Award Recipients

2012-13

Miguel de Corral, SSH’13, international affairs major; Arabic, political science, and history minors. International co-ops in Rome at the NATO Defense College, and in Geneva at the Geneva Forum.
With four Dialogues of Civilizations, two international co-ops, and two international field-research projects, Miguel’s undergraduate experience has spanned 16 countries, truly embodying the university’s spirit of global exploration. His studies fostered his passion for diplomacy and humanitarian action, and his co-ops enabled him to delve into security and disarmament research at two prestigious international organizations. A prolific scholar, he has been published twice in an independent European policy journal. Miguel has his sights set on earning master’s and doctorate degrees in the field of international relations, and pursuing a career as a diplomat for NATO or the European Union.

Caitlin Ferguson, AMD’13, communication studies major, global social entrepreneurship minor. International co-op in Hubli, India, with the Deshpande Foundation.
Caitlin used her experiential opportunities at Northeastern to launch her effort to help alleviate global poverty through
entrepreneurship. Co-ops with social innovation nonprofits Root Cause, in Boston, and the Deshpande Foundation, in India, as well as a Social Enterprise Institute field study, in Cape Town, South Africa, allowed her to lift up young entrepreneurs through hands-on business mentoring and service projects. She further sharpened her global skillset by becoming conversant in the Hindi language while studying abroad in Jaipur, India, under a full U.S. Department of State scholarship. Caitlin has applied for fellowships in India, and intends to continue to work in the developing
world before pursuing a master’s degree in social enterprise or international development.

2011-12

Sarah Hodsdon, SSH’12, international affairs major, global social entrepreneurship and Chinese minors. International co-op in Dhaka, Bangladesh, with Grameen Bank.
Sarah has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to cultivating opportunities for small business owners to lift themselves out of poverty. Through field studies in Belize, the Dominican Republic, and South Africa, she helped monitor the impact of programs run by microfinance institutions. While on co-op at Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, she did self-directed research that led to a well-received technical report on Grameen’s microfinance model; her findings are pending publication.

Megan Kassick, S’12, biology major, sociology minor. International co-op in Navi Mumbai, India, at the Tata Memorial Centre’s Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research, and Education in Cancer.
Megan, who will enter Tufts University School of Medicine in the fall, spent a 2010 co-op in Jodhpur, India, working with the Foundation for Sustainable Development and assisting with childcare for orphaned, HIV-infected children. The experience solidified her interest in global public health, leading to a subsequent research co-op in Mumbai, where she focused on the genetics of breast cancer. Both co-ops—plus a Dialogue of Civilizations in Kenya—helped move her closer to her goal of practicing global medicine and serving people in developing areas as a physician and public-health specialist.

2010-11

Kaitlin Ostrander, BHS'11, health sciences. International co-op in Chigamba Village; Malawi, Africa; at the Little Field Home Orphanage

Sarah Tishler, SSH'11, international affairs, psychology, and French. International co-op in Geneva, Switzerland, at the Geneva Centre for security policy