Born in Alaska and raised in Tennessee, Lexie graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in economics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. During school, she studied abroad at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Bangi, Malaysia. This program inspired her honors thesis examining the relationship between women’s employment outcomes and Malaysia’s free trade agreements. Before Princeton, she conducted macroeconomic analysis for the Office of Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of International Affairs. Prior to Treasury, Lexie interned for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and U.S. House of Representatives. After Princeton, she hopes to return to the U.S. government and continue working on international economic policy. In her free time, Lexie enjoys drawing, painting, biking, photography, and reading. 

Svyatoslav was born in Lvivska Oblast, Ukraine, and grew up in Philadelphia. In 2021, he graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in political science and economics. Prior to coming to Princeton, Svyatoslav worked as a Research Analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. He coauthored a working paper studying the spatial effects of location amenities on price and population dynamics. This summer, he worked as a Mayoral Summer Fellow at the Office of the Mayor in the City of Chicago. Aside from traveling, Svyatoslav enjoys biking, baking, and figuring out how to play a 60-bass piano accordion. After Princeton, he plans to work as an urban economic policymaker to promote more resilient, equitable, and sustainable urban spaces.

Mahnoor spent six years in the development sector in Pakistan, working at the Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP) and the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), to implement randomized controlled trials in domains as diverse as education, property taxation and air pollution. In collaboration with the federal, provincial and local government, Mahnoor worked on a) implementing a technology-aided targeted instruction program in 600 primary schools in Islamabad, b) behavioral interventions geared toward bolstering parental involvement in children's education, c) surveys aimed at assessing the extent of educational learning losses during COVID-19, d) interventions aimed at revitalizing the link between property taxation and municipal service delivery in Punjab to improve taxpayers' attitudes toward the state and increase willingness to pay property tax, and e) increasing the consumption and production of air pollution forecasts and subsequently encouraging avoidance behaviors among citizens in Lahore - one of the world's most polluted cities. Mahnoor is passionate about data-driven, evidence-based policymaking. She particularly enjoys conducting fieldwork since she feels that is when "data is humanized," as she hears, understands and connects with the powerful lived experiences behind the data. At Princeton SPIA, she is looking for a more rigorous and comprehensive education in the complex processes involved in translating evidence into enduring, actionable policy. What she looks forward to the most is learning from the rich, varied personal and professional experiences of her cohort.

Julia comes to Princeton SPIA from the Center for Global Development (CGD), where she worked as a policy analyst for global health. At CGD, she conducted research on the use of data and evidence in development policy, with a focus on multilateral and bilateral aid, global health financing, and sexual and reproductive health. She recently managed a CGD working group on enhancing the policy value of impact evaluation and related evidence for global development. Previously, Julia worked on global health research related to frontline health care in Rwanda and child mental health in Kenya. Julia holds a bachelor’s degree in global health and international comparative studies from Duke University. She completed her MPA summer internship at the Asian Development Bank in Manilla, Philippines.

Sophia most recently served as a Research Associate for Stimson’s South Asia Program and Managing Editor of the publication South Asian Voices, a platform for analysts and academics from the region to publish rigorous analysis on South Asia’s security, political, and economic affairs. Her role at Stimson was a natural continuation of her position as the South and Central Asia Analyst for the U.S. Department of State’s Overseas Security Advisory Council, in which she served as a security and crisis liaison to the U.S. private sector and developed an interest in U.S. crisis management through her first-hand experiences. As an analyst, she chose to diverge from her earlier research on foreign and domestic terrorist networks (U.S. Department of State, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Chicago Project on Security and Threats) to grow her understanding of the intersection between climate change and economic and political stability. She plans to dedicate a future career of public service to addressing these issues internationally, particularly as they effect Asia. Sophia received a Boren Scholarship (2020-2021) to study Urdu in Lucknow, India, and plans to continue her study of South Asian culture and languages through Princeton and the Princeton SINSI Program.