Kimberly Anastácio

Communication, School of Communication
Year of Program Entry: 2020

Kimberly is a PhD student in the School of Communication. Her interests include Internet Governance, digital rights, and technology regulation. She has an MA and a BA in Political Science from the University of Brasília (Brazil), where she studied the establishment of private authority in Latin American Internet governance arrangements. She is currently interested in Internet infrastructure policies in Brazil.

Kimberly was a researcher at the Department of Public Policy Analysis of Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV/DAPP), a center for applied social research concerned with the innovation in public policies. There, she engaged in the Digital Democracy Room where she conducted social media analysis during the elections in Brazil. She has experience working with digital human rights NGO’s such as Coding Rights, engaging in advocacy efforts regarding data protection and freedom of expression. Kimberly was also Data and Insights Coordinator at Isobar, where she led one of the agency’s data analytics teams.

Beth Geglia

Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences
Year of Program Entry: 2013

Beth Geglia received an Honors BA at the University of Wisconsin in Madison with majors in Sociology, International Political Economy, and Latin American Studies with a certificate in Global Cultures (2007). She earned a Certificate in Documentary Film from the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies in 2010 and has produced various short documentaries on local and international social movements as an independent media maker. She recently co-directed a feature length documentary about a community-controlled free hospital in Afro-indigenous communities on Honduras' northern coast entitled Revolutionary Medicine: A Story of the First Garifuna Hospital. The film has been presented in nine countries and over a dozen Universities within the United States.

Beth has a professional background in human rights campaigning, crisis intervention for survivors of sexual violence and human trafficking, and language interpretation. Her current research focuses on new autonomous economic zones in Honduras, land dispossession, and contestations over citizenship and sovereignty. 

Jeffrey Hallock

International Relations, School of International Service 
Year of Program Entry: 2019 

Jeffrey Hallock is a PhD candidate studying International Relations at American University’s School of International Service. Jeffrey’s work focuses on the political consequences of anti-corruption reforms. His dissertation project analyzes the impact and legacy of national anti-corruption missions, including the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). Along with his study of corruption and the politics of anti-corruption, Jeffrey is interested in democratization and democratic backsliding. Jeffrey holds an MSc in Migration Studies from Oxford University and a BA in International Relations from the University of San Diego. 

Laura Heras Recuero

Economics, College of Arts and Sciences 
Year of Program Entry: 2020

Laura is a PhD Candidate in Economics at American University’s College of Arts and Sciences. She holds a BA in Economics from the Autonomous University of Madrid, a MA in Globalization and Development from the University of the Basque Country, and a MA in Economic Policy and Analysis from University Sorbonne Paris Nord. She has also specialized in Latin American Economies at the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile. Her research interests include the growth dynamics of Latin American economies, the conceptualization of the middle-income trap and the process of structural change in Latin America. 

Prior to joining American University, she worked at the Research Department of the Central Bank of Spain and at the Economics Department of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), researching in both institutions about various topics related to the development process of Latin American countries.

Muhammad Malik

Economics, College of Arts and Sciences
Year of Program Entry: 2020

Muhammad Malik is a PhD candidate in Economics at American University, specializing in Development Economics in Washington DC, and is currently in the process of finalizing his dissertation. He is also a part-time consultant for the World Bank Group. Muhammad has a Masters in both Economics and International Development Studies, and has about five years of work experience as a consultant for organizations including the World Bank Group, Oxfam America, and Global Communities in the United States. 

Reva Resstack

Economics, College of Arts and Sciences
Year of Program Entry: 2022

Reva Resstack is a PhD student in the Economics department, studying economic impacts of migration policy in both countries of origin and destination. Her interests include development, labor, and economic history, with a particular focus on El Salvador. She previously worked as a Research Assistant under Dr. Michael Clemens and Dr. Thomas Ginn at the Center for Global Development, supporting their work on migration and displacement, and as a Research Fellow with Adriana Beltrán at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), supporting the Central America Monitor. 

For over 10 years, she has been working on projects with partners in El Salvador, including research on the impact of gangs on educational attainment. She has also conducted fieldwork in Uganda. A native of the DMV, Resstack previously worked as an immigration paralegal and refugee services coordinator. She holds a BS in Economics and International Development from Tulane University.

Eva Maria Rey Pinto

Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences
Year of Program Entry: 2022

Eva (she/her/ella) is a PhD student in Anthropology at American University. She holds a BA in Anthropology from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, and a MA in Geopolitics from the Colombian War College. Her research interests focus on Latin America, mainly Colombia, and include war, militarization, gender, and geopolitics. Her doctoral project focuses on the constructions of masculinities in the Colombian military and how these gender dynamics have impacted state-building in Colombia. Before joining American University, Eva worked as a researcher and assistant editor at the Colombian War College, leading the project on transnational organized crime at the Centro Regional de Estudios Estratégicos en Seguridad (CREES).

Gustavo Rojas Matute

Economics, College of Arts and Sciences
Year of Program Entry: 2019

Gustavo Rojas is an economist and political analyst with more than 10 years of experience advising key players, including international corporations, banks, lawmakers and politicians. He is an expert on Latin American economic and political outlook analysis, macroeconomic surveillance and forecasting, predictive models, monetary and fiscal policy, policy dialogue and stakeholder analysis, and qualitative and quantitative research. Gustavo is currently in the process of writing his dissertation for his PhD in Economics.

Mariana Sánchez

Political Communication, School of Communication
Year of Program Entry: 2019

Currently a PhD student in the School of Communication at American University, Mariana holds a BA in International Relations from ITAM in Mexico City and a Master of Arts in Political Communication from the University of Leeds, UK. She has also taken courses in City University of Hong Kong, Universidad de San Andrés in Buenos Aires, Stanford University and Oxford University. Her doctoral research focuses in political communication, elections and technology in Latin America.

Prior to joining American University, she worked for different offices of the government of Mexico, as a consultant to media companies and as a communications officer to the Fulbright Program in Mexico. She also worked as a research assistant in the Civil Society and Philanthropy Project from ITAM.

Luciana Storelli-Castro

International Relations, School of International Service
Year of Program Entry: 2017

Luciana's research agenda focuses on accountability and justice in post-conflict states in West Africa and Latin America. Her dissertation project evaluates the role of bureaucracies in the implementation of Colombia's 2016 peace agreement between the Government of Colombia and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP). 

Originally from Mendoza, Argentina, Luciana is currently a PhD student at the School of International Service. She holds an MA in African Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Bradford, an MA in Ethics, Peace and Global Affairs from American University, and a BA in Political Science and Philosophy from Colorado State University. Prior to her doctoral studies, Luciana also served as a Research Assistant at the United States Institute of Peace and as a Rotary Peace Fellow. 

Karl VonZabern

Comparative Politics, School of Public Affairs
Year of Program Entry: 2020

Karl VonZabern is a PhD candidate in Comparative Politics in the School of Public Affairs. He received his BA in political science and Spanish literature at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill in 2018. He is interested in studying environmental politics, climate vulnerability, political communication, and authoritarian backsliding in Latin America. During undergrad, he received the Burch Fellowship through the honors program at UNC to study indigenous labor organization around the Inca Trail in Peru. That laid the groundwork for his undergraduate thesis on the effect of indigenous party formation in terms of environmental policy outcomes in Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. He spent this past year teaching English in Santiago de Chile when protests over neoliberalism took hold of the country. During his doctoral studies, Karl would like to study climate change response, mitigation, decision making and consequences in Latin America.