Evermay Visionaries is a 12-month professional development and grant program that provides $50,000 in funding to an organization to support early career stage women gain an opportunity to be the primary investigator/author on a research project and to break through to the next stage in their career.

The partner organization receives $50,000 in funding per fellow that it can use towards the fellow’s research funding. In addition to funding, the award supports training in skill areas such as OP-ED writing, media training, securing grant funding etc., with access to office and meeting space at Evermay, S&R Evermay’s headquarters, to conduct and disseminate this research. S&R Evermay also aims to provide space and time to fellows to build community with peers and senior researchers across organizations.

2024 Visionaries

Rosa Barrientos-Ferrer

Rosa Barrientos-Ferrer is a Senior Policy Analyst for Immigration at the Center American Progress. Her family immigrated from Guanajuato, Mexico, and she grew up in East Los Angeles, California. At the age of 18, she was granted DACA and has since become an advocate for a permanent immigration solution for all of America’s 11 million undocumented immigrants.

Prior to joining American Progress, Barrientos-Ferrer worked for the Southern Border Communities Coalition, a national coalition convened by Alliance San Diego that works toward border policies that expand public safety for all, protect human rights, and welcome people at U.S. borders. Before that, she worked at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). There, she held various roles, from leading CHIRLA’s campaign to protect DACA to organizing undocumented youth in Northern California to successfully fighting to secure more education resources through the expansion of A.B. 540 and the passage of state bills such as the Dream Loan Program and Dream Resource Liaison—all for undocumented students through the state.

Barrientos-Ferrer holds an associate in arts in Chicano studies and social behavioral analysis from East Los Angeles College and a Bachelor of Arts in ethnic studies and political science from California State University, Sacramento.

Jamie Friedman

Jamie Friedman is a Domestic Climate Policy Analyst for the Energy and Environment team at the Center for American Progress where her area of expertise is tackling climate change with a focus on decarbonizing the industrial sector. She has produced research on the clean energy transition and the economic benefits of recent environmental policies including the Inflation Reduction Act. Her current research focuses on addressing highly emissive industrial sectors, such as cement and steel production, and examining the cybersecurity implications of transitioning industry to a net-zero future.

Prior to joining the Center for American Progress, Jamie was a Senior Research Associate at Climate Power where she worked to support ambitious climate legislation and counter climate misinformation. Previously Jamie was a Policy Associate at the think tank Frontier Group and Environment America where she published research on renewable energy growth, air pollution, and health policy issues including medical bankruptcy and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on nursing homes. Her work was cited by the New York Times, Forbes, and the LA Times.

 

Jamie began in climate advocacy by interning at the local level, where she led a campaign encouraging New Haven residents to reduce car usage, collaborating with the Yale Sustainability Office and local government. She also interned for Congressman Jim Himes who represents her home state of Connecticut. Jamie graduated from Grinnell College where she majored in both computer science and political science.

 

Notable Publications:

 

Cement and Concrete Companies Leading the Net-Zero Transition by Jamie Friedman

 

Historic Investments in Electric Vehicle Batteries and Chargers are Expanding Opportunities in Communities with High Poverty Rates by Jasia Smith and Jamie Friedman

 

Underserved Communities Are Benefiting From the Inflation Reduction Act’s Investments in Clean Energy and Technology by Jasia Smith and Jamie Friedman

 

An Electric Vehicle Toolkit for Local Governments and Texas Communities by Jamie Friedman and Luke Metzger

 

Unhealthy Debt: Medical Costs and Bankruptcies in Oregon by Jamie Friedman and Elizabeth Ridlington

MacKenna J. Rawlins

MacKenna J. Rawlins is a China expert and Research Associate for the Stimson Center’s Reimagining U.S. Grand Strategy program, as part of the Defense Strategy & Planning project which studies the role of military force and operational art in modern great power competition.

MacKenna graduated magna cum laude from California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo in 2021 with a BA in Political Science, Global Politics, and a Minor in Asian Studies. She also holds an MA in Chinese Economics and Political Affairs, with a focus on Foreign Relations and Security, as part of a highly selective and specialized program from the School of Global Policy & Strategy at the University of California, San Diego. Her quantitative skills involve text-as-data-analysis and statistical analysis using STATA and R.

