Moynihan Center Fellows
Bold thinkers. Bridge Builders. Problem Solvers.
The Moynihan Center supports heterodox thinkers with diverse perspectives and promising students from diverse backgrounds. Fellows engage in the open exchange of ideas as part of a 21st century hub for academic excellence and leadership development within New York City’s flagship public college.
Through two signature fellowship programs and a rich slate of public events, the Center works to ensure that the next generation of public scholars and public servants reflects the diversity of viewpoints and lived experiences represented at City College and beyond.
Fellows Alumni Fellows
Sohrab Ahmari's Bio
Public Scholar
Sohrab Ahmari
US Editor, UnHerd
Sohrab Ahmari is the US Editor of UnHerd and cofounder of Compact magazine. He previously spent nearly a decade at News Corp, serving as an editor and columnist with the Wall Street Journal opinion pages in New York and London, and as the op-ed editor of the New York Post. In addition to those publications, his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Statesman, The Spectator, The New Republic, Times Literary Supplement, Commonweal, and Dissent, among many others.
Ahmari is the author of Tyranny, Inc.: How Private Power Crushed American Liberty—and What To Do About It (2023) and The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos (2021), both published by Penguin Random House, as well as The Triumph of Normal, forthcoming from HarperCollins.
Elmira Bayrasli's Bio
Public Scholar
Elmira Bayrasli
CEO and Editor-in-Chief, Interruptrr
Elmira Bayrasli is an entrepreneur, writer, editor, and former U.S. diplomat whose work sits at the intersection of foreign policy, democratic governance, and global innovation. She is the CEO and editor-in-chief of Interruptrr, a weekly newsletter elevating female expertise in global affairs, and the author of From the Other Side of the World: Extraordinary Entrepreneurs, Unlikely Places.Â
Bayrasli served as a presidential appointee in the U.S. State Department from 1994 to 2000, working for Madeleine Albright and Richard Holbrooke, and later as Chief Spokesperson for the OSCE Mission in Sarajevo. Her analysis has appeared in Foreign Affairs, Reuters, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, and she has been featured on CNN, NPR, BBC, and Al Jazeera. She serves on the boards of Our Secure Future, Turkish Philanthropy Funds, and the Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative.
Jonathan Derbyshire's Bio
Public Scholar
Jonathan Derbyshire
US Opinion Editor, Financial Times
Jonathan Derbyshire is currently the Executive Opinion Editor of the Financial Times. At the beginning of March, he moved to New York to take up the position of the FT's US Opinion Editor. He joined the paper in 2016, having previously served as Managing Editor of Prospect magazine and Culture Editor of The New Statesman. In addition to editing the FT's opinion pages, he regularly contributes book reviews, columns, and obituaries. Before becoming a journalist, he pursued graduate work in philosophy, spending two years on a Leverhulme Study Abroad Studentship at the École des Hautes Études in Paris. He has also taught at several British universities.
Victoria Diaz Garcia's Bio
Public Scholar
Victoria Diaz Garcia
Inter-Agency Coordination Specialist, UN Women
Victoria Diaz Garcia is an Inter-Agency Coordination Specialist at UN Women, where she has spent fifteen years shaping international norms on gender equality and translating them into institutional practice. Her work involves engaging governments, civil society, and UN entities on issues of governance and accountability, often in complex contexts, where she facilitates dialogue among policymakers from diverse ideological perspectives.
She holds a PhD in Politics and International Relations from Dublin City University, where her research focused on institutional effectiveness in advancing women's rights. Her career at UN Women has included assignments at headquarters in New York, regional offices in Latin America and Africa, country offices in Afghanistan and Nicaragua, and at a joint office serving Tunisia and Libya. She has also worked in public administration, at Amnesty International, and in the NGO sector, experience that enables her to analyze accountability from both institutional and community perspectives.
