Special Interest Group, Comparative and International Education Society
Meet Our Team
Kelsey Dalrymple
Past Co-Chair
Founder & CEO
Kelsey is an Education in Emergencies (EiE) practitioner with nearly 15 years of experience in education and humanitarian response across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. She is also an educational anthropologist and scholar of Comparative and International Education (CIE). Her research is rooted in the fields of CIE, EiE, critical refugee studies, and the anthropologies of education, childhood, development, and forced migration. She primarily utilizes qualitative, ethnographic, & critical research methodologies. Her research explores processes of knowledge production, structural violence, systemic inequities, and how marginalized & crisis-affected communities experience various educational paradigms (e.g. social emotional learning, trauma-informed programming, play-based learning, etc.). She is currently a Teaching Faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the department of Educational Policy Studies.
Han Seth Lu
Co-Chair
Tech Lead
Han Seth Lu is an educator, researcher, and advocate specializing in education in conflict, emergency, and fragile contexts, with a particular focus on displaced and marginalized communities in Myanmar and Southeast Asia. He holds an Ed.M. in Teaching and Teacher Leadership with a concentration in Global, International, and Comparative Education from Harvard University and a B.S.Ed. in Early Childhood Education with a minor in Leadership from the University of Central Oklahoma. With over a decade of experience designing and leading inclusive learning initiatives across Southeast Asia, Han co-founded an educational center in Myanmar and has spearheaded digital education efforts under authoritarian regimes. He has also advocated for democratic reform and educational equity through his work with Students for Free Burma. Bridging grassroots innovation, policy engagement, and research, Han's work centers on strengthening resilient, equity-driven education systems that expand opportunities for historically underserved communities.
Elnaz Safarha
Co-Chair
Office Manager
Elnaz Safarha is a comparative and international education (CIE) researcher with over 13 years of experience across policy, research, and practice. Her work focuses on education in conflict-affected and emergency contexts across West Asia and West Africa, using critical, community-based, and participatory approaches. She specifically examines inclusive education at the intersection of disability, displacement, gender, and structural inequality, informed by critical political economy and decolonial feminist perspectives. Elnaz brings a strong policy lens in CIE, shaped by her academic training and professional experience leading and supporting education research and evaluations in over 17 countries. She is committed to bridging research, policy, and practice to advance equity in both formal and non-formal education systems. She recently completed her PhD in International Education Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park, with a Graduate Certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
Stephanie Martinez
Secreteriat & Communications Coordinator
Product Manager
Stephanie Martinez is a researcher, communications professional, and practitioner committed to enhancing education for youth affected by conflict and displacement. With more than nine years of experience managing educational initiatives for refugee communities in Greece, she combines practical expertise in Education in Emergencies (EiE) with a strong foundation in research and strategic communications.
Stephanie recently completed a Master of Science in International Educational Development at the University of Pennsylvania, where her research examined the intersection of trauma, learning, and resilience, with a particular focus on how trauma-informed education can support post-traumatic growth (PTG). Through both academic inquiry and field-based practice, she seeks to promote healing, resilience, and improved educational outcomes for learners in crisis-affected contexts.
In addition to her work in refugee education, Stephanie currently works in digital communications and public affairs, supporting nonprofits, educational organizations, and social impact initiatives through strategic communications, advocacy, stakeholder engagement, and community-building.
Yilin Wei
Awards Manager
Founder & CEO
Yilin Wei is an instructor and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Minnesota. Before returning to the USA in 2023, she used to be an educator and a school leader in K–12 international education in Asia. Her current research interests focus on interdisciplinary, intersectional, and conceptual studies and analysis of educational philosophies. Meanwhile, she also explores how those theoretical insights and lenses can guide and support her own pedagogical approaches and praxes.
Tekmiphy Muivah
Advocacy Manager
Tech Lead
Tekmiphy Muivah is a Learning designer with a graduate background in Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology from Harvard Graduate Schol of Education. Her work sits at the intersection of pedagogy, learning design, and education equity, with a particular focus on Education in Conflict and Emergencies (EIC). She has worked with students and communities across multiple countries navigating displacement, civil unrest, and systemic barriers to learning. She is a builder of communities of practice and a committed advocate for learners whose access to education is most fragile.
Wynter Oshiberu
Events Coordinator
Wynter is a multilingual education strategist, EdTech consultant with 10 years of experience designing, leading, and scaling high-impact language learning and inclusion programs across the U.S, Central America, and Asia. She’s worked to make equitable education and digital learning accessible to multilingual and historically excluded communities. She is passionate about the language learning field in particular teaching and managing Foreign Language and English as a Second Language programs.
Nasir Kaihan
Fundraising Coordinator
Tech Lead
Nasir Kaihan serves as the Assistant Director of Monitoring and Evaluation for Arizona State University’s Education for Humanity Initiative and is a Ph.D. candidate in Education Policy and Evaluation at Arizona State University. He brings more than 15 years of professional experience across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mexico, and the United States, with expertise in educational programs, policy analysis, development, grant writing, research, and evaluation. His work has primarily focused on supporting conflict-affected populations through evidence-based educational initiatives and policy development.
