Barev! Hello! My name is Daniel Shapiro. I'm 25 years old and am originally from Columbia, Missouri, although I was born in Chicago. After graduating high school, I moved out to Rhode Island, where I studied Political Science and Slavic Studies at Brown University. While I was in college, I studied abroad in Moscow, Russia, and later interned at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. But I've always loved the Caucasus region in specific: for my senior thesis, I wrote about the post-war restoration process in the Russian region of Chechnya, located in the Caucasus. I then got my Master's degree at Harvard University, where I studied the politics of Russia and the Caucasus as well. During this program, I applied for and received a Fulbright research grant to Yerevan, Armenia! Here, I study how the presence of Armenian diaspora communities in the U.S. and Russia affect how Armenia formulates its foreign policy regarding the two superpowers. Armenia is a beautiful country with tall mountains and warm hospitality, and I'm really looking forward to sharing it with you!