Stefan Eich's Bio
Public Scholar
Stefan Eich
Assistant Professor of Government, Georgetown University; Fellow, Remarque Institute
Stefan Eich is Assistant Professor of Government at Georgetown University. His research is in political theory, intellectual history, and the history of political thought, especially the political theory of money and the politics of financial capitalism. He was the 2022/23 Richard B. Fisher Member in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS).Â
He is the author of The Currency of Politics: The Political Theory of Money from Aristotle to Keynes (Princeton University Press, May 2022), which was awarded the David and Elaine Spitz Prize as well as the APSA Foundations of Political Theory Best First Book Prize. His work has appeared in Political Theory, American Journal of Political Science, Modern Intellectual History, History & Theory, Finance & Society, Review of International Political Economy (RIPE), and Capitalism: A Journal of History and Economics. With Martijn Konings, he co-edits a book series at Stanford University Press on "Currencies: New Thinking for Financial Times."Â
Prior to Georgetown, Stefan was a fellow at the Princeton Society of Fellows and received his doctorate from Yale University. Having grown up in Germany, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford and received a masters in Political Thought and Intellectual History from the University of Cambridge.
Amana Fontanella-Khan's Bio
Public Scholar
Amana Fontanella-Khan
Opinion Editor, The Guardian US
Amana Fontanella-Khan is the Opinion Editor at The Guardian US and the author of Pink Sari Revolution. Her work has appeared in The Financial Times, The Guardian, The New York Times, Slate, Christian Science Monitor, Conde Nast Traveller and other outlets.
Emily Greenhouse's Bio
Public Scholar
Emily Greenhouse
Editor, The New York Review of Books
Emily Greenhouse is the editor of the New York Review of Books, a magazine of politics, literature, art, and ideas founded in 1963. She is the first woman to be sole editor of the magazine, and when she was appointed was the youngest editor in its history. During her tenure, she has broadened the magazine's contributor base, bringing in more women writers, and writers of color, expanding across generations all while holding to the editorial standards and commitments of the Review's founders. Greenhouse has also built a paid internship program, now in its sixth year, that brings CUNY students into the magazine's editorial work, widening the entry door into publishing. Many have gone on to full-time jobs in the field. Previously, Greenhouse worked as an editorial assistant at Granta Magazine, The New York Review, and The New Yorker. Before returning to The New York Review, she worked as a politics reporter at Bloomberg and then as the managing editor at The New Yorker.
Nikhil Kumar's Bio
Public Scholar
Nikhil Kumar
Executive Editor, TIME
Nikhil Kumar is Executive Editor at TIME, where he oversees coverage across climate, health, news, and ideas while contributing to the magazine’s global editorial strategy. He is an award-winning journalist with extensive experience reporting on major political, economic, and social events from around the world.
Kumar rejoined TIME in January 2025, after helping launch the Washington-based news analysis startup Grid and reporting across Asia for CNN. Earlier, he served as TIME’s Deputy International Editor in New York and as South Asia Bureau Chief. His reporting has covered the Eurozone debt crisis, the Rohingya refugee crisis, the war in Afghanistan, and the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks in Sri Lanka—work that earned him an Emmy nomination. His debut novel, The Architect's Dream, was published in 2024.
Manjari Mahajan's Bio
Public Scholar
Manjari Mahajan
Associate Professor of International Affairs, The New School
Manjari Mahajan is Associate Professor of International Affairs and the Starr Professor and Co-Director of the India China Institute at The New School (New York City). Her research and teaching are on global health, politics of science and technology, international development, and philanthrocapitalism. Much of her empirical focus has been on India and South Africa, and on global organizations such as the Gates Foundation and the World Health Organization.Â
Manjari’s work, which lies at the intersection of the disciplines of Science and Technology Studies, Public Policy, and Anthropology, has appeared in a range of academic journals and also been featured in blogs and popular media such as The Nation, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. She has recently co-edited Constrained Expertise in India and China: Knowledge and Power in Policymaking, published by Amsterdam University Press (2025), and the blog, Pandemic Discourses. She has held fellowships at the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore, the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Germany, and the Social Science Research Council in the United States. Her papers have received prizes from the Society for Social Studies for Science and the American Anthropological Association. She holds a BA from Harvard University and a PhD from Cornell University.
