Omar Salem

Omar
MIIS ALUM
Degree and Track:

Masters in International Policy Studies (Conflict Resolution)
Semester and Year of Graduation:
May, 2013


Internship period in CCS:

Fall 2012 to Winter 2014
Project(s) involved in through CCS:
Conflict Resolution Skills Training for North Monterey County Middle School in Fall 2012
Social Media and Leadership Project
Currently working with:
Mixed-Methods Evaluation, Training and Analysis Lab (META Lab) at MIIS
Centrality Consulting LLC
Job Title:
Research Fellow at META Lab
Founding Member at Centrality Consulting LLC
Current Location:
Monterey, California
Work Highlights:
The META Lab is conducting a coalition evaluation of 9 agencies and organizations working to reduce gang-related youth violence in Salinas, CA. This project employs cutting-edge, mixed-methods research and evaluation techniques. As a research fellow my job is to collect, manage and analyze relevant data from partners and clients in the field and to advise Monterey Institute students looking for assistance in learning new ways to conduct research and evaluation, while managing the day-to-day operations of the Lab.
As a consultant with Centrality Consulting, I most recently took-part in a large-scale evaluation of a USAID-funded consortium of NGOs, the Technical & Operation Performance Support (TOPS) program. In the coming months Centrality will be undertaking an evaluation of an international prisoner rehabilitation program with myself as the lead evaluator.
CCS and your career:
CCS has played a large part in my professional development by offering opportunities to expand my skill sets and put into practice the many things I learned as a student of Conflict Resolution. While participating in the Conflict Resolution training courses for middle-school aged children in Monterey County, I was able to practice the ability to adjust a curriculum to a young audience in a way the piques and captivates interest. Co-leading and planning lessons was also a great way to review the theories and practices of the Conflict Resolution field. The social media project allowed me to practice much of what I am now doing with the META Lab technically; I helped project teammates with technical and analytical aspects of the project and explored and tested new means of analysis and data collection, while concurrently learning about various uses of social media in diplomacy and political leadership.
Personal Highlights:
Most recently, I traveled to Hamburg, Germany to present at the annual International Network for Social Network Analysis “Sunbelt” Conference, where I co-presented original research titled “The Application of Social Network Analysis in Evaluating Violence Prevention Programs: A Case Study of Salinas, California.”
Causes most passionate about:
Domestically: Youth and gang-related violence and evidence-based policy making
Internationally: Water-related conflicts in the Middle East, the Syrian Conflict and American Foreign policy reform.