Our staff of founders, researchers, and alumni network, past and present

Alumni and Network

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Our Staff

Carlos Rufin, I2UD President – Ph.D. Public Policy (Harvard Kennedy School), M.A. Economics (Colombia University), B.A. Economics (Princeton)

Carlos Rufin is a multi-faceted professional with advanced training in economics and public policy analysis, and extensive experience in the provision of urban utility services in the Global South. He has worked on numerous projects related to infrastructure development, public-private partnerships, renewable energy, electricity markets, and regulatory reform and governance. Having studied public infrastructure systems in many international contexts, he has sought to increase access to primary services for communities living in under-serviced areas.

Carlos combines his practice-oriented work with academic activity, teaching and conducting research on infrastructure-related governance in developing countries, multi-stakeholder partnerships, the interaction between business and informal institutions, and sustainable urbanization. A talented collaborator, he has worked with a wide variety of organizations around the world, such as the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Government of Panama, the United States Agency for International Development, and many private companies. In addition, he is the author of several books and numerous articles, and has been a guest speaker at many events and universities in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

At I2UD, Carlos is currently co-leading the development of AI Climate Platform, an innovative solution for climate change at the intersection of machine learning, poverty, and territorial planning for secondary and rapidly urbanizing cities in the Global South.

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John Driscoll, Vice President – BA (University of Maryland), MA (American University), AICP

Sitting in Mona Serageldin’s kitchen in 2005, John, Mona, and Francois Vigier committed to founding  I2UD and continuing their decades-long collaboration at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. John served as an I2UD Vice President until 2021. As a senior staff member, he had a reputation for being patient and persistent and for developing results-oriented programs by empowering local leadership through education, research, and technical support. Reflecting I2UD’s approach, he brought together and managed strong teams of local and outside experts to help development agencies and local governments adopt and implement participatory, integrated policies for urban development. His 35 years of international experience include active field-based engagement with central and local governments, community organizations, educational institutions, and international development agencies such as the World Bank, USAID, and the Agence Française de Développement, and the European Union, among others. With Frank, Mona, and Daniel Tsai, John encouraged and supported I2UD’s young professionals to further their careers, including many who when on to advanced degree programs.

He is an affiliate at the National Center for Smart Growth and Education at the University of Maryland, serves on the Planning Commission in Lexington Virginia, and is actively engaged in urban research programs with the World Bank. [top]

Alejandra Mortarini, Vice President and Treasurer – MUP (Harvard), MBA (Universidad Austral), Architecture (Universidad de Belgrano) 

At the Institute for International Urban Development (I2UD), Alejandra Mortarini is currently co-leading the development of the AI Climate Platform, an innovative solution for climate change at the intersection of machine learning, poverty, and territorial planning for secondary and rapidly urbanizing cities in the Global South.  With the support of the Patrick J Mc Govern Foundation Accelerator Grant, Alejandra is advancing an AI Climate Platform aimed at using machine learning (ML) to identify socially vulnerable areas and to predict and map flooding hazards, landslides, and land values in Honduras. 

Previously at I2UD, Alejandra led a study on the impacts of climate change on informal settlements in Cartagena, Colombia, and Condega, Nicaragua, and their land policy implications. She also worked as a senior planner in nine South African townships developing strategies and sustainable urban plans and designing impact projects to foster social integration, economic development, and environmental health in the Municipalities of Emfuleni, Ladysmith, and Lesedi. She was also a senior planner in the development of Urbanization Strategies and Urban Development Plans for the Municipality of Arusha, Tanzania, as well as in cities in Egypt, Syria, and Latin America.

Prior to her work with I2UD, she served as the Latin America and the Caribbean Program Manager at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, where she was responsible for operations and implemented more than 100 programs. Other roles include project management in India with Sasaki Associates and community task-force facilitation (HUD-COPC Grant) at the University of Massachusetts.

Her more than twenty years of urban land policy and planning work have encompassed collaboration with multilateral organizations and foundations, cities, and not-for-profit organizations in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and the US. Her leadership style is hands-on, based on participatory approaches, active listening, and centered on collaborating with local and international partners and clients.

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Daniel Tsai, Senior Associate and Fellow, and Board Member – BS (MIT), MS (Columbia), MDes (Harvard), DDes (Harvard)

Daniel Tsai is a senior associate/fellow (2005-present) and board member (2012-present). He teaches and conducts research at the MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Over the past 10 years, he has co-instructed the MIT Design Computation Workshop on Digital Heritage, investigating visualization technologies for architectural heritage projects in Italy, Japan, USA and other locales.

At the I2UD, Daniel has worked on the Jerusalem Monuments Database, the I2UD Digital Library, Arusha urbanization strategy and urban development plan, and other technical and quantitative spatial projects.

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Rachael Allen, Archivist – MS Library Science (Simmons University), BA History (Simmons University)

Rachael Allen is an archivist in the Greater Boston area. She joined the I2UD team in 2018 to jumpstart the cataloging and digitization of the Institute’s records, and stayed on to bring the project to completion in the form of publicly-available digital collections of I2UD’s photographs and reports. She also worked to inventory and digitize the extensive professional papers and photograph collection of Dr. Mona Serageldin, resulting in the Mona Serageldin Digital Archive.

Allen earned her M.S. in Library and Information Science with a concentration in Archives Management from Simmons University in 2019, where her studies focused on metadata, records management, digital collections, and preservation. Her work as an archivist centers on creating and managing metadata for both analog and digital media, as well as the technical and theoretical processes of digitization to create accessible digital collections.

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