Zachariah Mampilly's Bio
Public Scholar
Zachariah Mampilly
Marxe Endowed Chair of International Affairs, Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, Baruch College
Zachariah Mampilly is the Marxe Endowed Chair of International Affairs at the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, and a member of the doctoral faculty in the Department of Political Science at the Graduate Center, CUNY. He is cofounder of the Program on African Social Research.Â
He is the author of Rebel Rulers: Insurgent Governance and Civilian Life during War (Cornell, 2011) and, with Adam Branch, Africa Uprising: Popular Protest and Political Change (Zed, 2015). He is co-editor of Rebel Governance in Civil Wars (Cambridge, 2015) with Ana Arjona and Nelson Kasfir, and Peacemaking: From Practice to Theory (Praeger, 2011) with Andrea Bartoli and Susan Allen Nan. His writing has appeared in Foreign Affairs, Jacobin, The Hindu, Africa Is a Country, N+1, Dissent, Al Jazeera, The Washington Post​, and The New York Times. He has held fellowships with the Institute for Advanced Study, the Open Society Foundations, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Fulbright Program.
Dan Mathis's Bio
Public Scholar
Dan Mathis
Senior Advisor for Policy and Sustainable Housing, NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development
Dan Mathis is currently the Senior Advisor for Policy and Sustainable Housing at the NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development, where he provides advice and counsel on climate policy issues that impact the financed affordable housing sector as well as the broader housing market. He is a public servant and advocate focused on urban policy, environmental stewardship, and the impacts of climate change.Â
Dan is also a lecturer in Columbia University’s Sustainability Management program and was previously a policy fellow at Next100, a think tank where he focused on state and federal-level climate policy interventions aimed at protecting vulnerable communities. He is a graduate of Florida A&M University, the Hough Graduate School of Business at the University of Florida, and the University of Michigan Law School.
Brittany N. Montgomery's Bio
Public Scholar
Brittany N. Montgomery
Senior Advisor of Special Projects & Initiatives, Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Brittany N. Montgomery is committed to making cities better places to live. She is an expert in urban mobility systems and governance, with over 18 years of leadership experience delivering complex, cross-functional policies, projects, and programs for governments, non-profits, and private sector clients in Latin America, the U.S., and East Asia. From strategy and policy making to infrastructure delivery, technological innovation, and behavioral change, she has broad and deep knowledge of urban systems. Her writing explores the links between anti-corruption policies, administrative oversight, bureaucratic behavior, and the ability of governments to deliver infrastructure.Â
Montgomery currently works to provide New Yorkers better commutes, as Sr. Advisor of Special Projects & Initiatives at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. She previously served as an Advisor to the Secretary of Mobility in Bogotá, Colombia under Mayor Enrique Peñalosa. As an Ambassador to the BCG Henderson Institute, Montgomery wrote Untangling Conflict: An Introspective Guide for Families in Business, published with Penguin Random House in 2022, becoming an Amazon India Business bestseller. She holds a PhD in Political Economy of Development from MIT, a Master of City Planning and M.S. in Transportation from U.C. Berkeley, and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from MIT. She is an alumna of CORO Leadership NYC and the Boston Consulting Group.
Yadira Ramos-Herbert's Bio
Public Scholars
Yadira Ramos-Herbert
Mayor, City of New Rochelle
Yadira Ramos-Herbert is the Mayor of New Rochelle, New York, a practicing attorney, and a former higher education administrator who works at the intersection of research, policy, and lived experience. As mayor, she leads a politically and culturally diverse city where effective governance depends on listening across differences and building coalitions around shared goals. Her work focuses on housing, economic opportunity, infrastructure, and climate resilience, guided by data and grounded in constant public engagement.
Before entering elected office, Ramos-Herbert served as Dean of Students at Columbia Law School, where she worked closely with faculty and institutional leadership on curriculum and governance. She continues to teach and mentor, and brings to her public role a commitment to civic education, transparency, and the willingness to engage across ideological lines, a commitment shaped by the daily practice of governing.
Aaron Retica's Bio
Public Scholars
Aaron Retica
Editor-at-Large, The New York Times
Aaron Retica is an editor-at-large in the Opinion section of The New York Times, where he works with columnists, contributing writers, and occasional guest essayists, with a particular focus on American politics and history. He also occasionally serves as an informal podcast host for The Times. Retica has spent more than 20 years at The Times, primarily within the opinion section, where he previously served as politics editor.
