Programs & Operations Associate
saapri@saapri.org
Samyuktha Iyer is the Programs and Operations Associate where she organizes and manages SAAPRI’s core data, policy, and community initiatives. She will be focused on issues such as civic engagement, bilingual voter access, healthcare equity, and immigration. She is also responsible for coordinating SAAPRI’s fellows and interns, supporting development and community initiatives, and ensuring smooth program operations. Samyuktha is passionate about applying data-driven research to policy and community education to address the issues South Asians in the U.S. face.
In her previous roles, Samyuktha has been focused on academic research, community engagement, and policy advocacy in Michigan. She worked on issues such as hydroelectric dam impacts in the Global South, the adoption of climate-friendly actions in households, encouraging water conservation using communications tools, and climate resilience in Cambodia. At SAAPRI, she hopes to contribute her data analysis, research, and program management skills to the team. She graduated from Michigan State University with a B.S. in Economics and from University of Chicago with an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences with a concentration on Political Science.
By bringing both personal and professional experience working on the issues faced by South Asians in the United States, Samyuktha hopes to contribute to state and national conversations surrounding access to justice, equity, and civic engagement for this demographic. After work hours you will find Samyuktha exploring different neighborhoods in Chicago, cooking, spending time with friends, and reading!