Nikhil Daniel
Studying how societies govern powerful technologies, international markets, and geopolitical risk.
Harvard College, Class of 2030
I’m a first-year at Harvard studying Social Studies and Statistics. I’m interested in how we govern new tech, how international markets react to global events, and how to make public services actually work.
In high school, I spent most of my time competing in debate and helping open it up to more students, writing for the school paper, and working on housing in Central Florida.
What I’m up to
- Studying Social Studies and Statistics at Harvard
- AI and policy research with Orit Shaer at the Radcliffe Institute
- AI Policy Fellow at the AI Safety Student Team
- Competing with the Harvard College Debating Union
- Associate for Ambassador Chris Lu at the Institute of Politics
- Advisory board member and former executive at Outreach Debate
Before Harvard
- Ranked as high as third in the country in Public Forum debate
- Won the Congressional App Challenge with ShelterSpot, a shelter-finder app
- Twice named Florida Journalist of the Year (Online and Emerging)
- Co-authored two NGO reports for the UN Human Rights Committee
- Technology innovation at the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida
- Co-founded Clusion, a debate prep platform
Pages
Find me elsewhere
Work
Research, policy, and public service.
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2026–
AI and policy research, Harvard Radcliffe Institute
With Orit Shaer, the 2026–27 Sally Starling Seaver Fellow at Radcliffe and a professor of computer science at Wellesley College, where she directs the Human-Computer Interaction Lab. Her Radcliffe project is a book, Weaving Wonder: Human Flourishing in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, which proposes a framework for designing and evaluating AI systems, drawing on cases from design, education, and emergency medicine.
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2026–
Associate to Ambassador Chris Lu, Institute of Politics
Ambassador Lu is a resident fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics. He previously served as U.S. Ambassador to the UN for Management and Reform, Deputy Secretary of Labor, and White House Cabinet Secretary under President Obama.
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Fall 2026
AI Policy Fellow, AI Safety Student Team
A small-group seminar on the pace of AI progress, risks from misuse and misalignment, and the policy responses on the table: model audits and evaluations, liability, transparency, compute and semiconductor governance, and international coordination.
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2025–26
System Improvement and Tech Innovations Intern, Homeless Services Network of Central Florida
HSN is the lead agency for Central Florida’s response to homelessness across Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties. It funds shelter and housing programs, runs the region’s coordinated-entry system, and tracks homelessness data to inform policy. I worked on system improvements and technology innovation alongside research on housing policy.
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Summer 2024
Legislative Intern, Florida House of Representatives
Interned for Representative Anna V. Eskamani of District 42.
Publications
Reports submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
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March 2025
NGO Report on Burkina Faso for the 143rd Session of the Human Rights Committee ↗
Co-authored on behalf of CVIA and presented at the UN Office at Geneva. The report documents political violence and the suspension of elections under military rule, gaps in civic education, and barriers to women’s participation in political life.
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October 2024
NGO Report on Pakistan for the 142nd Session of the Human Rights Committee ↗
Co-authored on behalf of CVIA and presented at the UN Office at Geneva. The report covers unequal political representation for women and girls, weak civic education, political violence, limits on free expression, and corruption.
Portfolio
Websites and products I’ve built.
Debate
Arguing for a living, so far without pay.
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2026–
Harvard College Debating Union
Harvard’s internationally competitive debate team, which competes in American Parliamentary style on the APDA circuit and at the World Universities Debating Championship.
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Ongoing
Advisory board member and former executive, Outreach Debate
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit that makes public speaking and debate more accessible to students worldwide through free camps, learning resources, and an online community spanning dozens of cities across countries including Vietnam, India, Kazakhstan, the United States, and Canada.
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High school
Co-founder, Clusion
A platform for competitive speech and debate that brings rankings, a searchable evidence bank, an AI card cutter, judge reviews, tournament planning, and a coach and judge marketplace into one place. Debaters at schools including Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton use it.
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High school
Public Forum debate, ranked as high as third nationally
- Reached #3 in the nation in the NDCA Averill Rankings
- #1 senior in Florida and All-State, NSDA
- 19 bids to the Tournament of Champions