Stanford US-Russia Forum (Director of Research)
The Stanford US-Russia Forum (SURF) brings together students from leading Russian and American universities to conduct research on issues that affect both the United States and the Russian Federation. Each year, approximately fifteen to twenty students from each country are selected from nearly 1000 applicants. As Director of Research from 2016-2018, I oversaw the eight-month long collaborative research project for all eight research teams. The research year is capped with an introductory conference in Moscow and Tyumen in the fall and a capstone conference in the spring at Stanford and in Washington, DC.
Along with my position as Director of Research, I served as the editor-in-chief of SURF’s annual peer-reviewed publication. Volume 9, published in April 2018, is now available online: https://usrussia.stanford.edu/surf-journal-2018
Anti-Defamation League (Sills/ Glass Leadership Fellow)
In 2013-2014, I participated in a ten-month immersive program with the Anti-Defamation League. During this time, we traveled to Washington, D.C. to discuss formal and informal U.S. actions to halt hate crimes, terrorism, and global antisemitism. In the photo above, I am speaking about the fight against racial, ethnic, and religious-intolerance at an awards ceremony in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Michigan Opera Theater (Curriculum Writer)
In 2014, I worked with the Michigan Opera Theater to develop a curricular supplement for their production of Brundibár. The curricular supplement includes lesson plans for teaching about the Holocaust for students in grades three through twelve. Lesson plans for younger attendees focus on themes of the Holocaust, such as intolerance and bullying. This 94-page document was used statewide by primary-school educators with their students in anticipation of, and following, the performance.
Cinema Tov: Detroit Jewish Film Lab (Committee Chair)
Cinema Tov: Detroit Jewish Film Lab (2012-2013) was a year-long film series on different themes pertaining to Jewish identity. In my capacity as committee chair, I helped to run a team that wrote grant applications, chose films, secured screening rights, organized logistics, and planned events that coincided with each film (for example: interviews with the director, talks with Refuseniks, and moderated discussions on race and religion).
