredible to be able to integrate this into my understanding of disease and infectivity,” said Rasquinha. “I am inspired by how our strategies for fighting disease can evolve with our progressive understanding of human diversity. 

A global risk, the most severe outcomes associated with Zika virus outbreaks disproportionately affect those on the peripheries of society. For Rasquinha, pursuing research in virology carries an impetus to ensure equitable public health policies and outcomes. 

“Foundationally, there seems to be a lack of scientific research that is inclusive of different demographics, such as failing to account for large discrepancies in disease rates in communities of color,” said Rasquinha.“I would like to conduct research that considers the biological and social diversity that may drive different disease outcomes for different populations.”

In addition to her work in Dennis Ko’s lab, Rasquinha has pursued research opportunities in the Casey Lab, which is housed within the Georgetown University Medical Center, and the New York Blood Center. With John Casey, an associate professor of microbiology & immunology in the School of Medicine, Giselle is working to develop therapies for the hepatitis delta virus, a liver disease caused by the eponymous viral infection. 

“Based on her work in the lab, It is clear to me that Giselle has the scientific awareness, focus, commitment and perseverance necessary to succeed,” said Casey. “She consistently asks questions to make sure she understands the scientific and technical bases for our approach and follows up with more detailed probing questions about the underlying science.”

Outside of the classroom and the lab, Rasquinha has a passion for science communication, contributing articles to The Hoya’s science section. She served as the Georgetown delegate at the National Undergraduate Consortium for Science Journalism. Her ultimate aim is to pursue a dual M.D./Ph.D. and run her own lab. 

“Disease is more than molecular biology; it is widely impacted by a variety of fields, including public health, medical practices and sociology,” said Rasquinha. “In a world where these disciplines are rapidly developing, I want to apply this diverse network of knowledge to the forefront of the fight against disease.”

Morgan Rice

Cancer researcher Morgan Rice (C’25) is excited to continue investigating metastasis in both laboratory and clinical settings. 

“I am hoping to expand my research in order to better understand the mechanisms underlying cancer cell metastasis in an attempt to research new drugs that could inhibit pathways of metastasis,” said Rice, a biochemistry major. “By combining both clinical and research experience in the field of cancer, I will have a better understanding of the entire field of cancer biology,” said Rice. 

After finishing her undergraduate degree at Georgetown, Rice hopes to pursue a dual M.D./Ph.D.

“All cancer treatments rely on both research and studies to prove that it will do what it’s intended for, and this is where the fields of M.D. and Ph.D, meet,” said Rice. “By receiving both degrees, it will allow me to be in the middle, working on clinical research while still being able to work directly with patients, and therefore allowing for a more expansive approach to research.”&�Բ�����;

On campus, Rice works as an undergraduate research assistant in the . 

“I was drawn to the Braselmann lab for their work in live cell RNA imaging because it felt relevant to the medicine I was interested in,” said Rice. “I had previously learned about cellular dynamics and mechanisms in my science classes, but they were always very general and nonspecific when it came to irregular cellular processes.”&�Բ�����;

“I realized that the field of RNA dynamics overlaps significantly with cancer research, and I knew that by beginning my research career early, I could begin to build a project that would have an impact.”

Run by Esther Braselmann, the Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry, the lab’s team investigates biochemistry in living cells. Since joining the Braselmann lab, Rice has worked closely with graduate students and contributed to a peer-reviewed publication in Biophysical Reports. 

“I have no doubt that Morgan has a bright future as a leader in research in front of her and I am delighted to follow her career in the years to come,” said Braselmann.

Last year, Rice received a Clare Boothe Luce scholarship, which is awarded to high-achieving undergraduate women pursuing degrees in science, math and engineering. This award helped fund her summer research with additional funds coming from the Center for Research & Fellowships’ . 

Jonathan Riess

Jonathan Riess (C’25) is excited to continue exploring the fascinating world of mathematics and theoretical physics as a Goldwater Scholar. 

“My research interests are holographic duality and string theory, using setups with extra dimensions to study physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics, including quantum gravity and the string landscape, or nonperturbative phenomena in QCD,” said Riess. “I find these topics interesting because they are personally fulfilling and provide deep philosophical answers to questions about the origins and the fundamental constituents of the universe.”

Riess’ on-campus research journey started in the lab of , McDevitt Chair in Physics, where he worked on nanowire foams for submicron particulate filtration. These foams can be used in a variety of applications, such as face masks, and present a competitive, reusable and environmentally friendly alternative to current N95 masks. The research team was selected as a Phase 1 Winner and Phase 2 Finalist in the .

“Jonathan helped us look into some novel applications of the foams”, said Liu. “It was fun having him on our team, and we continue to push forward in those research directions”.

