2025 Public Scholars
The Moynihan Center Announces its 2025–2026 Public Scholars Cohort
We are delighted to announce the 2025–2026 cohort of the Moynihan Public Scholars Fellowship. Gregory Conti, Jonathan Derbyshire, Amana Fontanella-Khan, Manjari Mahajan, Dan Mathis, Brittany N. Montgomery, Naomi Schaefer Riley, Harry Siegel, and Tevi Troy will join our intellectual community at The City College of New York. Each Fellow will receive an unrestricted award and participate in the weekly Moynihan Seminar, bringing diverse perspectives to bear on pressing public issues while engaging with City College's vibrant academic community.
Gregory Conti
Political Theorist, Princeton University
Gregory Conti is a distinguished political theorist and intellectual historian at Princeton University whose work examines how ideas of democracy, liberalism, and representative government evolved during the long nineteenth century. His scholarship reveals the rich historical debates that can inform our current political challenges, particularly around questions of liberal democracy and freedom of expression. Conti has held positions inside and outside academia that bridge ideological divides, including serving on the executive committees of both Princeton's James Madison Program and its University Center for Human Values.
Rethinking Liberal Democracy's Foundations
At the Moynihan Center, he will develop a book examining the history of liberalism and evolving ideas about equality within liberal thought, offering insights that transcend contemporary partisan frameworks while engaging with pressing questions about free speech and academic freedom. He also plans to continue writing for the public on contemporary political and academic controversies. His work provides essential historical context for understanding today's political realignments and institutional challenges.
Jonathan Derbyshire
US Opinion Editor, Financial Times
Jonathan Derbyshire is the US opinion editor of the Financial Times, bringing extensive experience as an editor, journalist, and public intellectual. Previously serving as the paper's executive opinion editor, and before that as managing editor of Prospect magazine and culture editor of The New Statesman, Derbyshire has cultivated spaces for rigorous debate across political divides. Trained in philosophy with postgraduate work at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes in Paris, he bridges academic and journalistic worlds with uncommon sophistication.
The Intellectual Roots of America's Culture Wars
During his fellowship, Derbyshire will work on Theory Wars: French Thought in America and the Struggle for the Soul of a Nation, an ambitious narrative intellectual history examining how French theory transformed American academic and public life. This project provides critical historical context for understanding contemporary debates about higher education, culture, and the so-called "culture wars" by revealing their deeper intellectual roots in controversies that began in the 1970s.
Amana Fontanella-Khan
Opinion Editor, The Guardian US
Amana Fontanella-Khan is the Opinion Editor at The Guardian US, where she works daily to foster substantive dialogue across political divides. Her editorial leadership has created platforms for diverse voices ranging from academic philosophers and elected officials to movement leaders and activists. She is also the author of Pink Sari Revolution, a work that brought global attention to women's grassroots activism in India.
Reclaiming Techno-Optimism for Progressive Politics
At the Moynihan Center, Fontanella-Khan will develop a series of essays exploring techno-optimism—an ideology currently associated with Silicon Valley billionaires—and how progressive thinkers can reclaim the Enlightenment values of scientific and technological advancement as universal values. Her project represents a bold attempt to bridge partisan divides around technology policy at a critical moment in the development of artificial intelligence and other transformative technologies, challenging both left and right to move beyond nostalgia toward a more hopeful vision of technological progress.
Manjari Mahajan
Scholar of Science, Technology, and Public Policy, The New School
Manjari Mahajan is Associate Professor of International Affairs and Co-Director of the India China Institute at The New School, bringing expertise on global health, the politics of science and technology, international development, and philanthrocapitalism. Her interdisciplinary research spans science and technology studies, public policy, and anthropology, with particular focus on India and South Africa.
Ethics, Knowledge Production, Democracy
During her fellowship, Mahajan will develop a critical genealogy of the ethical notion of "conflict of interest," examining how this once-central ethical principle in biomedical research has been progressively sidelined in contemporary discourse and practice. The project’s attention to the principle of conflict of interest provides a lens through which to explore shifting public values in democracy, including blurring lines between public and private sectors, changing standards of accountability, and evolving conceptions of authoritative knowledge. By tracing how this principle has evolved from the 1970s to today, Mahajan illuminates broader questions about institutional trust and ethical governance in democratic societies.
Dan Mathis
Urban Sustainability Expert and Public Policy Practitioner
Dan Mathis serves as Senior Advisor for Policy and Sustainable Housing at the NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development, where he provides counsel on climate policy issues affecting the financed affordable housing sector and broader housing market in New York City.
Housing Policy and Climate Resilience
At the Moynihan Center, Mathis will explore how climate change is integrated into the broader discourse on housing and environmental ethics, focusing on the evolving impact of environmental challenges on our living conditions and infrastructure. This work addresses a critical governance dilemma: ensuring housing is affordable, livable, and resilient while balancing economic interests with the protection of vulnerable residents. As both a policy practitioner and educator at Columbia University's Sustainability Management program, Mathis embodies boundary-crossing work that connects theoretical insights with practical governance solutions.
