GII Associated Faculty
Djavad Salehi-Isfahani
Djavad Salehi-Isfahani is professor of Economics at Virginia Tech and Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. During 2008 he is a GII Associated Faculty in conjunction with his role leading the research agenda of a new Middle East Youth Initiative at the Wolfensohn Center for Development at Brookings. ISCE-GII support has facilitated Djavad’s in-residence participation in the project during Spring Semester 2008.
Fuzhi Cheng
Fuzhi Cheng was Research Fellow at GII during October 2007-June 2008 and continues to be an associated faculty. Dr. Cheng’s areas of interest include exchange rate effects on agricultural prices and measures of government support, agricultural development, and commodity futures markets. He completed a Ph.D. in Economics at Virginia Tech in September 2005 and was post-doctoral fellow at Cornell University before coming to GII. Dr. Cheng is currently a market commodity analyst at Noble Group.
Graduate Students, 2008-2009
Cristóbal Mejía
Cristóbal Mejía served as a GII summer intern during May-August 2008. He gathered materials and prepared a background report on the causes and effects of the sharp rise in world food prices that occurred in the first half of the year. This material provided the basis for a presentation by David Orden titled “Higher Food Prices and What the Mean to the Economy” at a Mercatus Center Capitol Hill Course, Rayburn House Office Building, June 19, 2008. Cris further developed this work as his final project paper and received his Master’s in Public Administration/Public Affairs from Virginia Tech’s Alexandria program in December 2008. In March 2009 Cris presented his paper at the Yale University Bouchet Conference on Diversity in Graduate Education.
Hina Nazli
Hina Nazli is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Guelph, and collaborator with GII on its research on the cotton-textile sectors in Pakistan. Her dissertation addresses the policy issues and economic impacts for Pakistan related to regulation and availability of genetically-modified Bt cotton, which has been adopted among its regional trade partners and competitors by both China and India. With support from GII/ISCE, during December 2008-March 2009 Hina is undertaking field research on the adoption attitudes and practices of small-farm cotton producers in two of Pakistan’s main cotton production regions. She expects to complete her dissertation in August 2009.