Name: Ashley Feng

Background: 

1)      What major(s), minors, and/or certificates you are working on at UMD?

Government and politics and geographical sciences double major with a GIS minor

2)      What are your interests within your program(s)?

I’m interested primarily in international politics, with a concentration in East Asia, and political geography.

3)      What previous jobs, internships, and volunteer experience have you had?

I have been an English teacher in Taiwan, and interned at Polaris, an anti-trafficking non-profit organization in DC for eight months. I was the development fellow at Polaris for the full eight months, and worked primarily on grant writing and grant reporting. Due to extenuating circumstances, my last internship was with the National Defense University where I worked on helping to create a war game on the South China Sea Crisis, and researched the possible political and economic flexible deterrent and retaliatory practices of different actors in the game.

Besides interning, I’m also the vice president of the Residence Hall Association on campus, which is an organization that serves as the voice of all on-campus residents; we are a policy and programming body that works to represent the voices of on-campus residents in the Departments of Transportation, Resident Life, Residential Facilities, and Dining Services. Through RHA, I volunteer at our semesterly Meal Point Donation Drive, in which we raise money for local food banks. We also have an annual Beautification Day in which we help clean up different parts of campus, and typically have other service events throughout the year.

4)      Where you are from?

I am from Livingston, New Jersey.

Internship:

1)      Where you are interning?

This upcoming semester, I will be interning at the Congressional Research Service in the Asia Section, specifically focusing on trade and finance.

2)      What are your internship responsibilities?

I will be providing research support on various projects regarding East Asian trade and finance.

3)      How is the internship experience relevant to your studies in Geographical Sciences?

My internship experience is relevant to my studies in Geographical Sciences because it will be looking at the economic situation in a specific region, particularly East and Southeast Asia. My previous internships were more relevant to my studies in geographical sciences in a number of ways. At Polaris, they have a Data Analysis Program that uses data to map out different trafficking networks, which is similar to applications of GIS technology. At my last internship, at the National Defense University, I focused a lot on political geography, and how the locations of different countries could affect their actions.

4)      What are your career goals after your graduate?

After I graduate, I would like to find a job that would allow me to research the geopolitical implications for the future in East and Southeast Asia.

Congratulations Ashley!!