20th
Panel - Technology and Development
Moderator: Craig Zelizer
Dr. Craig Zelizer is Associate Director and a Visiting Assistant Professor in the MA in Conflict Resolution within the Department of Government at Georgetown University. His areas of expertise include working with youth from violent conflict regions, civil society development and capacity building in transitional societies, program evaluation and design, working on conflict sensitivity and mainstreaming across development sectors, the connection between trauma and conflict, the role of the private sector in peacebuilding, and arts and peacebuilding.
Zelizer has worked extensively throughout Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America with diverse groups including civil society members, educators, youth, government officials, etc. To date he has worked in over 14 countries, helped train hundreds of individuals in conflict resolution processes and facilitated several long-term dialogue processes. Along with his international work, he was one of the co-founders and a senior partner in the Alliance for Conflict Transformation (www.conflicttransformation), a leading non-profit organization dedicated to building peace through innovative research and practice.
He recently launched a new free networking website for professionals, academics, and students interested and working on issues of international development and conflict. The website address is internationalpeaceandconflict.org
JP Singh
Dr. J. P. Singh teaches and researches international trade and negotiations, international development, qualitative research methods, and international cultural policies at Georgetown University. He is the author of several books related to technology and development, and his current book project is titled “United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization: Creating Norms in a Complex World” (Routledge, in preparation). He was Co-Principal Investigator for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders: A People Looking Forward, a 300 page report submitted to the U.S. President in 2001. Refereed article publications include those in Information Technology and International Development, Journal of International Communication, Telecommunications Policy, Info, International Negotiation, Prometheus, Handbook of International and Intercultural Communication, Encyclopedia of International Media and Communications, and several edited collections.
Singh holds several appointments related to his research interests. He is the Editor-in-Chief for Review of Policy Research, an official journal of the Policy Studies Organization, published by Wiley-Blackwell. He is also a political consultant for Voice of America’s Hindi broadcasts and appears regularly on their radio and television shows. He was a Visiting Scholar at the World Trade Organization in Geneva in 2004 and a Visiting Fellow at the New America Foundation (2002-04) in Washington, DC.
Ali Reza Manouchehri
Ali Reza Manochehri is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of MetroStar Systems. Manouchehri has transformed MetroStar Systems from a small start-up into one of America’s Fastest Growing Companies, as ranked by Inc. Magazine.
Manouchehri passionately believes that technology can change lives and help solve seemingly intractable problems. His latest endeavor, X-Life Games™, harnesses the power of mobile gaming to demystify the United States to an international audience, specifically Middle East, Persian Gulf, and Arab youth.
His path-breaking mobile application is reinventing public diplomacy, using an emerging new media platforms to engage the minds of foreign audiences by educating them about the realities of American culture. This unique approach is the embodiment of “e-diplomacy,” and reflects the new “soft diplomacy” approach favored by the Obama Administration.