Her research interests are of U.S. – China relations as well as Chinese foreign policy. MacKenna wrote her graduate thesis on the effects of the Belt & Road Initiative on the economy and public opinion of China in Indonesia and Nigeria. She has written extensively on Chinese military innovation, political culture, Hong Kong, COVID policies, economic policies, and Chinese history. She advocates for greater understanding and diplomacy between the U.S. and China.

Visionaries Alumna

Aude Darnal

Aude Darnal is a Research Associate in the Stimson Center’s Reimagining U.S. Grand Strategy Program, which seeks to challenge U.S. foreign policy conventional wisdom, question assumptions, and help policymakers manage risks, make informed decisions, and allocate resources wisely. She leads The Global South in the World Order Project, which seeks to elevate perspectives from the Global South on international affairs and global governance. She advocates notably for a wholesale restructuring of the current models for international assistance and responses to crises and for new forms of engagement between Western and Global South countries.

Prior to joining the Stimson Center, Aude served as an associate director at the Atlantic Council’s New American Engagement Initiative. She was also a mobile safety advisor based in the Lake Chad Basin at the International NGO Safety Organisation, where she performed empirical analysis on organized armed groups, and provided support for security related issues and access to humanitarian NGOs. She also worked in Guinea at Search For Common Ground, where she was responsible for peacebuilding program development, advocacy, and external relations with donors and institutional partners.

Aude has experience working a wide range of issues related to preventing conflict, strengthening civil society organizations and good governance, and supporting women and youth empowerment, in particular in West Africa. She also has experience in research, strategic communication, and program management.

She is from Martinique, in the French Caribbean, and she holds a Master of Science in Conflict Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and International Law from the University of Quebec in Montreal. She is fluent in French, Creole and English.

Aude is a monthly columnist for World Politics Review and she has been featured in publications and media outlets such as Chicago Council on Global Affairs, CNBC Africa, Deep Dish on Global Affairs, Foreign Policy, France 24, Just Security, NHK World, Responsible Statecraft, and VOA News, among others.

Natalie Fiertz

Natalie Fiertz is a Research Associate with the Environmental Security Program at the Stimson Center. Her research focuses on climate security, coastal vulnerability to climate risks, and international climate finance. She manages the Climate and Ocean Risk Vulnerability Initiative (CORVI), a decision support tool that integrates ecological, financial, social, and political risks and vulnerabilities to provide a comprehensive picture of the impacts of climate change in coastal communities. CORVI also develops locally-informed recommendations to empower leaders to take action and access finance to strengthen climate resilience.

Prior to joining Stimson, she worked at the Fund for Peace (FFP) where she focused on issues of conflict early warning and response, state fragility and resilience, and mercury use in small-scale and artisanal gold mining in West Africa and beyond. At FFP, her responsibilities included managing the annual Fragile States Index and leading the creation of the Resilience Index for Defining Effective Response. She has also worked for the African Development Bank, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.

Natalie holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago, where she focused on climate policy and subnational security and graduated summa cum laude from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in public policy studies and economics.

Julie Gregory

Julie_Gregory_HeadshotJulie Gregory is a Research Analyst with the Protecting Civilians and Human Security Program at the Stimson Center. Her areas of expertise include the protection of civilians, peacekeeping reform, mediation of armed conflict, and multilateral promotion of human rights. She is currently engaged in research and thought leadership on host-country consent for peacekeeping and the future of UN peace operations.

Prior to joining the Stimson Center, her experience spanned the Carter Center, Mercy Corps and the Office of the United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services. She is a trained civil mediator and has served as both a Small Claims Court and community mediator. She holds a Master’s in International Security from Sciences Po Paris, a M.Sc. in Management of International Organizations from Bocconi University, and a B.A. in International Relations and French from Franklin University Switzerland. She speaks English, French and Italian.

 

Notable Publications

Host-Country Consent in UN Peacekeeping by Julie Gregory and Lisa Sharland –forthcoming

Sharing the Pen in the UN Security Council: A Win for Inclusive Multilateralism? by Julie Gregory

Tackling Violence Against Women & Girls by Julie Gregory

A New Agenda for Peace: Strengthening the Ability of UN Peace Operations to Protect Civilians by Lisa Sharland, Julie Gregory and Ilhan Dahir

Strengthening Human Rights: Translating Multilateral Commitments into Action by Lisa Sharland, Julie Gregory and Ilhan Dahir

Violence Based on Religion or Belief: Taking Action at the United Nations by Aditi Gorur and Julie Gregory