OUR TEAM

Samuel daines

Samuel was a co-founder (along with the late Peter Rogers) and is the Lead Executing Officer of the Food~Water~Energy Consortium. He has a JD from Harvard Law School, and completed post doc fellowships at MIT, Harvard and Stanford. Samuel began his career working for the Ford Foundation in Santiago, Chile, then subsequently for USAID's Latin America Bureau as a Senior Economist. He then established SRD Research Group, and has contracted with agricultural development projects primarily in Chile, India, Jordan, Afghanistan, Colombia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Belize, Indonesia and Philippines. Together, Samuel and Peter came up with the "Safe Space for Humanity" Concept. See here Samuel's complete resume.

ryan madsen

Ryan is the graduate student executive director with the FWE Consortium and has worked primarily in the East Mediterranean and East Indies Corridors on social and economic development. He has a Master in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School. Ryan previously worked in banking operations at Goldman Sachs and management consulting at ZS Associates, and spent 2 years as a missionary for the LDS Church in Indonesia. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a B.A. in International Relations, and enjoys playing basketball and composing music. Ryan speaks Arabic, Indonesian, French and Hindi.

Angela shields

Angela is a graduate student fellow with the FWE Consortium focused on nutrition and environmental health in the South Atlantic Corridor. She is a Masters in Environmental Health Candidate at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, and previously received a Bachelor’s degree in Biopsychology from UC Santa Barbara. Prior to joining FWE, Angela worked as a program manager at the University of California Extension, and then as a Director for the nonprofit Kids in Nutrition. Angela enjoys dance, yoga, backpacking, piano and reading. She also speaks Spanish.

MARIN DAINES

Marin Daines, J.D., advises the FWE on early childhood development. During field work in 2018, she explored adding responsive stimulation training to FWE nutrition project design field surveys for mothers in consumer cooperatives in Surabaya, Indonesia and Manila, Philippines. Her experience in early childhood program development includes coursework on “Early Childhood Development for Sustainable Development” and training at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University in “Science-based Innovation Training: Reimagining Program Development and Evaluation.” Marin works on program design for training caregivers in critical skills of sensitivity and responsiveness to improve young children’s cognitive, language, and motor development. Pairing nutrition with psychosocial stimulation greatly improves cognitive function and subsequent school performance. Responsive stimulation in the early years is recognized by UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank as a high impact, evidenced-based, early intervention for reducing poverty and increasing shared prosperity and achieving the UN sustainable development goals. Marin also compiled the knowledge base for a United Way initiative promoting responsive relationships that bolster resilience in youth at risk for depression and anxiety.

Xuanyi "maxwell" nie

Maxwell is a graduate student fellow with the FWE Consortium focused on urban and regional planning in the East Mediterranean and East Indies Corridors. He is an architect and doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. His dissertation research concerns the integration of healthcare-related industry and urban development under China’s transitioning economy. He has worked at KPF, Kengo Kuma and Associates, New York Department of City Planning and NBBJ in Boston. His design work has been featured on various platforms, including Boston Society of Architects Design Exhibition, Outside Art Fair in New York City and LUX design festival in New Zealand. Xuanyi received his Master of Architecture Degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He also holds a Bachelor of Architectural Studies from Victoria University of Wellington, earning the NZIA Student Design Award and the Dean’s Award. Xuanyi speaks Chinese, and enjoys travel, reading and soccer.

brieanne martin

Brieanne is a graduate student fellow with the FWE Consortium focused on nutrition and environmental health in the East Indies Corridor. She is a current candidate for a combined Master of Global and Environmental Health and a Master of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked in private and nonprofit organizations as an advocate for health, developing skills in social service coordination, curriculum development, client outreach and patient advocacy. She has also served as a volunteer interpreter, working with global health programs in El Salvador. Her interests lie in global environmental health and the anthropogenic intersections of public health and urban planning. Brienne speaks Spanish, Portuguese and Hungarian, and enjoys swimming, triathlons, singing and dancing.

BRITTNEY MELLOY

Brittney Melloy is a graduate student fellow with the FWE Consortium focused on social and economic development in the East Mediterranean and East Indies corridors. She is a Master’s in Public Policy candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Brittney previously worked on carbon emissions reduction and social and environmental safeguards at the World Bank in Jakarta, Indonesia. She also has experience working for the Center for Sustainable Development at the Columbia University Earth Institute, where she managed a project on forest fire prevention in Indonesia in order to reduce haze impacts and greenhouse gas emissions. Before that, she worked as a Princeton in Asia Fellow at Search for Common Ground, a peacebuilding and conflict resolution NGO in Jakarta, Indonesia. Brittney also holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University. She speaks Indonesian, Spanish, and Javanese.

ALEX KHOURY

Alex Khoury is a graduate student fellow with the FWE Consortium focused on social and economic development in the East Mediterranean corridor. He is a Master in Public Administration in International Development candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Alex previously worked as a public health research fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and a Research Assistant on socioeconomic analysis of Syrian and Palestinian Refugees at the American University of Beirut. Alex also worked in business development for an MFI focused on farming in Ghana. Alex holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and International Studies from American University, and speaks Arabic.

lila madariaga

Lila is a research fellow with the FWE Consortium focused on environmental engineering and systems dynamics. Lila received a Master in Public Administration from Brigham Young University, and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering from Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina. She previously worked as a consultant for AC&A Engineers, Economists & Planners, a visiting research fellow at Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, and a short-term consultant at the World Bank. Lila speaks Spanish and enjoys singing, acting in plays, reading, hiking, and rowing.

SALAH HOURANI

Salah is the Project Manager for Nexcore Jordan. He received a Master in Organizational Leadership from Brandman University, in Monterey, California, and a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from Al Isra University in Jordan. He previously worked as a long-term Project Management consultant for Northrup Grumman & Vinnell Arabia in Riyadh, KSA, and as an Assistant Professor and Project Manager for the US DoD at the Defense Language Institute. Salah speaks Arabic.