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Workshops in the News
June 2012
Capstone Report Published as a Special Report for Morgan Stanley – What Can We Expect From Greece?
In June 2012, a Capstone team’s final report was published and widely distributed in a Morgan Stanley Smith Barney’s Global Investment Committee special report, What Can We Expect From Greece?. The report outlines the potential challenges for Greece, the Euro Zone, and worldwide investors in the midst of the European debt crisis. The report can be found on the client [Morgan Stanley]'s webpage here.
The SIPA Capstone student team – Ayse Isilak, Dana Pasternak, Deepika Sharma, Sandra Halilovic, Sun Hee Won, Takuya Shimomura, and Vanessa Singh – and Professor Alicia Ogawa worked in collaboration with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney to produce the report throughout the spring 2012 semester.
May 2012
Capstone Team Earns Gitelson Award and Mention in the Press –
Advocating Ugandan Oil Legislation
The Capstone team with ACODE's Godber Tumushabe and Tony Otoa in Kampala. Photograph by Chitrangada Choudhury.
The Capstone team – Chitrangada Choudhury, Nithin Coca, Marie-Paule Jeansonne, Kazumi Kawamoto, Frithiof Wilhelmsen, Frazer Lanier, Ida Dokk Smith, Sri Swaminathan, under the guidance of Professor Jenik Radon, was honored at the SIPA 2012 graduation ceremony with the Dr. Susan Aurelia Gitelson Award for Human Values in International Affairs.
Under the supervision of the Capstone client Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) – a Uganda-based advocacy think tank, the Capstone team and faculty advisor’s report, Oil: Uganda’s Opportunity for Prosperity, outlines policy recommendations for Uganda in legislating oil while avoiding the “resource curse” that has plagued its neighboring countries. The team conducted field research in Uganda where they had the opportunity to present their recommendations to 15 members of the Uganda Parliament's Natural Resource Committee, in addition to international donors, foreign embassies, individuals from the Uganda government ministries, and other members of Parliament.
The Capstone team’s work in Uganda has also garnered various press attention; their research has been mentioned in The Independent, The Daily Monitor, and various other local media outlets. To read some of the articles, please see http://www.independent.co.ug/cover-story/5427-parliament-to-pass-weak-laws-on-oil and http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1362986/-/axdvl9z/-/.
The final report can be found on the client's website here.
The annual Dr. Susan Aurelia Gitelson Award for Human Values in International Affairs, an award in memory of Moses Leo Gitelson, is given to SIPA student(s) for scholarship relating to human values in international affairs.
February 2012
Capstone Team Wins the 2012 Leous/Parry Award –
Scaling Up Clean Energy Enterprises in Rural Haiti
The 2012 Leous/Parry Award for Progressive Sustainability was awarded to the 12-student Capstone team – Nicholas Culver, Haya Dweidary, Harry Guinness, Michael McCullogh, Michelle Moghtader, Sofia Villarreal Mora, Justine Eldridge Otero, Larcus Pickett, Gifty Sekyere, Anu Shetty, Tamara Tschentscher, Nigel Wallace. Advised by Professor Ellen Morris and Professor Philip LaRocco, the team consulted EarthSpark International in promoting sustainable, energy-saving products (such as solar light bulbs and solar home systems) and alleviating energy poverty in Haiti.
The award was created by two SIPA alumni, J.P. Leous and Neal Parry, to support interdisciplinary approaches to protecting the environment and promoting sustainable development.
January 2012
Report Catches Attention of Mexican Congress –
Tracking Money Laundering between the U.S. and Mexico
The Capstone report by a student team and their client, Global Financial Integrity, caught the attention of the Mexican Congress. The research in Money Laundering: Bi-national Indicators and Government Actions (“Lavado de dinero: indicadores y acciones de gobierno binacionales”) has been used and widely published by the Mexico’s Public Opinion Research Center Social and Public Opinion (CESOP) of the Mexican House of Representatives (“Camara de Diputados”).
This study on illegal money laundering between the U.S. and Mexico reveals that $196 million USD has been laundered between the countries, and forty percent of the money laundered is the result of drug-trafficking.
CESOP’s reference of this research has been mentioned in numerous local press and blogs since its release. On April 16, 2012, Gabriel Fernandez Espejel, Researcher at CESOP, spoke about the report on the Mexican television show Informativo 40 Edición de la Noche. For the video clip, click here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZj7XEmDgxo).
For press mentions, click see the following:
- CESOP’s blog
http://cesop.blogspot.com/2012/03/lavado-de-dinero-indicadores-y-acciones.html - Eleconomista
http://eleconomista.com.mx/sociedad/2012/04/07/calculan-que-narcotrafico-lava-10000-mdd-mexico - Nterate de Todohttp://nteratedetodo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3566:narcotrafico-lava-10-mmdd-al-ano-en-mexico&catid=35:nacional&Itemid=63
- InSight – Organized Crime in the Americas
http://www.insightcrime.org/ - Milenio
http://www.milenio.com/cdb/doc/impreso/914246 - Enlace Mexicohttp://www.enlacemexico.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3297&Itemid=86
The workshop team comprised SIPA students Nicolas Brien, Kim Danh, Maria Fernanda Estrada, Julieta Mejía Ibáñez, Max Risch and Maureen Tee, with faculty advisor JaeBin Ahn. The full report can be read here.
July 2010
Team Presents at the Migration Policy Institute Briefing –
Reassessing US Refugee Resettlement Policies
In collaboration with the International Rescue Committee, the SIPA Capstone team presented their report on refugee resettlement in the United States at a briefing at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, DC.
Their presentation of their final report, “Refugee Resettlement in the United States: An Examination of Challenges and Proposed Solutions,” reviews the current refugee resettlement program and offers recommendations for the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program in better serving current and future resettled refugees. The video of their presentation can be viewed here: http://vimeo.com/13708548.
The final report can be read here.
May 2009
Brazilian Mining Project Wins 2009 Leous/Parry Award
The student team of Noelia Cornejo, Claire Kells, Tania Ortiz de Zuniga, Stacey Roen and Brandon Thompson won the 2009 Leous/Parry Award for Progressive Sustainability for its work on promoting social dialogue on the impacts of mining company operations in Pará, Brazil. The team partnered with the Instituto Observatório Social (IOS) and Centro de Estudos das Negociações Internacionais (CAENI) to study the mining of bauxite, from which aluminum is derived.
The award was created by two SIPA alumni, J.P. Leous and Neal Parry, to support interdisciplinary approaches to protecting the environment and promoting sustainable development.
February 2009
Bamboo Bike Project
A student research team - Kat Athanasiades, Michelle Eames, Riham Hussein, and Young Rhee - has partnered with the UN Millennium Cities Initiative to assess the feasibility of growing a bamboo bike-building industry in Kenya.
January 2009
Workshop Students Take First Place
UNICEF and six students from SIPA's workshop in development practice won first place in USAID’s “Development 2.0 Challenge.” The award recognizes an innovative system using mobile phones and text messages to monitor children's health in Malawi.
View a slide show here.
Read an article from Communiqué. 
Read more about the project from UNICEF here.