Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Mason students help the environment with sustainability summer fellowships

Colleen Rich — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 14:33:15 +0000

Mason students help the environment with sustainability summer fellowships Colleen Rich Tue, 09/13/2022 - 10:33

Mason doctoral student Sri Saahitya Uppalapati takes questions following her virtual presentation on her work with Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action.

George Mason University doctoral and graduate students helped the environment, nonprofit organizations and the local community with summer projects through the Sustainability Summer Graduate Research Fellowships. This summer marked the first time Mason’s Institute for a Sustainable Earth (ISE) has offered the fellowship program.

Thanks to a unique collaboration between ISE and the Office of Graduate Education, eight student fellows received funding to research a variety of topics, including solid waste reduction strategies and helping Fairfax County’s goals of cutting greenhouse gas emissions. A video presentation of their final projects can be found here.

“Our students were able to offer organizations and the community their cutting-edge research skills,” said Jeremy Campbell, ISE’s associate director of strategic engagement. “The students benefited from the fellowships by getting real-world experiences early on in their graduate careers and seeing their research make a difference.”

Campbell emphasized the importance of the partner organizations participating in the program and said that he planned to continue the summer fellowships, as well as further develop partnerships with local government entities, nonprofit organizations and other outside groups. He also said that students participating in the fellowship program were able to network in their field of interest.

All of the participating students except one are pursuing doctorates. The students came from a variety of study areas, including sociology and conflict analysis and resolution.

A chart from Mason doctoral student Shawn Smith's presentation.

Sri Saahitya Uppalapati, who is pursuing a PhD in communication in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, worked on building communications materials for Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action about the impact of the climate crisis on health in Virginia.

“It was inspiring to be surrounded by such dedicated and committed folks who truly care about the intersection of climate and health,” Uppalapati said.

Bradley Gay, a doctoral student in earth systems and geoinformation sciences in the College of Science, partnered with Blake Vullo, doctoral student in sociology in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, to work on Future Earth’s Global Food Program. Gay studied land use change using global remote sensing data analysis. The results of his study will help push for policy that is backed up by data, Gay said.

“I appreciated the chance to study something that I’m interested in that also will be hopefully extremely helpful in policy change,” Gay said. “It was a great opportunity.”

Other students and their projects included:

Arvind Geetha Christo, doctoral student in sociology, worked on conservation and environmental justice in South Asia, partnering with the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security program.

Ashton Rohmer, doctoral student in conflict analysis and resolution at the Carter School, tackled the sustainability aspects of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill with the Office of the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Stacy Lynn Yike, master’s student in environmental science and policy, looked at solid waste reduction strategies in the context of Fairfax County’s climate action plan with the Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions.

Shawn Smith, doctoral student in environmental science and policy, researched air and water pollution, environmental health, and public policy, with the Sierra Club, Virginia Chapter.

Dhruv Deepak, doctoral student in sociology, worked on globally diverse forms of community-level sustainability paradigms as part of Future Earth’s Program on Systems of Sustainable Consumption and Production.

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After living in refugee camps for eight years, Mason student strives for peace in Burundi

Mariam Aburdeineh — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 18:57:00 +0000

After living in refugee camps for eight years, Mason student strives for peace in Burundi Mariam Aburdeineh Thu, 11/04/2021 - 14:57

First-generation college student, Isidore Nsengiyumva. Photo provided.

Isidore Nsengiyumva, only four years old at the time, was in the fields with his father and older brother in Burundi, when suddenly they heard the sound of motors and guns. Troops involved in the country’s civil war attacked their village, and rapidly, their lives were changed.

“We hid in a bush, and when the noise of the guns and fighting subsided, we went back and found our home burned,” Nsengiyumva said. “That’s when my dad decided it was no longer safe.”

The family fled to a commune for shelter, Nsengiyumva said. A few months later, his father found someone to take them to Tanzania, where they lived in refugee camps from 1996 to 2004.

“Going through civil war and many other atrocities, we’ve seen the hand of military institutions [when they dismiss their duties] to protect the integrity, territory and people of Burundi,” Nsengiyumva said, adding that some extended family did not survive the refugee journey.

Nsengiyumva's father. "My dad has a primary school education and later trained as a mason," Nsengiyumva said. "He used his skills extensively in the refugee camps in Tanzania to build houses for local populations. He taught me the power of hope, love of family and resilience in the face of adversity."

“I want to contribute to a more peaceful Burundi where uniformed personnel discharge their roles for the good of everyone,” he said. “I’m hoping with my education at [George Mason University] and the skills I learn in the mass atrocity and genocide prevention [graduate program], I can contribute to enlightening my colleagues, and in that way, contribute to keeping peace.”

Nsengiyumva, an officer in the Burundi National Defense Force, is a Charles E. Scheidt Fellow at the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution. He said he’s taking his courses online from Kenya, and is grateful for the opportunity.

