Each of our undergraduate fellows works together with a graduate student mentor on a project in international studies. Meet our current fellows here:
Gurbir Singh
Gurbir is a senior studying Political Science with a minor in Human Rights. His academic interests broadly include international politics, human rights, and international/domestic public policy. He is currently writing a thesis investigating the impact of hegemonic withdrawal on the resilience of international organizations. Gurbir has also done research on the impact of the climate crisis on global migration and the emerging refugee crisis. He plans to work in government risk analysis after graduation, before eventually going to law school. Outside of his academic interests, Gurbir competes on UC Berkeley’s nationally ranked Mock Trial team, is an amateur artist, and spends his free time cooking for friends and family.
Tanya Tandon
Tanya is a senior at UC Berkeley majoring in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations and double minoring in Public Policy and Human Rights. On campus, Tanya served as the President of the Association for Socially Responsible Business. Before coming to UC Berkeley, Tanya worked in the nonprofit sector at RESULTS in advocacy and legislative work. Her previous experience focused on international sustainable development with the US Green Chamber of Commerce, as well as inclusive sustainable tourism and CSR at Taj Indian Hotels Company Limited in Mumbai through the Tata Social Internship Program. Tanya will be working on regulatory and compliance affairs in cybersecurity and privacy consulting at PwC upon graduating college before pursuing her law degree. Tanya is also founding KINCHIN, her startup for maternal healthcare access. Eventually, Tanya aims to work with sexual and domestic violence survivors through economic empowerment and legal accessibility. She is currently working on her senior honors thesis which examines access to legal remedy in Northeast India for gender based violence survivors as this is her biggest passion. This is her second year as a CPD fellow, and she is excited to grow her research skills and learn even more!
Julia Tjan
Julia is a third year student from the East Bay Area majoring in Political Economy with a concentration in International Trade & Development and minoring in Public Policy. She has served as a Research Assistant for Dr. Aila Matanock’s Constitutions Project sponsored by the Defense Department’s Minerva Initiative on the legal framework of security institutions and violent instability in developing countries for over a year. Currently, she is a Business and Economic Consulting intern at SGI LLC., a DC firm that specializes in environmental sustainability and evolutionary economic consulting. Her academic interests include studying the intersection of economics & law, comparative market systems, the historical trajectory of industrialization, international trade policy, as well as human rights and social contract theory. Julia is also a member of Sigma Alpha Nu, a pre-law fraternity on campus and has served as both the External Affairs Vice President and Philanthropy Chair. She hopes to pursue a career in the realm of policy research before heading to law school.
Mitali Yadav
Mitali is a third-year from Mumbai, India. She is majoring in Data Science with a concentration in Business and Industrial Analytics. At Berkeley, she is the captain of Maya At Cal, UC Berkeley’s premier Indian classical dance fusion team, and a part of the Education Committee of the Student Association for Applied Statistics. In the future, Mitali hopes to work in the industry before applying for a Master’s in Data Science.
Wendy Zhou
Wendy is a junior from Alameda, CA studying Political Economy and Public Policy, with a concentration in development economics. Her academic interests center around the modernization of the Four Asian Tigers, rural-to-urban migration, and the efficacy of China’s poverty alleviation campaign on improving intergenerational mobility and quality of life. Wendy is passionate about democratization and human rights. While attending the University of Hong Kong in Summer ‘19, she engaged with the increasingly volatile Hong Kong politics and participated in pro-democracy protests. She currently conducts open-source investigations on human rights violations for the Human Rights Center. Beyond research, she's active in the Berkeley Forum—facilitating topical and diverse civil discourse within the university. Wendy hopes to pursue a PhD in Economics and conduct development research abroad.