Kerry Initiative announces 19 Kerry Fellows
The Jackson School of Global Affairs announces its newest class of Kerry Fellows, who will contribute to policy research on climate change, global economic development and international diplomacy.

Courtesy of Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs
Before being named one of this year’s Kerry Fellows, Paulina Prasad MPP ’24 was a volunteer for the Peace Corps, teaching English at a high school in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Prasad was selected as a Kerry Fellow for the 2022-23 academic year alongside 18 other University students. The Kerry Fellows program gives students throughout the University the opportunity to conduct policy research on climate change, global economic development and international diplomacy. The program operates under the Kerry Initiative, which was founded by former Secretary of State John Kerry ’66 in 2017.
“The Kerry Fellowship was one of the draws to the Jackson School before I even applied to Yale,” Prasad said. “What I’m hoping to get out of it is to learn through attending meetings or conferences, writing assignments or even just conversing with my peers and the mentors of the program.”
As a student researching climate policy, Prasad said that it was especially exciting to be named a Fellow as John Kerry is the inaugural U.S. special presidential envoy for climate under President Joe Biden.
The Jackson Institute, previously part of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, houses the Kerry Initiative. The Initiative is now partnered with the Jackson School of Global Affairs since it became Yale’s newest professional school this fall.
“The Jackson School’s bigger presence and enhanced visibility certainly has driven interest and applications way up,” David Wade, who leads the Kerry Initiative alongside Sona Lim GRD ’13 wrote in an email to the News. “The elevation of Jackson to a school is a boon to the program.”
Wade, who is Kerry’s longtime Chief of Staff and a lecturer at the University, worked with Kerry to design the Kerry Initiative in 2017.
For Wade, “diversity of life experience” is what sets this class of Kerry Fellows apart.
”Every one of our Fellows is brilliant and each of them have unique points of view shaped by experiences as different as service in combat to designing NGOs in a conflict-state to working in parliaments and federal agencies and academia,” Wade wrote. “Great thinking and quality research and writing comes out of unique, diverse perspectives[. … Kerry] didn’t want “yes” people agreeing around the table. He wanted debate. He wanted fresh ideas. That’s what this class of Fellows offers.”
With a broad range of professional and academic experiences, each Fellow contributes a unique perspective to the policy focuses of the initiative.
Another fellow, Lily Engbith ’17, a first-year MBA candidate at the School of Management, wrote case studies on a variety of topics with the Yale Program on Financial Stability. Engbith also spent three semesters researching the decline of moderate conservatism and was a first-hand witness to the 2019 Extradition Bill protests.
“The Kerry Initiative will provide me the space and resources to delve deeply into these interdisciplinary questions while also allowing me to engage with peers and mentors who share similar concerns,” Engbith wrote in an email to the News.
One of the Initiative’s core focus areas is “global climate change and oceans issues,” which is reflected in the interests and aspirations of several Fellows.
“I’m focused on how federal governments can create public climate policies to promote the use of greener technologies,” Prasad said, “I’m also interested in drafting international climate negotiations, so working on something like the Paris Agreement would probably be my dream job.”
Nathan Chael LAW ’24 noted that his upbringing in New Mexico influenced his interest in energy policy. He explained that his focus is on climate change law and policy, which intersects with the program’s core focus area on climate.
The Fellows accepted to the program come from across the University, including Yale College, Yale Law School, the Yale School of Management, the Yale School of the Environment, the Yale School of Public Health, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Jackson School of Global Affairs.
Three undergraduate students, Francesca Nyakora ’24, James Hatch ’24, and Philip Mousavizadeh ’24, were named Kerry Fellows. Mousavizadeh was previously a staff reporter for the News.
In an email to the News, Jackson Dean Jim Levinsohn expressed his excitement for the Kerry Initiative taking root at the new Jackson School.
“Part of Jackson’s mission is to train the next generation of leaders who will tackle the global challenges of the day and the Kerry Initiative fits squarely into that mission,” Levinsohn wrote.
Prasad noted that Jackson’s small size gives it a “strong sense of community” which fosters conversations with peers and professors—something she looks forward to as a Kerry Fellow.
Kerry served as secretary of state from 2013 to 2017.