Paco is from Guadalajara, Mexico. He graduated from New York University Abu Dhabi with a bachelor's degree in political science with concentrations in legal studies and Arabic. Before coming to Princeton, Paco worked at Fundación IDEA, where he helped strengthen Mexican criminal justice institutions by assessing and implementing best practices in case management and prosecutor performance evaluations. During his undergraduate studies, he worked as a research assistant analyzing determinants of electoral outcomes in Kenya and Pakistan and interned at the Mexican Mission to the United Nations in New York, where he supported the organization of the STI Forum led by Japan and Mexico. This past summer, Paco worked as a Sustainability and Inclusion Intern at the Green Climate Fund in Incheon, South Korea. At Princeton, he hopes to explore urban and energy policy to support his country's development in these areas. Paco loves learning languages, playing guitar, and exploring new places to find great food spots.

Madeleine grew up in Vermont and attended Dickinson College where she majored in international studies. After graduating in 2018, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked in international development and for the U.S. Congress. She served as professional staff for the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs where she oversaw U.S. foreign assistance programs. After leaving the subcommittee and before moving to Princeton, Madeleine volunteered with a humanitarian aid organization in northern Colombia focused on Venezuelan refugees. She worked as an Graduate Fellow this past summer at The Asia Foundation in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Madeleine enjoys exploring new foods, places, and the great outdoors.

Originally from rural Colorado, Ben is a tri-sector leader focused on developing and scaling community-based innovations that serve individuals with complex health and social needs. He began his career at Erie Family Health Center in Chicago, where he monitored and managed the performance of health programming, including HIV/AIDS care, pediatric and perinatal behavioral health, and diabetes management. He then led the Accountable Care Collaborative at Colorado’s Medicaid agency. There, he developed a cross-sector workgroup to improve behavioral health access and engagement for people reentering the community from state prisons. Under his leadership, the workgroup tripled the rate of engagement with behavioral health services for the population. He recently completed his MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where he was a Neubauer Family Civic Scholar and Obama Foundation Scholar. During his time at Booth, he was a Managing Director and Chief of Staff of the Steven Tarrson Impact Investing Fund, Booth's student-run impact investing fund. He also interned at the De-Carceration Fund, the Roberts Enterprise Development Fund, and Gary Community Ventures, where he developed innovative financial tools and strategies to support promising community-based enterprises. This past summer, Ben worked as an Strategic Initiatives Summer Associate at the New Jersey Coalition to End Homelessness. During his time at Princeton, he hopes to deepen his understanding of broader urban policy, particularly public housing and criminal justice, and economics. After Princeton, he hopes to foster public-private partnerships that create meaningful community change and impact.

Sam was born in Hong Kong and was raised in the Philadelphia suburbs. His professional aspiration lies in the intersection between infrastructure and international development. Starting off as an engineer, Sam obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees in civil and structural engineering at Lehigh University and is a licensed professional engineer. Sam has experience at private and federal agencies and has worked on projects ranging from urban development, water resource management to emergency post-disaster response. Concurrently with engineering, Sam has volunteered with NGOs and multilateral organizations. Sam has designed pedestrian footbridges in developing communities, served as a youth representative at the U.N. Secretariat, and taught English at a refugee center. 

Originally from New York, Ben studied history, Asian studies, and foreign languages at Rice University before moving to Montana. Taking an unconventional path through school, he studied over a year and a half in Jordan and spent five months in Peru and Russia. After graduation, he worked as an Arabic linguist and research analyst and later trained EMTs. For his MPA internship, Ben worked as an International Economics Intern at the U.S. Department of Treasury in the Office of International Affairs in Washington. At SPIA and beyond, he aims to better understand evidence-based methods to reduce poverty and increase wellbeing and how to actualize them. He is committed to learning the lessons from rigorous randomized controlled trials in development and working to apply them to a career in the domestic nonprofit, international development, or research space. In his free time, Ben likes reading, alpine hiking, attempting to ski, trying (usually unsuccessfully) to solve boulder problems, and finding ways (usually successfully) to eat Margherita pizza.