Riess has also worked with Hovhannes Grigoryan, an adjunct professor in the . His research with Grigoryan focused on studying strongly interacting superconducting systems using methods from holographic duality and numerical simulations. 

“Holographic duality allows us to study physical phenomena where our conventional methods fail by relating a theory that is relatively easy to study to a relatively difficult one,” said Riess. “It has a rather nice philosophical interpretation, telling us that there is not a unique perspective or description of nature, but rather many dual descriptions of reality.”&�Բ�����;

A double major in physics and mathematics, Riess has also worked with , chair of the Department of Mathematics & Statistics. With Eller, Riess helped organize the , where he lectured on semigroups methods for solving partial differential equations. He has also worked closely with , the McDevitt Chair in Mathematics and Computer Science, under whose supervision he plans on completing his undergraduate thesis.

Most recently, Riess has worked with Ragnar Stroberg, an assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame, in the area of theoretical nuclear physics. Together, they investigated potential issues with the Standard Model of particle physics, namely CKM Unitarity violations. With the support of Georgetown’s Department of Physics, Riess presented this research at one of largest nuclear physics conferences in the United States – the DNP-APS 2023 conference. 

Rising sophomores (Class of 2027) and juniors (Class of 2026) interested in advising and applying for nomination for the Goldwater Scholarship should visit the for details about the upcoming application cycle.

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Given to cultivate the next generation of talent in the fields of mathematics, engineering and the natural sciences, the Goldwater Scholarship is among the most prestigious awards for undergraduate researchers. Established by Congress in 1986, the fund provides up to $7,500 to sophomores and juniors for up to two years.

This year’s applicant pool of more than 5,000 qualified students resulted in just 413 recipients.  

Naomi Greenberg 

Greenberg, a biology major, has been conducting research with , a teaching professor in the , exploring theoretical evolutionary genetics.   

“In my research, I model the evolution of biased X-chromosome inactivation. X inactivation is the process that ‘turns off’ the expression of one of the two X chromosomes in each female cell,” said Greenberg. “Using equations from population genetics to simulate evolution, I show that sex-specific conflict within genes, known as sexual antagonism, may drive the invasion of a gene that biases X chromosome inactivation.”&�Բ�����;

Greenberg’s course load has focused on molecular biology and molecular genetics, supplementing her research in evolutionary genetics.  

“Understanding genetics from both a molecular and an evolutionary lens helps me understand how and why life works the way it does,” said Greenberg. 

This summer, Greenberg will be working in the at the National Institutes of Health. Greenberg plans to pursue a Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biology. 

For Greenberg, the mentorship provided within the ������̳ of Arts & Sciences has been instrumental to her success. 

“My favorite thing about Georgetown is the extensive mentorship I have received,” said Greenberg. “Prof. Patten has been an amazing mentor, encouraging me to take on challenges like applying for Goldwater. All the professors I have had in the biology department have affirmed and supported me with my goals. Students at Georgetown are also great mentors to each other, and I have been lucky to have such inspiring peers.”

Roma Dhingra

Dhingra, a biology of global health major, has been conducting research with , a professor and researcher in the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Psychology. In the Reed lab, Dhingra’s research has focused on how psychosocial factors like stress affect health and aging outcomes in older adults.  

“I’m involved in many projects at the Reed Lab, including my own independent project where I investigate how discrimination is associated with biological aging markers,” said Dhingra. “Through my research, I found that experiencing discrimination events can significantly impact biological aging trends and shorten the lifespan.”

Dhingra has also conducted summer research at CVPath Institute, a medical research organization, under the mentorship of Aloke Finn, MD. Dhingra’s interdisciplinary coursework has been closely tied to her research. 

“I really appreciate how my major, Biology of Global Health, has contributed to shaping my research interests regarding the intersection of social determinants of health and physical health outcomes,” said Dhingra. “My research is interdisciplinary and so is my major. I’ve had super interesting conversations about my research topic with my professors from a variety of disciplines, ranging from social sciences to the hard sciences, all of which have contributed to my growth.”

After graduating, Dhingra plans to pursue a career as a physician-researcher, a pathway she’s seen firsthand working alongside Dr. Finn. She plans to focus on how psychosocial interventions can alter cancer progression and outcomes through clinical research.

“I’m really interested in applying my biopsychology background to medical treatment and research, particularly with a focus on cancer,” said Dhingra. 

Right now, however, she’s just enjoying the moment and grateful for the opportunity to continue researching and learning. 

“Receiving the Goldwater Scholarship has validated my research interests and career aspirations. I’m so excited to be joining the highly motivated group of scholars in the Goldwater Community,” said Dhingra. “Along with my parents and friends, I couldn’t have done this without all my research and Georgetown mentors, especially Rebecca Reed, her graduate student Abby Hillmann, Professor at Georgetown and Dr. Finn at CVPath Institute.”

