Graduate Assistants

Lawrence Anderson is a second-year student in the Political Communications program at American University. With more than a decade of public affairs experience, Lawrence is interested in the use of media, art, and text to explain socio-political movements. He holds a B.A. from Virginia State University, an MPA from Virginia Commonwealth University, and was a Political Leaders Fellow at the University of Virginia's Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership. Lawrence is a returning graduate assistant.

Katharine Silva is a first-year student in American's MPA program. She joins the SPA community after completing a summer research position in health care policy at Community Catalyst, a consumer advocacy organization, and a fellowship at the Massachusetts State House. Katharine also brings a strong background in performing arts and the nonprofit sector. She has her BA in Arts Administration and Music History from Simmons College. 

Rich Takacs is a second year PhD student at American University's School of Public Affairs. His research interests include federal agriculture policy, urban food access, child nutrition programs, and policy evaluation. Prior to attending AU and joining MPC, Rich was employed as a data scientist at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory developing technologies to facilitate open source data analysis, predictive modeling, and machine learning. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army and holds an MPA from UNC Chapel Hill as well as a BA in History from UNC Pembroke.