Scholar Rescue Fund Team

Danielle Alperin is Assistant Director at IIE-SRF, where she has worked since 2016. Danielle has dedicated her career to work in non-profit and non-governmental organizations focused on supporting and advancing human rights and children’s rights, such as the London-based Child Rights International Network. She holds a B.A. in political science and history from Bucknell University in Pennsylvania and an M.Sc. in human rights from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Emily Borzcik joined IIE-SRF in 2013. She currently serves as Europe Director, where she heads the IIE-SRF Europe Office from Brussels, Belgium. From Brussels, Emily works to build and strengthen the program’s relationships with European partners and continues to oversee scholar applications and selection and contribute to strategic initiatives. She holds a B.A. in social welfare and Scandinavian studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.A. in international education from New York University. Prior to joining IIE-SRF, Emily served with the Peace Corps in Armenia and worked in the Republic of Georgia.

Stacey Chapple serves as the Grants and Communications Specialist with IIE-SRF, joining the team in 2022. She has been with IIE since 2009, working on a variety of projects over the years with both public and private sector sponsors, including Adobe, Cargill, Toyota, and the U.S. Department of State (the Fulbright Scholar Program and the TechWomen Program). She holds a B.A. in English/Creative Writing from Otterbein University and an M.A. in European Studies from Georgetown University. She is fluent in French and has intermediate proficiency in Italian.

Ashnar Dholakia is a Program Officer with IIE-SRF. She holds a B.A and M.A in international studies from DePaul University. Prior to joining IIE-SRF, she served as a development and communications assistant at the Aga Khan University’s East Africa Institute in Nairobi, Kenya where she conducted fieldwork on access to water, sanitation, and hygiene in urban informal settlements. Ashnar has also worked for a member of parliament for Malta at the European Parliament in Brussels, and later as a refugee resettlement case manager with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Amina Khan is a Program Officer with IIE-SRF. She holds a B.A. in International Affairs: Conflict and Security from The George Washington University. She has worked on various programs at IIE where she began her work on the Fulbright Scholar program for the MENA region and later transitioned to a program that provides critical language and culture training to Department of Defense personnel. For the past 7 years, she has served as a student Advisor; helping international students excel in U.S. higher education programs through academic and socio-cultural mentoring. She is fluent in Urdu with intermediate proficiency in Arabic. During her free time, she teaches ESL to Syrian Refugees in the Baltimore area.

James Robin King is Director of IIE-SRF and has worked with the program since 2011. A former Fulbright fellow in Jordan, James holds an M.A. in Islamic studies from Columbia University. He has published extensively on Yemen and is also the co-author of two studies published by IIE and the University of California, Davis that focus on the impact of the Syrian refugee crisis on higher education in Lebanon and Turkey. Prior to working at IIE-SRF, James worked on a state stabilization initiative in Yemen and on a project to measure the quality of governance within contemporary Muslim-majority states.

Carly O’Connell serves as the Partnerships & Communications Analyst with IIE-SRF. She holds a B.A. in Linguistics and Chinese Language and Culture from William & Mary and an M.A. in International Education from The George Washington University. Prior to joining IIE-SRF, she worked in public affairs and programs & global initiatives at the American Council on Education. She has also worked at an immigration law firm in Washington, DC, and taught English in Changzhou, China. In her spare time, she volunteers with D.C.-based mutual aid groups serving asylum seekers and other migrants.

Celine Taminian is IIE-SRF’s Special Advisor for the Middle East-North Africa region. Previously, she served for five years as IIE-SRF’s Iraq Scholar Rescue Project Manager for the MENA region, based in Amman, Jordan. Prior to her position with IIE-SRF, Celine worked with the U.S.-based Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, serving as Assistant Director to its Arab American National Museum. Born and educated in Jordan, she received her B.A. in English language and literature and her M.A. in American studies both from the University of Jordan.

Adam Vincent is the Application & Program Specialist with IIE-SRF. He holds a B.A. in communication and humanities from Villanova University. Prior to joining IIE, he worked as an Employment Specialist at the International Rescue Committee, a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Brazil, and a communication consultant for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Italy.

Caitlin-Marie is a Program Officer with IIE-SRF. She holds a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Latin American Studies from Georgetown University. She has recently returned to the United States after teaching English at a bilingual public elementary school in Madrid, Spain. Prior to joining IIE, Caitlin-Marie worked with the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States to help shape and promote their advocacy strategy on issues related to immigration, U.S. border policy, and human rights in Latin America.