Mar 30 2006
Sam Nunn Bank of America Policy Forum
It’s time for a policy forum update. This year’s topic was “The Impact of Information and Communications Technology on Economic Development, National Competitiveness, and Social Justice.” Sunday night we had a dinner with a speaker from the CSIS. We had some security problems before the event started, so it was delayed for almost 2 hours. In the end, everything went alright; dinner was wonderful with fillet minion and shrimp. I met Senator Sam Nunn and Georgia Tech’s President Clough as well. It was also a great time to meet other INTA students and grad students.
I made it to the forum around 12:30 on Monday, while everyone was at lunch, so Emily and I went to Barnes and Noble for a bit. When we came back, they allowed us to just sit in on the forum and listen to the speakers. It was so fascinating.
The panelists were:
Dr. Karen Mossberger - University of Chicago
Dr. Bart Cohen - Anti-Defamation League
Dr. Nancy Hafkin - Director of Knowledge Working, began the Pan African Development Information System of the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Africa
Dr. Joseph Reid - Center for Disease Control
Dr. Sylvia Maier - my teacher and PURA advisor, Associate INTA Professor
Senator Sam Nunn
Tuesday’s workshop was wonderful as well, even though it required me being there at 7:45 am. It was held in the Wardlaw Center and there was a Conflict Reconciliation Workshop and the Gender, Empowerment, and ICTs workshop, which I was a part of.
Some of the many speakers at the workshop included:
Dr. Chetan Sharma - Datamation
Dr. Susan Schaefer-Davis - founder of the non-profit Women Weavers Online
Dr. Karen Mossberger and Nancy Hafkin again
and a lot more.
The workshop was great for me because it gave me the chance to network with a lot of these speakers, ask them how they got started with their projects, and get advice from them about my research project as well. I’m hoping to speak with a few of them later on concerning internship opportunities.