Our Staff
These talented individuals will be assisting you alongside your assigned academic mentor as you complete your Horizon Project. The Horizon Academic Research Program's team oversees the logistical aspects of our high school research program. We run Horizon's in-house writing center, oversee scheduling matters, and provide ongoing advice and support for students as they engage in the process of academic research.
Our team collaborates with (and is distinct from) our 83 academic instructors from universities such as Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Dartmouth, Cambridge, Oxford, and Columbia. You can view a list of some of our academic instructors here.
David Hansen
M.A. from Texas Tech University
Academic Lead
Keating Sherry
B.A. from University of Miami
North America Outreach Lead
Lucas Hunter
M.F.A. from Purdue University
Program Associate
Nika Hajikhoda-verdikhan
B.A. from University of California, Berkeley
Program Associate
Jessica Norris
Ph.D. (c) from Georgetown University
B.A. from University of California, Santa Barbara,NRDC fellow
Environmental Science Course Assistant
Haley Frevert
M.A. from The John Hopkins University
International Relations Course Assistant
David Weeks
B.A. from Swarthmore College
Global Outreach Lead
Dr. Daniele Cassese
Mead Research Fellow and College Lecturer, Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge
Economics Course Assistant
Paige Hann
B.A. from Yale University
Program Associate and Interviewer
Davida Kollmar
M.S. from NYU
B.A. from Yeshiva University
Data Science & Machine Learning Course Assistant
Shan Liu
B.A. from Juniata College
Technology Lead
David Choi
B.A. from University of Pennsylvania
Writing Assistant
Scott Dobbins
M.S. from Stanford University
B.A. from Columbia University
Program Advisor, Former Program Director
Ani Nadiga
M.S. from University of Glasgow
B.A. from Carleton College
Writing and Publications Coordinator
Zhanar Irgebay
B.A. from University of Pennsylvania, M.A. from University of Chicago
Program Associate
Nicole Posadas
B.A. from University of Pennsylvania
Program Associate
Callum KiserB.A. from Columbia University
Seasonal Interviewer
Kue Xiong
B.A. from Connecticut College
Seasonal Interviewer
Ben KlebanoffB.A. from Yale University
Seasonal Interviewer
Niusha Hajikhodaverdik-hanB.A. from U.C. Berkeley
Seasonal Interviewer
Saba MashayekhiB.A. from U.C. Berkeley
Seasonal Interviewer
Senior Advisor
Robin J. Lewis
Senior Advisor
Professor Lewis was the Associate Dean of the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) in New York from 1985-2007 and was also the first Executive Director of the Global Public Policy Network (GPPN), an innovative partnership between SIPA and top universities around the world.From 2009 to 2014, he was the Director of the School of Social Development and Public Policy (SSDPP) at Beijing Normal University.
Professor Lewis is currently the President of the International Development and Public Policy Alliance (IDPPA), a consortium of graduate public policy schools in Brazil, Russia, India, China and more founded in 2012. He also directs the new Master of Global Public Policy (MGPP) program at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) in Moscow, created in partnership with the World Bank and McKinsey & Co.
He has advised governments, universities, foundations, and international organizations on higher education and policy training in more than twenty countries. He has worked with the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Institute, the World Bank, the American Councils for International Education, and the Government of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). He was also the Executive Editor of the Encyclopedia of Asian History [4 volumes] (New York: Macmillan, 1987), a publication funded by the Asia Society that brought together contributions from over 300 scholars worldwide.
Professor Lewis holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University and is the author of one book, E.M. Forster’s Passages to India, and numerous other articles.
