Team
The people building this.
A small, selected team of graduate students working at the intersection of the human condition and emerging technology. Alongside them, faculty advisors, industry partners, and collaborators mentor, guide, and build the work together.
Summer 2026
The Cohort
Our graduate student researchers are conducting applied AI research — building with open-source tools, generating synthetic data, integrating LLMs, and making sense of fragmented data.
Carolina de Almeida Pernambuco Moron
Summer 2026
Carolina is a graduate student at NYU Center for Global Affairs with a concentration in Global Economy and specialization in Data Analysis and the…
Christine Lumen
Summer 2026
Christine Lumen studies the gap between how AI systems are governed on paper and how accountability actually functions in practice. Her work combines…
Alana Robertson
Summer 2026
Alana is currently completing her Master's at NYU Center for Global Affairs in Human Rights and International Law. She earned her undergraduate…
Melanie MacKew
Summer 2026
Melanie is currently working to complete her M.S. in Global Affairs at NYU. Melanie earned her B.A. in Global and International Studies from Western…
Carlos D. Ruiz
Summer 2026
Carlos D. Ruiz is a Venezuelan-born U.S. Air Force veteran who holds a Master of Science in Global Affairs with a concentration in Global Economy…
India Clarke
Summer 2026
India is a graduate student NYU Center for Global Affairs with a concentration in Global Economy and specialization in Data Analysis. She holds a…
Yago Rocha
Summer 2026
Yago is a graduate student at NYU's Center for Global Affairs, concentrating in International Development and Humanitarian Assistance. His…
Team · Previous cohorts
Alumni
Each cohort seeds on what the previous cohort worked on.
Fall 2025
8 researchers
Alexa Shamie
Alexa Shamie completed the MS in Global Security, Conflict, and Cybercrime at NYU's School of Professional Studies in December 2025, and is now a…
Mohagani Townsend
Mohagani Townsend earned a master's degree in cybercrime from New York University, having moved to New York to study, and is an emerging technology…
Amanda Lindsey
Amanda Lindsey works at the intersection of AI, ethical technology, and cybersecurity. In the Fall 2025 cohort she built the Forced Labor Structural…
Taylor Badt
Taylor Badt studied international affairs at the University of Colorado Boulder, with minors in Spanish, sociology, and political science, before…
Vedant Jain
Vedant Jain is the founding president of the NYU SPS Consulting and Business Strategy Society, which he helped build from the ground up in 2025.…
Grace Driscoll
Grace Driscoll graduated from the College of the Holy Cross before joining New York University for the MS in Global Security, Conflict, and…
Pegi Bracaj
Pegi Bracaj joined the Ethical Tech CoLab with the Fall 2025 cohort, and is a co-author of AI-Powered Research Questions, the cohort's study of AI…
Kirsten Co
Kirsten Co (MS, MBA) is a Strategic Advisor to the Ethical Tech CoLab and an alumna of the NYU SPS Center for Global Affairs, where she completed the…
Spring 2025
8 researchers
Smita Samanta
Smita Samanta is an MS in Global Affairs '25 (Global Economy) from New Delhi, India. In the Spring 2025 cohort she worked on Online Grooming…
Elizabeth Matthews
Elizabeth Matthews is an MS in Global Affairs '25 (International Relations) from Omaha, Nebraska. In the Spring 2025 cohort she led the AI's Carbon…
Renata Gladkikh
Renata Gladkikh is an MS in Global Affairs '25 (Global Economy) from Dubai, UAE. In the Spring 2025 cohort she led the AI's Carbon Footprint paper…
Jennifer Hofmann
Jennifer Hofmann is an MS in Global Affairs '26 (Global Economy) from Marburg, Germany. In the Spring 2025 cohort she led the Online Grooming…
Emily Harrington
Emily Harrington is an MS in Global Security, Conflict, and Cybercrime '25 from Rockville, MD. In the Spring 2025 cohort she contributed to Online…
Natasha Nagarajan
Natasha Nagarajan is an MS in Global Security, Conflict, and Cybercrime '25 from Atlanta, Georgia. In the Spring 2025 cohort she contributed to…
Hannah Zhao
Artist and engineer. She uses multi-media installations and infrastructures to highlight and explore human conditions and interaction immersion.
Alex Du
Alex Du is the Ethical Tech CoLab's Marketing & Community Lead, and joined the lab with the Spring 2025 cohort. She co-authored AI's Carbon…
Advisors & partners
Advisors
Teresa Cantero
PhD Candidate, UC3M · Adjunct Professor, IE University
Teresa Cantero is a PhD Candidate at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, where her doctoral research is based at the Human Rights Institute “Gregorio…
Sylvia G. Maier
Clinical Professor, NYU SPS Center for Global Affairs
Dr. Sylvia G. Maier is a Clinical Professor at NYU's Center for Global Affairs (SPS), where she serves as Academic Director of the MS in Global…
Brianna Gabaldon
Product Manager, Microsoft · NYU CGA alum
Brianna Gabaldon is a Product Manager at Microsoft and an alum of NYU's Center for Global Affairs. Her work sits at the intersection of one of the…
Nathaniel Fossella
Financial Crime Investigations Analyst, Barclays · CoLab alum
Nathaniel Fossella is a Financial Crime Investigations Analyst at Barclays and a former Ethical Tech CoLab researcher.
Collaborators
Other Members
Adeline Daab
Adeline Daab is an undergraduate at NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study (BA '28). Her concentration explores the intersection of human and…
NYU Gallatin
Susan deMenil
Susan de Menil is currently the founding co-president of the Art, Antiquities, and Blockchain Consortium (AABC), a nonprofit 501(c)3 that uses…
AABC Co-Founder · Cultural Heritage Thought Leader
Team · Leadership
Founder
Yorke E Rhodes III
Microsoft Director of Traceability · Cofounder, Blockchain at Microsoft
Partners & collaborators
The organisations behind the work.
Click any organisation to see their logo and details.