Cole Daubney is from a small town outside of the city of Buffalo, a place where is pursued his education in Political Science at the University at Buffalo. His studies focused heavily on Civil Conflict, International Relations, and Election Behavior, and Russian Politics. Cole directly assisted the Eurasia Center as an intern through the SUNY Washington DC study abroad program, and he continues to provide assistance from New York as an Associate. He has a strong interest in International Security, Central Asia, the Middle East, and supporting International Relations through Cultural Exchange.

My name is Ariel Minoso; I am currently a senior at the State University of New York at Potsdam. At Potsdam I study International Relations/Affairs and Political Science with a concentration in International Conflict and Peace Keeping. Last semester and this semester I am gaining interest in immigrants and how they affect the host and destination countries. Especially refugees, the summer of 2016 I was a research assistant for the Eurasia Center and conducted a Eurasia brief on the current Syrian refugee crisis and how the European Union and Turkey are involved in this issue.

I am now an associate for the Eurasia Center with great interest to the Civil Society program, as I have a concentration of International Conflict and Peace Keeping. I want to continue to research and promote tolerance across the globe for the Eurasia Center with my rising interest of how immigrants impact the international sphere through integration, acculturalization, and multinational means. As well as prepare for upcoming programs and events that promote universal tolerance for the Eurasia Center.

Natalia Bertuol from Santiago, Chile is a sophomore at Georgetown University pursuing a major in Russian and a minor in Russian Literature and Culture in Translation, as well as a certificate in Eastern and Central European studies. She is bilingual in Spanish and English, and is currently at an intermediate level of Russian proficiency. Her varied interests include the development of Russian and Soviet musical and literary traditions, international politics and history, and Latin American literature. She plans to study abroad in Russia for her junior year. Natalia plays the violin with the Georgetown University Orchestra and enjoys following the Copa America.

During her time at the Eurasia Center, first as a research assistant and currently as an associate, Natalia has had the opportunity to explore the application of her studies in both governmental and NGO environments. This has included planning and attending conferences hosted both by the Eurasia Center and by other organisations, interacting with foreign diplomats and business people in professional settings, and researching and writing briefs on current events. Natalia hopes to pursue a PhD in Russian Literature and Cultural Studies.

Grant Stanford is a senior at George Washington University from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He is majoring in international relations with a concentration in Europe and Eurasia, as well as minoring in Russian language and literature. He has also participated in a study abroad program in Moscow at the International University in Moscow where he studied Russian language and culture in Russian. Grant is interested in foreign relations with Russia, the former Soviet states and Eastern Europe. Additionally, he is a member of the GW Russian speakers club.

Grant has researched and written several country reports varying from Latvia to Iran to Taiwan. He has developed social media accounts for the Eurasia Center and currently runs them. He has written about the tense relationship between Russia and NATO and worked on Eurasia Center events. He has also written grant proposals in accordance with the development of the Eurasia Center’s Russia Program.

Bill Stewart is a native Washingtonian who joined the Eurasia Center in October, 2016. Having had a strong interest in politics and International Relations since his youth, he obtained his BA in May 2016 from the Croft Institute of International Studies at the University of Mississippi. His majored in International Studies with a regional focus on Europe and a thematic focus on International Governance and Politics and minored in German. He spent spring and summer of 2015 studying at the Universität Potsdam in Potsdam, Germany. For his senior thesis Bill wrote about NATO-Russia relations since the disintegration of the Soviet Union. In addition to speaking capable German, he also has an understanding of French and Russian.

Bill’s area of interest is the study of international competition, specifically between Russia and the West (US, NATO, EU etc.) and also how the interests of leaders, as opposed to the interest of their countries, affect foreign policy. However, he studies and follows events globally such as the South China Sea and the India-Pakistan conflict. The two conflicts he follows most intensely are Ukraine and Syria because of the implications for American interests. Currently he is doing research for a report on Russia’s return to the Middle East after several decades of absence, specifically its involvement in the Syrian war, and how it could affect both the Middle East and US hegemony in that region.