“I’m learning with people from diverse backgrounds all over the world, and get to share my experiences,” he said, mentioning the school’s global prestige. “I’m not sure I could have that opportunity any other way—Mason gives me that.”

Nsengiyumva said joining the military was his childhood dream, as boys in the refugee camps were taught a love of country. It was also his ticket to education, the first-generation college student said.

Some of Nsengiyumva’s educational opportunities included studying at the University of Burundi, earning a scholarship to study engineering in Ethiopia, and a scholarship from the African Union to pursue a graduate degree in electrical engineering at the Pan-African University (PAU).

He said he learned about Mason at PAU, and the Carter School is likewise opening doors for him.

In particular, Nsengiyumva said he’s learning mediation and facilitation skills, which have practical applications for his professional and personal life.

“Isidore approaches each subject with curiosity, is supportive of his co-learners, and is able to apply theory to practice,” said Mason adjunct professor Jeanne Zimmer. “His background and experience coupled with his learnings through Mason will enable him to effect social-justice change on the micro and macro levels.”

Outside of class, Nsengiyumva said being a first-generation student and his experiences have taught him a lot, including a lesson on hope and never giving up, which his father helped instill in him.

“Nsengiyumva means ‘God hears,’” he said. “Not only going to Mason, but having made it as far as I have, I feel I’ve had the grace of God throughout—it’s given me confidence that whatever my mind conceives, I can probably achieve.”

From left to right: Nsengiyumva's Aunt Anesie and his mother in 2019. "My mom did not have a formal education, was only trained in embroidery, and later gave it up to focus on farming and household responsibilities," Nsengiyumva said. "The most important lesson from her was that I need only two things in life: good health and peace of mind--amahoro, we call it in Kirundi."

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Double Mason alum leads Africa Center at the U.S. Institute of Peace

Mariam Aburdeineh — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 20:09:20 +0000

Double Mason alum leads Africa Center at the U.S. Institute of Peace Mariam Aburdeineh Mon, 04/05/2021 - 16:09

In This Story

Terrence Lyons

Joseph Sany was named one of the vice presidents of the United States Institute of Peace, where he leads the Africa Center. Photo provided.

Growing up in the slums of Cameroon, Joseph Sany said he witnessed urban violence and police oppression regularly. He heard about genocide in Rwanda, and he saw more violence firsthand when he worked with NGOs and visited countries like Liberia and Sierra Leone during civil war.

“What drives me is making sure that at the end of the day, everything I did, I helped a woman, a man, a child live in a community where they don’t have to worry about violence,” said Sany, who earned his master’s in conflict analysis and resolution (’05) and his PhD (’13) in public policy from George Mason University.

In October 2020, Sany was named one of the vice presidents of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), where he leads the Africa Center, following a more than 20-year career working at the forefront of peacebuilding with civil society, governments, businesses, and international organizations in Africa.

Sany and his colleagues at the center, which is committed to peace and security in Africa, regularly meet with and inform U.S. policymakers, including the U.S Congress, he said.

“It’s about, how do we listen to African voices? How do we work with our African partners in that spirit of humility and co-learning?” Sany said, adding that the center informs policies and shapes peacebuilding practice by supporting those working on the front lines of conflict in Africa.

Whether it was training thousands of peacekeepers in Africa on conflict resolution, advising diplomats of the Economic Community of Central African States with USIP, or providing guidance to multimillion-dollar peacebuilding and civil society development programs in Africa and Asia with the nonprofit FHI 360, Sany said Mason laid the foundation for his success.

“The [Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution] allowed me to think through the issues in a systematic way and find approaches to frame them to facilitate the emergence of conflict sensitive solutions,” he said, adding that his public policy degree also provided insight and a foundation for his policy work.

Originally drawn to the school because of its reputation as a leader in conflict resolution, Sany said he also benefited from learning from Mason professors who are peace practitioners with real-world experience, and from international classmates who contributed diverse and inspiring perspectives to class discussions.

“Sany was always probing and seeking fresh answers to the complex challenges of conflict analysis and resolution, with a particular passion for the potential for a peaceful Africa,” said Carter School professor Terrence Lyons. Sany said Lyons served as a mentor to him and provided connections that led to his first contract as a consultant in the conflict resolution field.

“What made [Sany] stand out was how he straddled the worlds of grassroots everyday peacebuilding and the graduate seminar, always looking to understand how the two can be linked in order to build a more just world,” Lyons said “His well-deserved position at the USIP will allow him to continue that work and to make sure we never ignore those working in the trenches to build peace in Africa.”

“Most of my classmates are now out there in the world making a difference because we were exposed to solid theoretical foundations, the world of work, the nature of the international cohort, and the proximity to Washington, D.C.,” Sany said. “That is a winning combo.”

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