Asía Frotan is a senior program assistant in the Center for Governance Law & Society at the U.S. Institute of Peace. In this capacity, she assists with several programs such as, Economics and Peacebuilding, Religion and Peacebuilding, the Africa program, and Colombia. Asía joined USIP in April of 2012. Before coming to USIP, she represented the third largest settlement company in all of the U.S. as one of their top business development specialists in the Northern VA/DC region.

After high school, her and her mother traveled to Afghanistan in the summer of 2003 to set up an all-girls school for girls and women who had been denied an education during the Taliban regime. Her passion for peacebuilding stems from her own personal experiences growing up as a refugee. She owns and operates a vintage online shop and also sells pieces handmade by the Afghan girls in order to raise funds for the school. She earned her B.A. from the School of Management at George Mason University. She plans to continue her education and earn her M.A. in Conflict & Resolution, focusing on gender equality.

Derek is a program assistant for the PeaceTech Initiative at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Derek joined USIP after three years as a research and teachers assistant at the Institute for Middle East Studies and the Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication at the George Washington University. The co-founder of the independent games company Send More People, Derek’s interests are in the Middle East, games, technology and conflict resolution. He received his Master’s degree in Middle East Studies in 2012.

Atta Nasib is the senior program assistant for the Rule of Law Center’s Afghanistan Program at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He recently worked with several programs in Washington, DC to facilitate inter-governance and rule of law dialogues related to Afghanistan. Atta previously worked with the UNDP Center for Policy and Human Development in Kabul, where he contributed to the Afghanistan National Human Development Report and conducted research on informal dispute resolution processes and water and agriculture-related conflicts. In Kabul, he also worked with the Multi-Part European Union program, leading a team of researchers to investigate how multi-stakeholder partnerships can positively impact human security.

Atta holds a Master’s degree from George Mason University in International Commerce and Policy, and received a B.A. in Economics from San Francisco State University. He speaks Pashto, Dari and Urdu.

Kelly Victor-French is a program assistant with the PeaceTech Initiative. She Started working at USIP in June 2013 after graduating with a M.A. in Conflict Resolution from Georgetown University. Prior to joining USIP, she worked as an intern at NASA Headquarters for the History Program Office, where she gained experience in social media and writing for publications. Prior to that, she was a research assistant for the Georgetown University Conflict Resolution Program. As an undergraduate student, she spent a year as a supplemental instructor for Liberal Arts Mathematics. Her interests include social media, space technology and policy, physics, science diplomacy, technology and peacebuilding. Victor-French holds a B.A. in History from Florida Atlantic University.

Meredith Shea is a program assistant for Rule of Law at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Meredith Shea joined USIP after working in counter-terrorism for the Americas. Previously, she researched and published articles for an international women’s rights non-profit, assisted consultants in emotional intelligence work for a leadership consulting firm, and provided international relations policy assistance and implementation support for a disaster relief non-profit in Australia. At USIP she works for Rule of Law’s Justice and Security Dialogue (JSD) program. JSD revolves around a series of facilitated dialogues in order to rebuild relationships between police forces and civil society in post-conflict countries. Her project portfolios include Iraq and Tanzania.

Meredith received her Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations and Creative Writing from The University of Pennsylvania, with time abroad studying at the University of Sydney and Universidad de Alicante.

Andre Ball joined USIP after a year of service with AmeriCorps in Austin, Texas. At USIP he is a program assistant in the Rule of Law center. Previously, he was a program analyst and high school admissions coach for a non-profit college access organization called College Forward. The organization assists first generation/or low-income students with the college application process. Specifically working with students in the field and within the program management team, he has also assisted in the expansion of the program within the Austin and Houston regions. Before his service with AmeriCorps, Andre was a legal research intern for a private firm and former law student at Florida A&M University. Andre graduated from the University of Florida in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and a minor in Asian Studies. His research interests include: human rights and civil liberties, international relations, human/labor trafficking concerns, equal access to higher education and advocacy as well as East Asian culture, Asian American affairs and politics.

Sarah Saleeb is a program assistant for Rule of Law at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Sarah joined USIP after working on Egypt and Syria research. Previously, she monitored Egyptian media and published blog posts on current events for the Atlantic Council. As a research assistant at the Middle East Institute, she researched the role of civil society in Syria. Sarah also spent time in Jordan working as a program assistant for the University of Virginia in Jordan study abroad program. She is particularly interested in the Arab countries in transition. At USIP, she supports the development of the Rule of Law course for the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law.

Sarah received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia in Foreign Affairs and Middle Eastern Studies, with time abroad studying in Irbid, Jordan.

Vijay Simhan is a program specialist at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He works on rule of law issues and handles outreach and multimedia efforts for the Rule of Law Center.

Prior to joining the Institute, he was a senior associate at Collaborative Communications Group, a consulting firm focused on non-profits working in education. In this role, he utilized design, management, facilitation, and evaluation tools to maximize impact for learning communities and to improve the effectiveness of organizations, through strategic planning, change management, online tools, among others.

He graduated with an M.A. in South Asian Studies from the George Washington University.

Megan Loney is a program assistant with the Center for Gender and Peacebuilding at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Prior to joining USIP, she interned at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations with the Military Staff Committee and International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Her research interests focus on the intersections of gender and security particularly related to disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of former combatants, counter violent extremism, and peace operations. 

She earned her B.A. in Humanistic Studies from Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, IN and completed a supplementary major in peace studies from the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Megan is currently working toward her M.S. in peace operations at George Mason University’s School of Public Policy.

Bethany L. McGann joined USIP after two years as a communications and programs assistant at The World Justice Project. Her previous experiences include research and support positions at the Public Diplomacy and Political Economy Offices of the Embassy of the United States to the Republic of Fiji, serving as an election monitor in Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea and providing comparative legal research for Fijian civil society consultations around issues of bodily autonomy and reproductive rights in the South Pacific. Her interests include gender, governance and legal empowerment. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in government from Smith College.

Nicoletta Barbera is a program specialist in the Gender and Peacebuilding Center at the U.S. Institute of Peace. In this capacity, she manages the overall programmatic operations of the Center. In particular, Nicoletta has contributed to the Center's Men, Peace and Security work, such as the Rwanda Dialogue Training for South Sudanese peacebuilders, the Missing Peace Initiative focused on mitigating sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings and the Center's work on increasing civic and political participation of young Afghan women. 

Prior to joining USIP, she worked for the Baltimore Council on Foreign Affairs and interned at the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations. Her research interests include women’s economic empowerment and electoral violence. Barbera earned her M.A. in International Affairs from the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs with a concentration in conflict and conflict resolution and her B.A. in Political Science and French from St. Mary's College of Maryland.

Ferdaouis Bagga is a program specialist for Rule of Law, Justice and Security at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Currently she supports the Justice and Security Dialogue (JSD) Program for the Sahel and Maghreb and contributes to the global JSD program at USIP. She first joined USIP in the fall of 2012 as a research assistant supporting the USIP Grants program. Previously, she was the program assistant for the Rule of Law Center’s Libya program supporting the implementation of JSD with local partners, promoting the rule of law through formal and informal institutions and conducting research on justice and security in Libya.

Prior to joining USIP, Ferdaouis worked with several programs in Washington, DC to facilitate interfaith, gender and youth dialogues. She continues to facilitate dialogues or advise on dialogue processes in her spare time. Her graduate studies focused on applied conflict resolution through dialogue, mediation negotiation, and training. She holds a master’s degree from American University in International Peace and Conflict Resolution, and received a B.A. in Political Science and English from the University of Florida. She is proficient in Spanish and Arabic.