CIPA gave me a feeling of family. Since we live and study together in this nice town of Ithaca, the cohorts are united and diverse like a family unlike other public schools in the cities. I made many great friends here in CIPA from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds. The cross- discipline curriculum and freedom of course selections allowed for students to develop a tailor-made MPA program to fulfill their career goals and personal interests.
Long-term, I hope to be a leader in the public finance field, focusing on infrastructure projects. CIPA enriched me, helping me develop an understanding of public perspectives and policy considerations for making business decisions. I also gained experience working in the private sector with public perspectives.
I traveled to South Africa as part of a SMART team, which was tasked with developing marketing strategies for a local lavender farmer there. It was quite a challenging and difficult task to work with team members from different schools and disciplines at Cornell, while navigating a complete new country. The different stakeholders that we interviewed offered me a variety of perspectives for finding the best solution for the farmer. The research methodologies that we were called upon to use, the different ways of thinking that I observed in my team members and stakeholders, and the learning experience of working on a team were all enriching opportunities.
As I said before, CIPA is a big family. I attended lectures organized by Women in Public Policy (WIPP), participated in career orientation sessions led by the Cornell Public Affairs Society (CPAS), engaged in challenging material shared by CIPA’s Cornell Policy Review, and attended numerous events and parties across the community. Even though I was an international student, I always felt engaged.
My Capstone team partnered with the Inter-American Development Bank to develop an IT infrastructure plan for the El Salvador Ministry of Health. I performed a financial analysis and budget estimation for the project. From this project, I learned how to navigate and find solutions when your client is not clear about what project outcomes they are striving for at the outset.
As an Infrastructure Finance and Project Management Fellow (IPMF), I worked on a practicum project for aviation services in New York’s Southern Tier. We interviewed different stakeholders from the local and federal government, local legislative bodies, a senator’s office, and industry and academic experts. We were successful in finding a solution to balance conflicts that existed between some of these stakeholders. This real-world challenge was an excellent opportunity for us to practice what we learned in class and gain hands-on field experience.
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