Samma Ishaq will graduate this year from the University of California - Berkeley in History with a field concentration in South Asia and a minor in Global Poverty Studies. For the past two summers, through the sponsorship of her university, Samma has been conducting research in Kashmir related to women's development, mental health, and civil society. Her interests include community service, academic tutoring, and team building.

Osman Ashai is a Senior at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. He is studying International Politics with a concentration on Trans-State Actors. Osman spent a semester studying Foreign Policy at the London School of Economics. He has also interned on Capitol Hill, the World Bank, and is currently working part-time at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute. Osman was born in Srinagar, Kashmir and shares a deep concern for humanitarian challenges facing the developing world.

Haris Shawl graduated from Syracuse University with a dual degree in Political Science and International Relations. His area of concentration was the Middle East and South Asia with a focus on International Security and Diplomacy Studies. Originally born in Srinagar, Haris has a special place in his heart for Jammu and Kashmir. He has recently researched subjects relating to Sri Lanka with an academic paper that will be forthcoming and is deeply interested in economic development in conflict areas.

Hafsa Kanjwal is a Kashmiri-American senior at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. She is studying Regional Studies of the Muslim World and International Development. She is also studying Arabic and spent one semester studying abroad in Cairo, Egypt. Hafsa hopes to work in the field of post-conflict reconstruction and development, focusing specifically on women’s issues. She worked with HELP foundation last summer in Srinagar, conducting research on the social, financial, and healthcare situation of widows in the valley. This year, Hafsa will be a Junior Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy doing research on the India-Pakistan peace process.

Hyder Syed was born in Srinagar, Kashmir and raised in Buffalo, New York. He received his B.A. in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University in 2006. While there he was awarded several competitive grants to conduct research in Geneva on United Nations efforts to resolve the Kashmir dispute. An alumnus of The Hague Academy of International Law, he is currently a Fulbright Fellow at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, examining various approaches to conflict resolution and human rights promotion that can be applied in Kashmir.