Current MPA Students

Soon Young received her bachelor’s in public administration from Sung Kyun Kwan University in South Korea. Since 2020, she has worked as a deputy director at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, where she has been primarily responsible for public budgeting and performance-based budgeting. In this role, she focused on enhancing fiscal responsibility and aligning resource allocation with outcomes that matter. Her professional experience has given her deep insight into how budgeting decisions are made in practice and how institutional structures influence the effectiveness of public policies. Building on this foundation, her academic interests now center on how to increase efficiency in public budgeting systems while simultaneously ensuring democratic accountability. Through graduate study, she hopes to gain a more interdisciplinary and comparative perspective on public finance systems. Beyond her academic and professional pursuits, Soon Young is an avid photographer who enjoys capturing candid moments of everyday life. She also values personal wellness and maintains an active lifestyle through running and swimming. Most of all, she finds great meaning in connecting with people from diverse backgrounds and learning from their unique experiences and perspectives.

Ellie has worked across politics and policy to advance evidence-informed solutions that prioritize the needs of vulnerable communities. Most recently, she served as Senior Communications, Policy, and Research Associate to the Global Executive Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), where she helped shape organizational strategy and advised public and private sector partners on applying research to real-world challenges. A graduate of Brigham Young University, Ellie’s early experiences as a political aide, writer, and educator sparked her commitment to bridging the gap between well-meaning policy and lived experience. At SPIA, she plans to focus on climate adaptation and poverty reduction, building the tools to help governments and multilaterals scale effective, locally grounded solutions.

Andrew is a state government professional who most recently served as Deputy Chief of Staff at the Maryland Department of Veterans and Military Families. In this role, he modernized agency operations by launching the first dedicated constituent services program, establishing data-driven performance dashboards, and advancing legislative priorities. Prior to this, Andrew worked on political campaigns across the United States, gaining experience in organizing, communications, and fundraising. Originally from Massachusetts, he holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from McGill University. Before Princeton, Andrew lived in Washington, D.C., and enjoys cooking and going on long runs.

Ranen is a proud New Jerseyan and a MPA/J.D. joint degree student committed to civil rights advocacy with a focus on racial equity, gender justice, and LGBTQIA+ rights. Originally from Edison, New Jersey, he went to college at Washington University in St. Louis, where he studied political science, sociology, and women, gender, and sexuality studies. In college, Ranen served two terms as student body president and interned with the ACLU, EEOC, State Department, Abortion Action Missouri, and three Congressional offices, working on HIV decriminalization, reproductive freedom, anti-discrimination policies, immigration policy, and building employment pipelines for underrepresented groups. After graduating, he moved to Washington and founded OutVote, a nonprofit building a culture of civic engagement in the LGBTQIA+ community. He has also worked as a paralegal at a plaintiffs’ firm working on environmental issues, published a report on LGBTQIA+ food insecurity with the D.C. City Government, and conducted research at the Brookings Institution, where he worked this past summer. In his free time, Ranen enjoys biking, curling up with a good book, or catching up with friends over a great meal.

Yumi majored in Economics at the University of Tokyo from 2018 to 2022. After graduation, she joined Japan’s Ministry of Finance, where she has worked at the Customs and Tariff Bureau, the Fukuoka Local Finance Branch Bureau, and the Policy Research Institute (PRI) – a research body affiliated with the Ministry that conducts policy-related studies. At the Customs and Tariff Bureau, she took part in text-based negotiations for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) Agreement, promoted the streamlining of customs procedures, and launched new initiatives to strengthen controls on illegal exports. At the Fukuoka Local Finance Branch Bureau, she conducted regional economic research and participated in inspections of local financial institutions. At PRI, she conducted research on the behavior of financial institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic.