Mariah Valerie Barber

Mariah Valerie Barber, a Master in Urban Planning Candidate with an Urban Analytics concentration at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design (MUP, 2019), is dedicated to developing a deeper understanding of how technology and urban development affect the state of international affairs and vis-versa. Thus far at Harvard, she has worked as a research assistant for the Harvard Bloomberg City Initiative, and is currently a research fellow of the Harvard Kennedy Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation China Programs, as well as the Harvard-Brazil Cities Initiative of the David Rockefeller Center. Through the Ash Center, she is conducting researching the role the Chinese tech companies, Alibaba and Tencent, in the development of Hangzhou and Shenzhen, China. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Policy Analysis and Sociology from Pomona College. She has successful completed the Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA), Critical Language Scholarship in South Korea, and Fulbright Brazil fellowship. As a Fulbright Fellow, she conducted urban planning research, with Catalytic Communities in Rio de Janeiro, focused on the redevelopment projects of 2016 Rio Olympics.