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Research, Running, and Religion

From Clarks Summit, PA, Dammer came to Georgetown with a passion for biological sciences, though she was initially unsure of her concentration in this subject. After being exposed to a combination of research opportunities, policy perspectives, interdisciplinary courses as well as “an emphasis on problem-solving and health disparities,” Dammer chose to major in biology of global health. 

“The professors in the biology department are great at exposing students to academic options during freshman year and introducing us to older students that have taken different paths within the department,” Dammer says. “Some of these classes introduced me to the STIA minor, and I am grateful I took the opportunity to be part of the SFS while still getting a liberal arts education from the ������̳.”

In her final semester at Georgetown, Dammer worked with Claire Standley, Ph.D. and professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology through the Georgetown University Global Health Initiative’s student fellowship program. 

Dammer and Standley collaborated on biosecurity and infectious disease research, focusing on epidemic interventions in conflict areas. Specifically, Dammer conducted a scoping review of how vaccine campaigns have been used for outbreak response in conflict-affected settings in Africa.

“Katie is an extremely poised and self-assured student, with an obvious passion for international relations and security studies,” Standley says. “She soundly demonstrated her intellectual curiosity and creativity of thought through the course of her Global Health Initiative fellowship. I wish her the very best in her future academic endeavors!”

While in this research position and through classes and internships, Dammer also worked with Rebecca Katz, Ph.D. and director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University Medical Center, where she was able to apply her knowledge and research skills to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Katie worked with the Center on collecting and coding data on the COVID-19 mitigation policies implemented globally during the pandemic, in addition to deep-dive analysis on special topics,” Katz explains. “She was able to quickly adapt to fast-moving requests and continually provided quality work despite balancing her coursework and training.” 

In addition to research alongside Georgetown’s faculty, Dammer also found mentors and friends through cross country including chaplain for athletics Tony Mazurkiewicz, who she says “provides programming, leadership and spiritual development for myself and other student-athletes” as well as her coach Mitchell Baker, who helped her “chase my athletic goals while also helping my teammates and I develop leadership and self-awareness outside of sports.”

“My most influential activity has definitely been competing for Georgetown in cross country and track and field,” Dammer continues. “Being a student-athlete is such a fun and challenging experience, and the community and friendship with my teammates helped me stay positive and goal-oriented during our time apart.”

Other Activities on Campus

In addition to running and conducting research, Dammer is also a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Georgetown Christian Athletes, and Catholic ministry. 

Outside of the Georgetown community, Dammer and some friends from across the country run The Oval Magazine, a crowd-sourced distance running website and magazine that they founded in April 2020 when our sport was completely shut down for the pandemic.

After graduating, Dammer will stay on the Hilltop to complete a masters in Security Studies. She says that she selected this program because she wanted a program that would not only expand her interests and knowledge base, but would enable her to concentrate on the security and policy realm. 

“My interests in global health have evolved a lot since the pandemic started, and my internship and class experiences over that time have emphasized the importance of communication and interdisciplinary skills and solutions in crises,” Dammer says. “I hope to learn more about health as a facet of security, as well as other aspects like counterterrorism, intelligence, and nuclear nonproliferation that I have less experience with, to work towards in a career where science and policy overlap. SSP has interesting courses and an amazing reputation for professors, peers and career opportunities and connections.”

In addition to staying at Georgetown for another two years, Dammer will also be able to continue running for the track and cross-country team through 2023.

“I strongly believe that the ������̳ and the Beeck Center are valuable environments to cultivate my diverse interests,” says Ras-Work. “I don’t know what the future holds, but I know I’m well-equipped to meet it after my time at the Beeck Center.”

Ethan Fan (C’24)

Major: Biology of Global Health and Economics

Hometown: Columbia, Maryland

What inspired you to apply to the Beeck Center?

I was inspired to apply to the Beeck Center because of its mission centered around social impact through technology. I believe the field of data has a lot of potential and can be used to help underserved communities. I am also interested in connecting technology to modernize policy work and research. 

What research are you working on while there?

I am a student analyst part of the State Chief Data Officers Network Project. For my role, I research different fundamental state open data sets, create assessment criteria for those data sets and analyze them based on those criteria. I will be researching these 11 foundational datasets highlighted in a previous Beeck publication, Open Data for Economic Recovery, for all fifty states and compiling an aggregated way to display the research I have done.

What career development skills do you hope to gain while there? How does the Beeck Center help you achieve your career goals?

