Angela MacDougall is a sophomore at The American University in Washington, D.C. She is majoring in International Studies with a concentration in International Development and a minor in Russian. This summer at The Eurasia Center she is working to further the activities of the Eco Energy Alliance & Technology Transfer Agency, an organization which aims to promote clean and sustainable energy alternatives in the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.

Angela spent her junior year of high school in the city of Barnaul, Russia through the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. Her placement in the southern Siberian city sparked her interest in Russia's Far East as well as Central Asia, and she hopes to work with these nations in her future career. She also currently works for Firefly Children's Network, a non-profit organization which aims to improve the lives of Russian orphans who have been abandoned due to real or perceived disabilities.

Ani Baghdasaryan was born in Erevan, Armenia and came to United States four years ago. She is fluent in three languages: Armenian, Russian and English. She graduated from Atholton High School, Columbia Maryland in May 2006 and in Fall 2006 she will attend Virginia Polytechnic Institute State University majoring in architecture with a minor in industrial design and music (piano). While in high school she also took art and architecture related courses in Howard Community College (HCC). Part of the High School Spanish National Honors Society she was on the Dean's List for Part-Time Students in HCC. During her high school years she volunteered in Head Start Elementary School and Habitat for Humanities. Over the past four years she interned for several companies such as IREX (International Research & Exchange Program), and the World Bank. In IREX she assisted the NGO in preparing international students for the US orientation to pursue their academic studies in various colleges and universities across the United States. In the World Bank she supported in organizing children's performances.

Currently she is an intern in Eurasia Center where she works as a translator from English to Russian and Armenian.

Originally from New York, Colleen is beginning her third year at American University and plans to graduate in December of 2007 with a B.A. in International Studies with a concentration in International Development in South America as well as a minor in Business Administration. Colleen currently is planning her year to study abroad in Santiago, Chile and Brisbane, Australia in order to study International Relations and Business Administration.

Colleen is the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Eurasia Center and is currently working on a clothing and toy drive project to help with the needy orphans in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. Colleen specifically is working with the Director for the Humanitarian Project as well the President of the Eurasia Center. The orphanages specifically targeted are the ones in which other international organizations are not assisting and Colleen is working to find these in particular. Colleen has a background with helping orphans with her Gold Award Achievement in 2004. Colleen planned a trip with Ambassadors for Children to bring aid to orphans and children in Guatemala and rose over $1,000 in books from a Scholastic Book Fair in order to buy books for the orphans there.

Colleen also has a background with the issues involving the Reconstruction of the Balkans and is working on an essay to focus on the issue of Islam in Bosnia today. Colleen has great interest and knowledge of the efforts to reconstruct Bosnia and their struggles to make a unified state.

Erika will graduate in May 2009 with a B.S.F.S in International Politics from Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service. Prior to interning at the Eurasia Center, Erika was the youngest research assistant and intern on record for the Corporate Network division of The Economist Intelligence Unit in Tokyo, Japan. Here she was involved in coordinating and running four conferences and luncheons, updating the website and formulating a bi-weekly email circulation, preparing questions for keynote speakers, researching and writing a report on the energy consumption trends of Asia with a focus on Japan to be used in the creation of a new conference, and contacted potential members of the Economist Conference Group in Japanese. Erika graduated Cum Laude from The Thacher School in 2005 with Commendations in History, English, and Math. She also co-founded and taught weekend Japanese classes during her junior year. Erika has lived in Japan, Korea, and several cities across the United States ranging from Seattle to Florida, Southern California to her current location in Washington, D.C. She has also traveled extensively in East and South-East Asia and studied for two months in Nice, France.

At the Eurasia Center she acts as a program coordinator for Japan and researcher for future programs in the Middle East, as well as creating extensive databases for use by the Center.

Originally from California and South Carolina, Jessica has been a student in Washington for the past three years at American University's School of International Service and School of Communication. She has taken extensive coursework on European affairs and international communication and will be graduating in May 2007 with a B.A. in International Studies and in Print Journalism.