Before joining the paper, Retica spent a decade at The New Yorker, where he began his career as a fact-checker. His professional background also includes work on political campaigns, the development of library collections, and the investigation of organized crime for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Noah Rosenblum's Bio
Public Scholar
Noah Rosenblum
Associate Professor, NYU School of Law
Noah A. Rosenblum is an Associate Professor of Law at New York University School of Law and faculty director of the Vanderbilt Scholars Program and Katzmann Symposium. He is also a faculty affiliate of the Department of History.
Rosenblum works primarily in administrative law, constitutional law, and legal history. His research takes a historical approach to the study of state institutions, seeking to understand how law can be used to promote democratic accountability. He is currently pursuing several projects on the history of the place of the president in the administrative state.
His academic writing has appeared in the Harvard Law Review, Columbia Law Review, and Yale Law Journal, among other venues, and has been awarded the Joseph Parker Prize in Legal History and the Fred C. Zacharias Award in Legal Ethics, among other honors. Rosenblum is also a frequent commentator on public law and New York state courts.
Ian Rowe's Bio
Public Scholar
Ian Rowe
Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute Cofounder, Vertex Partnership Academies
Ian Rowe is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on education and upward mobility, family formation, and adoption. Rowe is cofounder of Vertex Partnership Academies, a virtues-based International Baccalaureate public charter high school in the Bronx; chairman of the board of Spence-Chapin, a nonprofit adoption agency; and cofounder of the National Summer School Initiative.
In addition to serving ten years as CEO of Public Prep, Rowe held leadership positions at Teach for America, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the White House, and MTV, where he earned two Public Service Emmys. In Agency, Rowe argues that young people succeed when they embrace four core pillars of human flourishing: Family, Religion, Education, and Entrepreneurship (FREE).Â
Naomi Schaefer Riley's Bio
Public Scholar
Naomi Schaefer Riley
Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Naomi Schaefer Riley is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute focusing on child welfare as well as a senior fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum. She is a former columnist for the New York Post and a former Wall Street Journal editor, as well as the author of seven books, including No Way to Treat a Child: How the Foster Care System, Family Courts, and Racial Activists Are Wrecking Young Lives, (Bombardier, 2021). Her book, Til Faith Do Us Part: How Interfaith Marriage is Transforming America (Oxford, 2013), was named an editor’s pick by the New York Times Book Review.
Harry Siegel's Bio
Public Scholar
Harry Siegel
Senior Editor, The City
Harry Siegel is one of the pre-eminent journalists covering New York City, presently working as a senior editor at the investigative news outlet The City, a columnist (since 2013) at the New York Daily News, and the creator and a co-host of the FAQ NYC podcast. He is also a contributing writer for the policy magazine Vital City, a founding member of the Flaming Hydra newsletter collective, and a member of the New York Editorial Board.Â
Siegel, who covered national politics in previous stints as a senior editor at Politico, Newsweek, and the Daily Beast, has written about urban affairs and much more for a wide variety of prominent outlets. He makes frequent national and local media appearances to discuss his work and areas of expertise starting with but by no means limited to New York City.
Bhaskar Sunkara's Bio
Public Scholar
Bhaskar Sunkara
President, The Nation
Bhaskar Sunkara is the president of The Nation and the founding editor of Jacobin. He is also the publisher of Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, and Bookforum, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and Foreign Policy. He is the author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality and has edited several other volumes.
Though he writes from a democratic socialist perspective, Sunkara has built his public work around engagement across political divides, sustaining ongoing dialogue with thinkers at Compact, Reason, and The Free Press. He serves on the board of the Center for Working-Class Politics and has contributed to several of its research surveys on class dealignment and working-class voting preferences.
Tevi Troy's Bio
Public Scholar
Tevi Troy
Senior Fellow, The Ronald Reagan Institute
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 White House aide, and a best-selling presidential historian. His latest book is The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between American Titans of Industry and Commanders in Chief, named by The Economist and The Week as one of the best books of 2024.