Visiting Scholars
2016
Riswandi
Riswandi is a lecturer in the Department of Economics at Syiah Kuala University in Banda Aceh, Indonesia where he teaches macroeconomics, development economics and mathematical economics. Besides teaching, Riswandi also serves as the secretary for the Quality Assurance Unit and is the coordinator of the International Program for Economics and Development Studies at the Faculty of Economics, Syiah Kuala University. His main research interest lies in analyzing and applying economic theories to education sector development. At Oberlin College, Riswandi hopes to fine-tune his Ph.D. research proposal on the topic of the intersection of education and economics with assistance from Oberlin professors. To further strengthen his proposal, Riswandi is currently enrolled in Economics of Education andIntroduction to Econometrics. In his spare time, Riswandi likes to daydream about farming at the countryside, especially at the George Jones Memorial Farm.
Farah Diba
Farah Diba is a lecturer in the Nursing Faculty at Syiah Kuala University in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Farah graduated from the Nursing School at the University of Indonesia and earned her Master of Public Health focusing on Gender and Health at the Berlin School of Public Health in Germany. During her Master’s program, she interned at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, creating a case-study report on the topic of Voluntary Non-Remunerated Blood Donation implementation in several countries. Most recently, she was the Gender, Health, and Society Consultant for Regional Development Planning Agency of Aceh Besar. During her time at Oberlin, Farah will take classes related to health and gender in hopes of sharing her experiences and new understanding of the body and mind with her community back in Aceh. In the future, Farah wishes to lead a foundation that focuses on women’s health and people with disabilities.
Padmaja Sankararaj
Padmaja Sankararaj is an Assistant Professor of the Physics Department and Coordinator of Center for Information Technology at Lady Doak College located in Madurai, India. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in physics on the topic of “Optimization of Non-Aqueous Electrolytes for Lithium Sulphur Batteries.” She is researching battery efficiency, performance and sustainability. She will also spend time in the Department of Chemistry to work on characterization of sample materials and analyze data for her thesis. In addition, she hopes to bring back to Lady Doak fresh insights of a more effective Learning Management System. Padmaja is passionate about exploring new fields of study research, and new technology in CIT. In her free time, Padmaja likes to cook and is excited to share her love for Indian cuisine with the Oberlin community.
Abdillah Imron Nasution
Abdillah Imron Nasution is a lecturer in the Faculty of Dentistry at Syiah Kuala University in Banda Aceh, Indonesia and looks forward to studying in the biology and chemistry departments at Oberlin. Along with the sciences, Mr. Nasution also plans to enrich his knowledge and experience by utilizing the ESL and writing classes here at Oberlin to build skills in order to pursue a PhD that is similar to the work he did while completing his Masters of Science degree in Oral Biology at the University of Indonesia in 2009 on specifically, the correlation between fluoride concentration and volcanic activity. His masters examined the nanostructure of fluorosis. Mr. Nasution also conducted research and supervised students in the faculty to use biotechnology, which sparked his strong interest in the subject of biochemistry. In fall 2014, Mr. Nasution taught Dentistry at the field of Orthodontic and Oral maxillofacial Radiology at Suleyman Demirel University, in Isparta, Turkey. His hobbies are spelunking and photography. He is also active at a local non-governmental organization called Karst Aceh.