During her college career, Jessica has studied abroad in France and the United Kingdom and toured a number of other European countries. During her time in London in 2005, she interned at The European Foundation, a political think-tank that explores a number of issues and potential reforms within the European Union. While working at the European Foundation, Jessica researched critical issues on the continued social and economic integration of the EU. Because Prime Minister Tony Blair held the EU Presidency during her time in the U.K., the European Foundation hosted a weekly forum in Parliament that allowed many experts, scholars, and MEPs an opportunity to debate growing issues within the EU. Jessica had the advantage of attending these forums and learning more about the EU, including the issues of enlargement to include Turkey and the EU Constitution. She also assisted in writing and editing articles for The European Foundation's publication, The European Journal, which is published about ten times annually.

Jessica has been interning with The Eurasia Center since May 2006. She is working on a variety of programs involving all European countries, including research and work on the Freedom Computer Network. When she is not working at The Eurasia Center, Jessica gets her caffeine fix as a barista at Starbucks and is an active member of Alpha Phi Omega, the national co-ed service fraternity.

Originally from Hong Kong, Jonathan is entering his second year of study at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, DC. He will be graduating in 2009 with a B.S. Foreign Service in International Politics, with a concentration in Foreign policy and Policy processes. Current interests include: British politics, Sino-US and Sino-UK relationships, and international law.

Prior to studying at Georgetown, Jonathan worked directly under the vice-Consul of the British Consulate in Hong Kong; and he credits the experience for inspiring him to work for the Foreign service and the diplomatic corps. He brings with him to the Center a love for speech and debate; he has been competing since middle school and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious 2004 Yale Junior Statesman of America Best Speaker Award. At Georgetown University, Jonathan is an officer of the Philodemic Debate Society – one of the oldest and most famous college debate institutions in the United States. He is also an active participant in the inter-collegiate Model United Nations circuit, and is a member of Delta Phi Epsilon, the national Foreign Service fraternity.

Jonathan has been serving as coordinator for the Eurasia Center's Asian programs since May 2006, and works closely with the President and Executive Director. He also serves as webmaster for the Center, and is responsible for maintaining the website and compiling the Center's archives.

Koki Mori received a Bachelor's Degree from American University in International Studies and Political Science. He is currently a Masters candidate at American for International Studies, with a concentration in Asian Regional Studies. As part of his summer internship at the Eurasia Center, Koki is assisting in the development of the Center's Japan Program. His current interest is East Asian politics, with a particular focus on Japanese foreign policy.

Ryan is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Political Science and Spanish from Ohio University in March of 2005. He is currently a M.A. Candidate in International Affairs/European Studies at American University in Washington, D.C., and is due to receive his Masters in May 2007. Ryan studied abroad in Pamplona, Spain, as well as interned at the Potomac Advocates in Washington, D.C., and the Center for Defense Information in Brussels, Belgium. Additionally, he is a member of the Golden Key International Honor Society and recently had an article published in the Spring 2006 edition of the international affairs journal "Swords and Ploughshares". The piece, "Emerging Democracies Need Adolfo Suárez: the importance of a central mediating figure in the Spanish case and beyond", details the Spanish democratic transition and its possible lessons for nascent democracies such as Iraq. Current interests include: Spanish politics, EU integration, the post-communist transition in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and transatlantic relations.

At the Eurasia Center, Ryan is currently crafting country profiles on Poland, the Baltic States (Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia), and Russia, which outline the current economic and political conditions, and more specifically, the environmental problems and opportunities for sustainable development projects in these countries. Furthermore, Ryan will research and write various pieces on EU integration—specifically in the area of foreign policy and defense—as well as enlargement, with a focus on Turkey.

Drew Beck began at the Eurasia Center in June 2006. He is a senior in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and is majoring in International Politics, with a concentration in Foreign Policy and Policy Processes. He held an internship with Congressman Henry Brown in 2004. In 2005, he interned at the Embassy of Australia in Washington, DC, working in the Congressional Liaison Section on research related to US-Australian issues. While studying abroad in 2006 in Dakar, Senegal, Drew interned with the Red Cross of Senegal, studying their Community Health Program.

Drew's languages are French and Russian. In addition to receiving a full merit scholarship to do a 6-week AFS summer exchange with a French family in summer 2002, Drew spent the spring semester of 2006 studying in Dakar, Senegal. He also had the opportunity to live in Vladivostok, Russia for 5 weeks in the summer of 2005, also visiting Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Riga. While in Vladivostok, he worked on several different community programs of the Mary Mother of God Roman Catholic Church, in addition to practicing his Russian.

Drew is involved actively with the Knights of Columbus at Georgetown University. He is from Charleston, SC.