Migrations Program
Information Session: Fulbright U.S. Student Program
November 17, 2025
4:45 pm
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program supports U.S. citizens to study, conduct research in any field, or teach English in more than 150 countries. The program is open to graduate students, recent graduates, and young professionals. Undergraduate students who wish to begin the program immediately after graduation are encouraged to start the process in their junior year. Recent graduates are welcome to apply through Cornell.
The Fulbright program at Cornell is administered by the Mario Einaudi Center for International studies. Applicants are supported through all stages of the application and are encouraged to start early by contacting fulbright@einaudi.cornell.edu.
Register for the virtual session.
Can’t attend? Contact fulbright@einaudi.cornell.edu.
Additional Information
Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
East Asia Program
Southeast Asia Program
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Institute for European Studies
South Asia Program
Migrations Program
Institute for African Development
Southwest Asia and North Africa Program
Is (Cutting) International Aid Good?
October 22, 2025
5:00 pm
Goldwin Smith Hall, G76, Lewis Auditorium
Lund Critical Debate
Since January 2025, the United States has slashed billions in international aid—and effectively dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), responsible for administering U.S. development and humanitarian aid around the world. In what has become the largest restructuring of aid in the nation’s history, thousands of UN-administered programs have also lost funding, disrupting critical programs and services, breaking supply chains, and leading to widespread closures and layoffs.
These sweeping cuts affect food security, global health, democratic governance, and more—and the stakes have never been higher. As the landscape of international aid evolves, the world faces new questions about the impact of aid on communities, what makes international aid effective—and how to move forward.
This year's Lund debate from the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies brings together policy and practice experts for an unfiltered look at the future of international aid. Join Einaudi Center faculty Chris Barrett (Dyson/Brooks) and Muna Ndulo (Law) as they tackle these questions: Who benefits from aid? Do some types of aid work better than others? Should we pursue new approaches to international development? What are the best ways to take strategic action in the world while investing in America’s security, economy, and global position?
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Interested in attending? Complete this RSVP.
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Panelists
Chris Barrett is the Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management in the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management and a professor in the Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy. He is coeditor-in-chief of the journal Food Policy and a frequent commentator and policy advisor on food security and agricultural economics. Barrett won the USAID Science and Technology Pioneers Prize (2013), among many other awards for research, teaching, and public outreach. Read recent Chronicle coverage of Barrett's research.
Muna Ndulo is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of International and Comparative Law at Cornell Law School and an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of constitution making, governance and institution building, international criminal law, African legal systems, and human rights. Ndulo has served as consultant to the African Development Bank, World Bank, Economic Commission for Africa, United Nations Development Program, and other international organizations. He led the Einaudi Center's Institute for African Development from 2001 to 2020.
Moderator
Paul Kaiser is the Einaudi Center's practitioner in residence in fall 2025. Kaiser has extensive experience in international development, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Pacific Islands. His career spans roles at USAID, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and World Bank. Previously, Kaiser taught political science and African studies at Mississippi State University and the University of Pennsylvania.
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About the Debate
The Lund Critical Debate is a signature event of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies. Established in 2008, Einaudi's Lund Debate series is made possible by the generosity of Judith Lund Biggs '57.
Additional Information
Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies
East Asia Program
Southeast Asia Program
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Institute for African Development
Institute for European Studies
South Asia Program
Migrations Program
Southwest Asia and North Africa Program
Yichen Wang
Migrations Graduate Fellow
Yichen Wang studies how migrants’ social connections—both offline and online—shape well-being and health in new environments. Her work examines how digital use transfers into emotional fulfillment, the role of social networks, and the protective power of social support. By linking social relationships to mental and physical health, she provides insights into cultivating belonging and resilience in migrant communities.
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Waleska Solorzano
Migrations Graduate Fellow
Waleska Solorzano is a PhD candidate in Latin American studies. Her interdisciplinary research revolves around questions of aesthetics, domestic culture, migration, ontology, oral histories and testimonies, and the politics of representation. She examines how desires for familial belonging and the spatial dynamics of community-building proliferate within Venezuela and the diaspora through contemporary artistic practices and productions.
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Vicente Mata
Migrations Graduate Fellow
Vicente Mata’s research examines how broader geopolitical trends in which humanitarianism is co-opted by state and political interests, has historically and contemporarily, shaped political discourse on immigration and restrictive anti-immigrant policies at the U.S.-Mexico border.
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Trifosa Iin Simamora
Migrations Graduate Fellow
Trifosa Iin Simamora studies the impact of renewable energy development on migratory grassland birds in New York State. Her work assesses how the expansion of solar farms displaces the habitat of vulnerable grassland bird species and develops conservation strategies in collaboration with agencies and NGOs. She connects local conservation to the broader migratory range across the Americas.
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Kathryn Foster
Migrations Graduate Fellow
Kathryn Foster’s research explores climate-driven migration in the U.S., focusing on how flooding prompts relocation. Using mixed methods and case studies in the southern United States, they examine how socioeconomic status, recovery aid access, and demographics shape migration decisions. Their work highlights inequities in post-disaster recovery and seeks pathways to more equitable adaptation to climate change.
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Hamidullah Nikzad
Migrations Graduate Fellow
Hamidullah Nikzad is a researcher and advocate whose work focuses on the intersection of climate change and conflict, intensifying food insecurity, and migration in fragile contexts. Drawing on provincial-level data from 2017 to 2024, his thesis examines how climate variability and conflict incidents contribute to acute food insecurity and influence migration pressures in Afghanistan.
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Danielle Obisie-Orlu
Migrations Graduate Fellow
Danielle investigates migration through the lenses of law, policy, and social advocacy. Her work spans xenophobia and migrants’ rights in South Africa, France, and the EU, as well as collaboration with the African Commission on Human Rights through the Migrants Rights Initiative.
Beyond academia, she mentors migrant youth in public speaking and poetry, amplifying their voices as self-advocates.
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Adolfho Romero
Migrations Graduate Fellow
Adolfho Romero is a PhD researcher in the ILR School who studies how worker centers and allied nonprofits build voice, dignity, and durable power for migrant and low-wage farmworkers.