2009 SSRC-IDRF Fellow Omar Cheta recently spent twelve months in Cairo conducting archival research. He was born in Egypt, attended the American University in Cairo as an undergraduate, conducted pre-dissertation research in Cairo, and then went on to spend his IDRF tenure in Cairo as well.

2010 SSRC-IDRF fellow Samantha Iyer was in Cairo when Egypt’s uprising broke out in mid-January. Her IDRF and Fulbright-sponsored dissertation research explores the intellectual and political economic history and pre-history of US international food aid to Egypt and India.