As a first-generation college student, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, and a member of the Otomí Indigenous community, I have found that my experiences have shaped my commitment to advancing educational opportunity and equity. Growing up in rural Maryland's Eastern Shore and navigating the public education system exposed me to the challenges many students in rural and underserved communities face, while also demonstrating the transformative power of education. I am a student at Cornell University pursuing a B.S. in Public Policy through the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, with minors in Education, Inequality Studies, and Latino Studies. My academic and professional interests center on education policy, with a particular focus on improving educational outcomes and expanding access for rural and Indigenous students. I firmly believe that education is a fundamental human right and that every student deserves access to affordable, high-quality K–12 education, regardless of their background, geography, or socioeconomic status. I am always eager to connect with individuals and organizations working to advance educational equity and opportunity. Feel free to reach out at lm953@cornell.edu.
I am a student at Cornell University majoring in Environment & Sustainability with a concentration in Land, Air, and Water Resources. I am passionate about learning about the environment and solutions to address the climate crisis.
Hello! My name is Elliot and I'm a undergraduate at Cornell University studying Environmental Engineering. I'm interested in how we can apply engineered solutions to make agriculture more sustainable. My research focuses on the circular bionutrient economy which in essence is about finding solutions to some of the worlds biggest problems by identifying interconnected problems.
In my free time I love playing rugby, reading, learning languages (I'm learning Mandarin and Spanish), creative writing, and cooking.
Hello! I am a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences at Cornell University. I study cognitive science, with broad interests in data science and across the social sciences.
As a Laidlaw scholar, I worked on a transdisciplinary project dealing with the impacts of Indonesia's national capital city relocation from Jakarta to Nusantara. Through the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, I studied how human and "more-than-human" communities are affected by Nusantara's construction. In the summer of 2025, I traveled onsite for my LiA to work directly with community partners at Mulawarman University and led the development of materials preserving the ecological and cultural heritage of this area amidst transformative change.
Outside of academics and research, you can find me canoeing on Cayuga Lake, leading campus tours, and reading fantasy novels.
Please feel free to reach out to me here or at kcr53@cornell.edu!
My name is Jonathan Lam (He/Him) and I am a rising sophomore from Queens, New York City majoring in Industrial and Labor Relations with a double minor in International Relations and Migration studies at Cornell University. As a pre-law student, I am interested in criminal justice, immigration and international human rights law. I am deeply passionate in human rights advocacy as a National Youth Activist at Amnesty International USA and a student organizer at the New York Civil Liberties Union (ACLU of New York).
Hello all! I study Government and Near Eastern Studies at Cornell University. I enjoy learning about International Affairs, events and trends in the Middle East (especially relating to democracy and regime type), and the impacts of French colonialism. This summer I will be doing research about the impacts of French colonialism on the education system in Tunisia.
I am a current undergraduate student at Cornell University studying Biological Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Through my studies in Biology and my observation of the natural world, I have developed a deep interest in conservation and intersectional climate justice. Particularly, I am interested in using innovative tools such as eDNA barcoding to restore ecosystems and in mitigating and reversing the effects of climate change. For this reason, I am very grateful to be working in the Cheong Lab this summer as a part of the Commons Biodiversity Project.
Outside my academics I love to read books, cook and watch movies.
Hello! My name is Marina Blackman (she/her) and I am from Columbia, Maryland. I am a sophomore at Cornell University majoring in Biological Sciences in the College of Arts & Sciences and concentrating in Marine Biology. I have always loved the ocean and marine life, so getting hands-on Marine Biology opportunities is so exciting to me! As part of the Laidlaw 2024 Cohort, I am so excited to work with Dr. Soon Hon Cheong and Lee Yoke Lee on their Commons Biodiversity Project in Malaysia. In collaboration with a team of scientists at the Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, the Commons Biodiversity Project aims to apply Environmental DNA techniques to help conserve the Crocus clams (Tridacna crocea) native to the area. With its mission of Crocus clam conservation, this project aims to foster and grow a passion for marine wildlife conservation in the local population of Terengganu.
Hi, I am Claire. I am a biological sciences undergrad at Imperial College London and a 2024 Imperial cohort. I am particularly interested in immunology, but in general, interested in human biology.
Youness Robert-Tahiri
Founder, HaHaHelps & MSocSci Psychology Candidate, University of Cape Town
Hello! I’m a psychology researcher and the founder of HaHaHelps, a nonprofit organisation developing and delivering a comedy-based psychosocial programme designed to support young people in residential care.
I am currently completing an MSocSci in Psychology at the University of Cape Town, where my dissertation examines the feasibility of HaHaHelps programme with adolescents in South African child and youth care centres. My broader interests include youth mental health, psychosocial intervention development, implementation, participatory approaches, and the use of humour and play to support connection, emotional expression, self-efficacy, and coping with uncertainty.
HaHaHelps grew out of my Laidlaw Leadership-in-Action project at SOS Children’s Villages in Cape Town, where I designed and facilitated an improv-comedy programme for adolescents. Since then, I have continued developing and delivering the programme with young people in residential care and am now studying how it can be refined, evaluated, and ultimately adapted for use in other communities and settings.
Before this, my Laidlaw research at the University of Toronto examined relationships between childhood adversity, aggression, and self-regulation.
I’d love to connect with other Laidlaw Scholars and alumni interested in youth mental health, social impact, intervention development, social entrepreneurship, or simply finding creative ways to turn research into something useful in the world.
Hi, Laidlaw Family. I am the Senior Manager for the Leadership Framework at Durham University, UK. Part of my role is to oversee the Laidlaw Leadership and Research Programme, with particular responsibility for the partnership management. This involves identifying key stakeholders, soliciting and stewarding these relationships while offering a platform for collaborative work.
Networking and managing relationships is a key component of successful leadership. I would urge all future leaders to have a mentor to support them on their leadership journey.
I am also a qualified Family and work place mediator, offering training in mediation and conflict resolution skills. I have also, written and published mentoring guidelines and toolkits. I would be happy to assist any students on the Laidlaw programme.
Prior to this post I have worked as a Director of a Hospice, I have lectured in South African Dramatic Literature, set up several NGO's in South Africa and Zambia.
