Resila Onyango

Resila Onyango Kenya 2016 Grantee  US - Canada Program PhD in Criminal Justice from the Graduate Center/John Jay College of Criminal Justice - The City University of New York, US

Resila Onyango, PhD is a Criminal Intelligence Officer at the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), and a Senior Superintendent of Police in the Kenya Police Service, with 18 years of policing career.  She obtained her PhD, and MPhil. in Criminal Justice from the Graduate Center/John Jay College of Criminal Justice-The City University of New York, USA; Master of Science in Criminology from the University of Pennsylvania, USA; and Bachelor of Education (Arts)from Moi University, Kenya. 

An expert in Peace, Conflict and Security, she is a Military Observer trained at the Finnish Defence Forces International Centre in Finland; a Certified Instructor for both “Gender Awareness” trained by the UN Peace Operations Training Institute, USA, and the “Integrated Mission Planning Course” designed for the Military, Police and Civilian components under the Eastern Africa Standby Force within the African Union. She is a trained Sex Crimes Investigator by the International Law Enforcement Academy Gaborone, Botswana. As an adjunct faculty, she taught Criminal Justice at both John Jay College of Criminal Justice, USA and the United States International University-Africa, for two years.

Resila is a recipient of various international awards, including the;

• PEO International Peace Scholarship and the Margaret McNamara Education Grant: 2016

• The Graduate Center-CUNY Doctoral Fellowship: 2013-2018 

• Dr. James Fyfe Fellow: 2016 

• Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program: 2009-2010 

Her research focuses on comparative criminology and criminal justice, gender issues in policing, crimes against children, and terrorism, in African countries specifically in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Namibia, Tanzania, and South Africa. 

Khanyisile Kgoadi

Khanyisile Kgoadi South Africa 2016 Grantee  South Africa Program

Khanyisile is currently a visiting scholar at Emory University where she has secured a postdoctoral position in the Rengarajan lab conducting research on HIV-TB coinfection. Her PhD work which is currently under examination investigated the immune mechanisms associated with central nervous system tuberculosis (CNS-TB), a deadly form of tuberculosis that primarily occurs in children and immunocompromised adults. Publication from her PhD work is under preparation and her masters research on HIV and HAART metabolic complications was published. She has presented her PhD work at local and international conferences, as an invited speaker at some. Her goal is to find a cure for HIV and positively change the lives of people infected and affected by HIV/TB. South Africa has high rates of both HIV and TB with TB being the leading cause of death in her country in 2017. The prevalence of HIV and TB is high is Sub-Saharan Africa and she is working towards being the solution to African health problems that will also benefit the world. She is an emerging young female scientist equipped with strong leadership qualities, knowledge, and great work ethic. Her work and voice have already influenced senior scientists/experts, clinicians, and leaders in the global STEM field who she has engaged/worked with and through networking she has caught their attention as a future collaborator. She is a board member of the South African Immunology Society (SAIS) and has served as SAIS representative entrusted with voting on behalf of her country’s society at the 2019 International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS 2019 Beijing) Annual General meeting. She is involved in promoting the IUIS 2022 Cape Town together with her mentor (Prof Clive Gray), which prior to the pandemic had been planned be hosted in South Africa on African soil for the first time. During the pandemic in 2020, she helped co-organize and moderate COVID-19 webinar series that were hosted by SAIS and Immunopaedia and attended virtually by local and international audience. Her leadership skills, research and outreach has placed her in a position where she gets invited to work/network with leaders across fields in academia and the scientific community.

Education granted her the opportunity to not only acquire knowledge and skills but also share with learners, students, and the world. During her PhD studies she has inspired and served as a role model to the youth in her country. She won the 2015 South African Women in Science award; and was honored as part of the 2018 Mail and Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans, a phenomenal list that profiles and celebrates exceptional leaders under the age of 35 who are shaping the country’s future. She mentors, motivates, supports, and encourages fellow women to achieve greatness, this includes the four women she nominated for the Top 200 Young South Africans and who made the phenomenal list over the years (2017-2020). She has also won international awards that include the Society for Neuroscience Trainee Professional Development award which recognizes young neuroscientists that demonstrate scientific merit and excellence in research. The MMEG grant positively contributed to reducing the financial limitations associated with her PhD studies and supporting opportunities to achieve career development goals that included being able to attend her first international conference. MMEG grant motivated her to continue doing what she loves, which is learning and teaching because she believes Education is the key to success and unlocks a world of endless possibilities which positively change people’s lives. She said “It has been an absolute honor to be selected and supported by MMEG as one of the exceptional women who positively empower women and children through Education”. 

