Current MPA Students

Hailing from the Lone Star State, Martín was raised in Dallas and would frequently visit family in Mexico throughout his upbringing. He moved to Pennsylvania in 2015 to attend Swarthmore College. Since earning his B.A. in History and Peace and Conflict Studies in 2019, Martín has dedicated his career to uplifting marginalized communities in Philadelphia through trauma-informed legal advocacy. He has advocated on behalf of victims of police brutality and has provided litigative support on wrongful conviction cases plagued by prosecutorial misconduct and racial bias. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he transitioned his work to providing legal services for low-income Spanish-speaking Philadelphians with disabilities. Blending grassroots organizing with policy advocacy, Martín continued championing for Disability Justice before transitioning to Sex Abuse litigation. As a Sex Abuse paralegal, he has worked with survivors of sexual abuse, human trafficking, and child exploitation in their pursuit of accountability and justice. During the summer of 2026, Martín worked with Saltamontes Network in Colombia, engaging with rural communities in the Montes de María to better understand the legacies of the armed conflict, local peacebuilding efforts, and the implementation of the 2016 Peace Agreement. Aiming to further develop his leadership skills and economic literacy at Princeton, Martín remains committed to using his expertise to profoundly address sexual and gender-based violence. Outside of his work, he can be found bothering his cats, exploring new restaurants, or enjoying a coffee after midnight with his partner.

Jack is pursuing a joint MPA/MBA at Princeton SPIA and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Prior to beginning studies at Princeton, he was an investment director in the CHIPS Program Office at the U.S. Department of Commerce, established to administer a $39 billion federal incentive program to revitalize the domestic semiconductor supply chain via investments in U.S. manufacturing projects. Previously, he was an associate at Oliver Wyman, a management consulting firm. Jack graduated with distinction from the University of Virginia with a B.S. in commerce.

Born and raised in Arlington, Virginia, John graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College with honors in economics, high honors in quantitative social science, and a minor in Spanish. John’s senior thesis at Dartmouth used a gravity model to analyze the effects of dollarization on trade in Ecuador and El Salvador. Following graduation, John joined the Treasury Department, where he served as an economic research analyst in the Office of Global Economics and Debt for two years. In that role, he contributed to issues such as global macroeconomic policy, sovereign debt restructurings, and multilateral engagement before serving for one year as Special Advisor to the Under Secretary for International Affairs. At Princeton, John looks forward to gaining new perspectives on global economic policy from fellow students and professors before returning to work in the public sector. In his free time, John enjoys running, fly fishing, skiing, playing sports, and watching the Washington Wizards and Capitals.

Born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia, Jessica graduated summa cum laude from Universitas Indonesia, where she earned a degree in economics. Following graduation, she joined Prospera, an Australian–Indonesian government partnership for economic development, as a research analyst providing policy recommendations to the Government of Indonesia, particularly the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs. Having long been interested in economic development and gender equality, Jessica's experience at Prospera reinforced her belief in the importance of evidence-based policymaking. She comes to Princeton to strengthen her ability to translate data and research into actionable policies that promote inclusive and sustainable development. After graduating from SPIA, she aspires to continue working in the development and economic policy sector, particularly within international organizations. In her free time, she enjoys watching movies, traveling, and trying good food.

José Tomás is from Santiago, Chile. Before joining Princeton, he was an economist at Chile’s National Committee for Evaluation and Productivity (CNEP), where he tackled projects aimed at improving efficiency in public healthcare spending, evaluation policy and water management at a national level. Previously, he served under two presidential administrations at Chile’s Ministry of Economy, analyzing the economic impacts of COVID-19 and helping design a crucial support package benefiting nearly a million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This summer, he interned with the think tank Centro de Estudios Económicos Urbanos (CEEU) in Buenos Aires, where he analyzed the City's homelessness policy architecture and co-authored a report with short- and long-term recommendations. José Tomás holds a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree in the same field, both from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. In his free time, he enjoys playing tennis, thinking daily about the Roman Empire and traveling.