I hope to learn more about what makes data so important, why governments are behind in modernizing their platforms and how I can apply data to any research I do on a daily basis. At the Beeck Center, I have learned how to access and find any level of state spatial map data or numerical datasets that are published for transparency purposes. I have also learned common skills used in Airtable and Tableau platforms. I have learned more about my interested career field of health care, its increasing costs and common issues underserved communities face regarding healthcare. 

How does this help you with your work for the Beeck Center?

The Beeck Center has been very helpful in helping guide me toward the right field of work and the impact I hope to create with my major. A part of the student analyst program involves career development and workshops. In these events, we are asked to research more about what interests us in social impact and for me it is health care. Some assignments have asked me to keep up with the news in the healthcare field, some of the major problems arising in the field and finding data that could help address those problems. I think the skills learned from these assignments will help me in any field related to my major, whether that be research, non-profit work, or healthcare insurance. 

Katie Hawkinson (C’23)

Major: History, minor in Global Medieval Studies

Hometown: Spokane, Washington

What inspired you to apply to the Beeck Center?

I applied to the Beeck Center because I am passionate about making innovative thinking accessible to the public. As a Storytelling and Editorial Content Analyst, I will get the chance to learn more about the amazing work Beeck Center researchers are doing to evoke social change while making their findings digestible and interesting for the world.

What research are you working on while there?

I have a slightly different role than other students, as I am focused on communications rather than research. That means I take the amazing research that my coworkers have done and boil it down into parts that we can present to the public. I write blog posts for our website, craft Twitter and LinkedIn posts and I am even helping with the layout and design of reports. My job is really special to me because I get to engage with all the work done here at the Beeck Center.

What career development skills do you hope to gain while there? How does the Beeck Center help you achieve your career goals?

While working on communications at the Beeck Center, I hope to learn how to be a human-centered, ethical storyteller. No matter where I end up after graduation, being a strong writer with experience in storytelling will serve me well.

How does your major help you with your work for the Beeck Center?

As a humanities major, the bulk of my coursework and assessments are writing-based. Specifically, as a historian, I find myself studying the stories of civilizations, institutions and communities, trying to make sense of how each component of society worked together to create the historical record. In a way, I’m doing something very similar here at the Beeck Center — I take these amazing, technical reports written by our phenomenal staff and try to piece together how each step of their project matters to the larger picture, as well as how we can help the general public understand the significance of this work. In both my role as a student and as an analyst, I have the opportunity to find the most important pieces of complex processes and convey them clearly to others in an effort to spread knowledge and understanding.

Zega Ras- Work (C’23)

Major: Political Economy, minor Environmental Studies

Hometown: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

What inspired you to apply to the Beeck Center?

I often find that data and technology enthusiasts overlook the importance of public policy for achieving innovation, and public policy people underrate the importance of data and technology for achieving broader societal goals. The Beeck Center lies right at the intersection of these worlds. I applied to Beeck to get involved with the emerging field of public interest technology, and I now see that the potential for innovation to address public needs including disease, food systems, poverty and inequality, and more is limitless.

What research are you working on while there?

At the Beeck Center, I work on the Data Labs project, which focuses on helping state governments leverage data for economic recovery from the pandemic. On that project I do qualitative research, identifying and sharing best practices on how states have already addressed key policy issues through data-informed decision-making. I am also starting to do quantitative work on our Chief Data Officers Network, normalizing program data and presenting it through forms of visualization. As a technical assistant, I also do smaller, issue-specific research assignments to support our program managers.

What career development skills do you hope to gain while there? How does the Beeck Center help you achieve your career goals?

I’m gaining some hard skills that involve working with data, as well as hopefully soon getting experience with some legal aspects of our work including contract-making, data sharing, and inter-organizational collaboration. I hope to also build on my teamwork skills as well as grow as a leader and communicator. The Center offers student analysts abundant mentorship opportunities with our supervisors and the Fellows, in addition to regular career development workshops that nurture skill building. I am also creating a valuable network here.

How has your major helped you with your work for the Beeck Center?

My economics major has been useful in a lot of my research pertaining to analyzing government interventions in different policy areas and some of the quantitative work I’m doing. I’m fortunate that the ������̳ has a top-tier economics department, where a lot of the courses I’ve taken have shaped my way of thinking in one way or another. I find that I’m frequently able to draw from theoretical frameworks and concepts that I’ve learned in class and apply them to the work I do now.

In my time at Georgetown, through academics, extracurriculars, and some of my work experience, I’ve developed a passion for environmental issues, especially energy systems sustainability and climate change. My work at Beeck has really piqued my interest in applications of data in the global clean energy transition, particularly in relation to energy resource data and geographic information systems. I’m curious about how high-quality data can be used with analytical methods and models to inform investment decisions and power sector planning in a way that is just and equitable.