Our Board

Varun Gupta, ’16, is a senior studying Mathematical and Computational Science. As a CISAC Honors student, he hopes to write (intelligently) about how transnational cooperation on infrastructure affects the security relationship between the involved actors. His policy interests include topics like improved fiscal and market designs and policy, the U.S. relationships with India, China, and Russia, equality in labor forces, and the relevance of technology to 21st century geopolitics. He also likes playing basketball and lifting heavy objects.

Emma Leeds Armstrong, '18, is the vice chair of fellowships and stipends. She plans to major in Political Science and Classics. In addition to her work in SIG, she works at a political startup off campus, edits an Undergraduate Classics Journal, and bakes challah with Challah for Hunger. This summer Emma worked as a research assistant to Stanford Political Science Professor Rob Reich. In the past, she worked on numerous political campaigns.

Hadley Reid, '16, joined the SIG fellowships team as a freshman and never left. After serving as Vice Chair of fellowships in 2015, she is excited to come back to SIG this year in an advisory role to the fellowships program. A human biology major with a concentration in global health policy, Hadley is pursuing an honors thesis through the program on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law on competition in the Indian pharmaceutical market and its effect on health care delivery. Ultimately, she plans to pursue her MD and combine her interests in both the clinical and policy sides of health care delivery. Hadley is also a radio producer for the Stanford Storytelling project, a fellow with the Stanford India Health Policy Initiate, and a budding foodie.

Riya Mehta, '18, is the director of the Public Policy Forum. She served on the committee her freshman year and is very excited to come back to it this year. She plans to major in Earth Systems with a concentration in Sustainable Food and Agriculture. She also serves on the ASSU Committee on Sustainability. This summer, Riya lived and studied at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where she became certified as a yoga teacher. She loves to begin her mornings with an outdoor yoga practice, and she teaches classes on campus.

Laura Zhang, ‘18, is the Director of International Fellowships of which she served as a committee member last year. She is a sophomore majoring in Economics and Mathematical and Computational Science and is taking Arabic classes on the side. At Stanford, she is also involved with the Stanford Economics Association, the Undergraduate Research Journal, and ASES and spent this summer as a consultant with Accenture in San Francisco. She is interested in all forms of economic policy and specifically international development. In the past, she has researched women's empowerment in the Middle East, lived in Oman on a State Department Scholarship, and traveled to Moscow with the Stanford US Russia Forum to study innovation policy.

Marin Callaway, '18, is the co-director of Alumni Outreach, and served on the Public Policy Forum last year. She is considering majoring in International Relations with a minor in Spanish or Latin American Studies. On campus, Marin also works as an Academic Theme Associate in the Crothers Global Citizenship residential theme and is the Co-Outreach Chair of the Jewish Student Association. She loves to travel, eat good Mexican food, and swim in the ocean.

Alec Pallin, '17, is entering his second year in the DC/National Fellowships committee as a Co-Director. He is majoring in Political Science and considering a minor in History. Alec is currently working for CREDO on analyzing public schools throughout the United States and is a research assistant for the Stanford Cyber Initiative. Other favorite activities include golf, public service organizations such as Circle K, and being randomly competitive about sporting events.

Zachary Sorenson, ’16, has been a member of SIG for three years and currently serves as the designer. He is majoring in computer science and completing a coterminal master's degree in public policy. Zach has interned for political campaigns, technology companies, the White House, and as a SIG fellow at the Sunlight Foundation. Zach works as a campus tour guide and leads freshmen backpacking trips as a SPOT leader.

Gabbi Fisher, ’17, is the co-director of Technology and was previously  on Special Events. She’s a computer science major, and is an undergraduate assistant for the McCoy Center for Ethics and Society. Last summer, Gabbi worked at the Sunlight Foundation on projects related to campaign finance; previously, she conducted research at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society on youths’ perceptions of online privacy. Gabbi is currently interning at the National Security and International Affairs Divison of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and previously was a Privacy and Civil Liberties Engineering Intern at Palantir Technologies this past summer. On campus, she is the video library producer for She++.

Ryan Holmdahl, '18, is the Director of Programming Strategy and served last year in the Public Policy Forum. On campus, he reviews TV for the Stanford Daily and serves on the Judicial Affairs Panel. He most recently interned at Seattle tech company Panopto, and has previously worked with the Washington State Republican Party and at Microsoft. In his spare time, he plays bass guitar and squash. He plans to declare a major in computer science.