Brittany N. Montgomery
Urban Mobility Expert and Public Service Leader
Brittany N. Montgomery brings over 18 years of leadership experience delivering complex transportation and urban development projects across Latin America, the United States, and East Asia. She currently serves as Senior Advisor of Special Projects at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and previously advised the Secretary of Mobility in Bogotá, Colombia on implementing innovative urban mobility solutions. Montgomery holds a PhD in Political Economy of Development from MIT and combines practical leadership with scholarly rigor.
Administrative Oversight, Bureaucratic Behavior, and Gridlocked Projects
Her work at the Moynihan Center will examine the impact of administrative oversight on bureaucratic behavior. Leveraging her experience in public service and academic research, Montgomery will explore practical governance solutions necessary to advance our most urgent policy challenges: how to build more equitable cities, address climate change, and provide the backbone of economic growth through public infrastructure.
Naomi Schaefer Riley
Child Welfare Expert and Public Policy Analyst
Naomi Schaefer Riley is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute focusing on child welfare and a senior fellow at the Independent Women's Forum. A former Wall Street Journal editor and New York Post columnist, she has authored seven books, including No Way to Treat a Child: How the Foster Care System, Family Courts, and Racial Activists Are Wrecking Young Lives. Her work brings critical attention to the widespread failure of American institutions to protect vulnerable children.
Rethinking Child Welfare and Addiction Policy
During her fellowship, Riley will explore the historical and contemporary impacts of substance abuse on children and families, examining how past responses to drug crises connect to questions of social mobility and family stability. Her research will draw lessons for our current addiction crisis from the temperance movement—often dismissed for its association with Prohibition, but notable for uniting a broad coalition of early feminists, abolitionists, civil rights leaders, and churches. This historically informed approach promises to challenge conventional narratives about substance abuse while proposing new frameworks for child welfare policy.
Harry Siegel
New York City Journalist and Urban Affairs Expert
Harry Siegel is one of New York City's most astute and respected journalists, serving as senior editor at the investigative news outlet The City, columnist at the New York Daily News, and creator and co-host of the FAQ NYC podcast. His penetrating coverage of urban governance, public safety, and civic institutions has shaped policy debates and public understanding throughout the city. Siegel's work is distinguished by its intellectual honesty and genuine commitment to understanding complex issues beyond partisan frameworks.
Reimagining Public Safety in New York City
During his fellowship, he will explore innovative approaches to public safety policy that move beyond both traditional policing models and contemporary reform movements, examining how cities can address mental health, homelessness, and accountability while ensuring community safety. By developing a more nuanced framework for understanding these interlocking challenges, Siegel aims to advance public discourse beyond the polarized debates that often characterize discussions of urban governance and policing.
Tevi Troy
Presidential Historian
Tevi Troy is a Senior Fellow at the Ronald Reagan Institute, a Senior Scholar at the Straus Center at Yeshiva University, a former Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services, and a presidential historian whose work bridges academic insight and practical governance.
Ideological Diversity and Democratic Discourse
Troy's work exemplifies the kind of boundary-crossing scholarship that the Moynihan Center seeks to foster. His latest book,The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between American Titans of Industry and Commanders in Chief, examines the complex relationship between business and political power throughout American history. At the Moynihan Center, Troy will explore new potential books projects, and continue to work to educate the next generation on the need to promote ideological diversity as an essential component of democratic discourse.
Fostering Dialogue Across Difference
The 2025–2026 cohort embodies the Moynihan Center's commitment to substantive exchange across ideological divides. From examining the historical roots of campus controversies to exploring challenges in child welfare policy, and from investigating conflicts of interest in biomedical research to proposing new frameworks for civic engagement, these scholars tackle complex questions, drawing from diverse intellectual traditions to inform their work. Their work demonstrates how rigorous analysis and open dialogue can enrich public discourse in an increasingly polarized society.
We are living through a tumultuous and unprecedented moment in our history. Deep reflection, listening, and debate are essential to help us chart a path forward towards a future where all can flourish.
Amana Fontanella-Khan
I'm interested in exploring how housing policies are evolving in response to environmental upheaval. I look forward to blending academic insights with lessons from the public sector—producing work that is both reflective and actionable, and contributing to the evolving discourse on the future of our cities.
Dan Mathis
At a time of unprecedented challenges to universities and democratic institutions across the world, it is profoundly meaningful to join a forum that seeks to build conversations across polarized echo chambers and create a sense of a common world.
Manjari Mahajan
I've admired Daniel Patrick Moynihan since I shook his hand as a boy in Central Park. I'm excited to be a Moynihan Fellow and to work on the ideas he championed throughout his life in service to our country.
Tevi Troy
Bridging Scholarship and Public Engagement
Moynihan Public Scholars exemplify Senator Moynihan's legacy of intellectual rigor and effective communication. Drawing from academic research, journalistic experience, and public service, they illuminate complex issues for broad audiences while maintaining scholarly depth. During their fellowship year, Fellows will develop work that moves beyond conventional ideological categories to address our most urgent social, political, and cultural challenges.
Mentoring Tomorrow's Civic Leaders
A central mission of the Moynihan Center is connecting established thinkers with the next generation of civic leaders. Public Scholars will engage with City College's diverse undergraduate community, particularly our Moynihan Public Service Fellows, modeling how thoughtful engagement with ideas can strengthen democratic institutions and civil society. Through formal presentations, informal discussions, and structured mentorship, they will help prepare students to navigate complex policy challenges with both principled judgment and openness to diverse perspectives.