She has been involved in the training of next generation of scientists and medical doctors in her roles as university teaching assistant, tutor, practical demonstrator, facilitator, and faculty instructor to undergraduate and postgraduate students. She was invited to serve as a faculty instructor by a neuroscience emeritus professor (Prof Vivienne Russell) at the 2018 International Brain Research Organization-UCT (IBRO-UCT) Africa Advanced School of Neuroimmunology and Gut-brain Axis. She delivered a lecture on neuroimmunology and trained the diverse participants (Masters, PhD and Medical doctors) from across Africa on the flow cytometry technique through experiments she organized and led. Coming from a disadvantage background, she experienced first-hand the financial difficulties faced by university students and it led to her taking the lead in a fundraising phonathon initiated by the late UCT Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) Dean (Prof Bongani Mayosi) for medical students that were facing financial exclusion in 2017. In her capacity as the vice chairperson of the FHS Postgraduate Health Sciences Student’s council, she voluntary recruited students and worked with them in a team she led for the phonathon together with the UCT Development and Alumni Department. The team raised funds which exceeded the set target and it made her feel Proud and Happy for the achievement that helped fellow students. She cares for her community and the well-being of others and that is why she actively participates in outreach programs. She has mentored Grade 12 learners from IkamvaYouth, an organization that enables disadvantaged youth to pull themselves out of poverty and into tertiary education or employment. Her weekends during her PhD studies were spent tutoring Maths and Physical Science to grade 11 learners at a disadvantaged school in the Gugulethu township. She has given voluntary and invited motivational talks to learners, which include: (1) Top grade 11 & 12 performers in Maths and Physical Science from across the Western Cape Province who come from disadvantaged backgrounds and (2) mGenAfrica life sciences competition #mGenQuiz2019. The mGenAfrica platform is an initiative of UCT in partnership with the Western Cape Education Department that introduces learners to careers in STEM by promoting interaction between high school learners and research staff working in genomics and other health research fields across Africa. She also served as a voluntary judge for the 2019 Eskom Cape Town Expo for Young scientists (school learners). She fights for Education for All. She is Grateful for the Amazing support and opportunities she has been granted by her friends, family, mentors, organizations, funders and everyone who played a role in shaping her career growth with all Glory to the Almighty God.

Vanessa Carrión-Yaguana

Vanessa Carrión-Yaguana Ecuador 2014 Grantee  US - Canada Program PhD in Economics from Virginia Tech - US

Vanessa Carrión-Yaguana is an agricultural economist who is deeply committed to reducing poverty and making a real difference to the lives of disadvantaged groups in the global south. She is also passionate  about advancing gender equality and promoting the rights of women and girls. Vanessa holds a M.Sc. in Agricultural and Applied Economics and a Ph.D. in Economics from Virginia Tech in the US. Upon her return to Ecuador, she started working for the Electoral Council of Ecuador. There, she contributed to the development and implementation of research projects on political inclusion of minorities (the elderly, indigenous nationalities, and LGBTI) to increase public awareness of the barriers and challenges faced by these communities. After serving as an Adviser to the Electoral Council for two years, Vanessa returned to academia. 

Vanessa currently serves as Assistant Professor of Economics at Universidad de Las Américas Ecuador. She  has consulted for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Environment and for several NGOs.   She works on development projects funded by several NGOs and her research focuses on policies to alleviate poverty in rural areas and the assessment of impacts of technologies, policies, and programs on rural residents. Her research interests also include political behavior. She has two projects currently in progress. The first seeks to identify the factors that explain different levels of blank and spoiled ballots across parishes in Ecuador. The second is an experiment to evaluate the role of candidates’ attractiveness on electoral outcomes in low-information environments. 

Publications:         

Peer-reviewed journal articles

• Carrión, V., K. Meneses, S. Cruz (2021) Gender preferences in child labor in Ecuador Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies

• Carrión, V., J. Alwang, V. Barrera (2020). Promoting behavioral change using text messages: A case study of blackberry farmers in Ecuador. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics.

• Carrión, V., M. Vargas, A. Paredes (2016). Party system nationalization in Ecuador: Presidential elections 1952-2013. Democracias. 4 (4). 3 - 24.

• Carrión, V., J. Alwang, G. Norton, V. Barrera (2016). Does IPM Have Staying Power? Revisiting a Potato-producing Area Years After Formal Training Ended. Journal of Agricultural Economics.

Peer-reviewed journal articles (under review)

• Carrión, V., Carroll, R. Evaluating the Effects of Policy Stringency on COVID-19 Case Patterns Using Cluster Analysis (Under review).

• Carrión, V., G. Velastegui, M. Vargas. Congressional Elections in Ecuador: Is there a Gender Penalty? (Under review).

Book chapters

• Carrión, V., P. Gallegos, V. Barrera, G. Norton, J. Alwang (2016). IPM for potato producers in highland Ecuador. In Rangaswamy Muniappan (Ed.), IPM packages for tropical vegetables.

Sumila Gulyani

Sumila Gulyani India 1990 Grantee  US - Canada Program PhD in Economic Development and Urban Planning from MIT, in Cambridge, Massachusetts - US

Sumila Gulyani has used her Doctorate in Economic Development and Urban Planning and multiple degrees in City Planning and architecture to good use in a 20+ year career with the World Bank.  Her current position is as Program Leader for Sustainable Development in India.  In this role, she coordinates the Bank’s work in six practice areas—water; environment; agriculture; resilience and climate change; urban development; and social development; these, together, comprise an investment portfolio of about US$11 billion in 44 projects.  Sumila previously served as Manager for Water and Urban Development in Europe and Central Asia, overseeing a program of $ 4 billion in 21 countries.  From 2008-2011, she lived in Kenya and worked on infrastructure and urban projects in six African countries.  

From 2005-2007, Sumila was at Columbia University in New York as Assistant Professor and also served as the founding Director of the Infrastructure and Poverty Action Lab (I-PAL).  She is the author of the book Innovating with Infrastructure and of multiple articles on urban development, water, electricity, transport, and slums.  

Sumila holds a PhD in Economic Development and Urban Planning, a Master of City Planning, and a Master of Science in Architecture Studies from MIT, in Cambridge, Massachusetts as well as a Bachelor’s degree from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India. She notes: “At the time that I received the MMEG grant, I was training to be an architect -- a profession that is usually about building iconic buildings, very private sector oriented, and in service of affluent clients. I pivoted from architecture to studying and working on economic development. From aspiring to build iconic structures to becoming passionate about slum upgrading (for instance)!”