Matteo begins his graduate education after seven years working for members of San Antonio’s City Council, primarily as a policy director and press liaison. He is proud to have been involved in establishing a $10M Climate Fund, expanding the Healthy Neighborhoods program, and developing a heat safety ordinance for construction workers. Prior to that, Matteo graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a degree in philosophy. In his personal time, you can find him sharing stories, devouring books, or (slowly, nervously) rock climbing. Upon graduating, Matteo plans to help municipalities protect and restore natural areas.

Josh was born and raised in Commerce Township, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. Before attending Princeton, he worked as an Assistant Analyst in the Health Analysis Division of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), where he contributed to analyses on prescription drugs, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and long-term care. Prior to the CBO, Josh traveled the country campaigning for Joe Biden in five states during the 2020 presidential election. Josh is equally passionate about politics as he is about Detroit Lions football and can be found many Sundays rooting for his (suddenly good!) hometown team. He also plays the French horn and looks forward to exploring the biking trails near Princeton's campus. After Princeton SPIA, Josh hopes to serve in a role where he can use data and programming tools to solve pressing healthcare policy challenges, particularly at the federal level.

Ashley is from Toronto, Canada and is an innovative finance and international development practitioner. Prior to Princeton, Ashley worked at Social Finance U.K. on the international development team, supporting the design and launch of outcomes-based approaches and innovative finance mechanisms across a range of sectors such as employment, water and sanitation, and climate. She started her career at a not-for-profit impact investment intermediary in Canada, where she led due diligence and investor relations. In her spare time, Ashley enjoys cooking and sharing a meal with friends, spending time outdoors, and learning new yoga inversions.

Emma who is from Fort Collins, Colorado, studied international studies, political science, and economics as a University Scholar at Baylor University. She graduated summa cum laude from the Honors College in 2024, having completed a thesis on Chinese influence in the Pacific Islands that received the highest thesis designation of “Outstanding” and having been acknowledged as one of the top two University Scholars of her class. While at Baylor, Emma was awarded a 2023 David L. Boren Scholarship – an award issued by the Department of Defense for intensive and immersive study of critical languages – where she pursued Turkish and Azerbaijani language studies in Baku, Azerbaijan. During her undergraduate career, Emma completed internships with the U.S. Department of State’s Embassy to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu, and the Embassy to Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, and Tuvalu, where she conducted research and analysis on climate change initiatives and Chinese influence; the U.S. Department of Defense, where she worked in intelligence analysis; and the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee; amongst others. In her free time, Emma enjoys reading and writing novels, browsing bookstores, and practicing taekwondo.

Born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, Tunç holds a bachelor’s degree in linguistics from Boğaziçi University where he served as the President of the Undergraduate Student Council during his senior year. He spent his junior year of high school in Massachusetts with the U.S. State Department’s Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange Program and completed his study abroad semester at Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to Princeton, Tunç worked at Kale Group of Companies, one of Turkey’s largest industrial groups, supporting the company’s corporate, public, and international affairs along with coordinating Kale Foundation’s international initiatives, working directly with senior leadership. Before that he was at Koç Holding where he was tasked with a similar role. Tunç has volunteered for different causes including intercultural exchange and dialogue, environmental protection, and promotion of sustainable development goals. He returned to Turkey to complete his MPA internship at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Istanbul. Tunç is pursuing a joint MPA/MBA with the Stanford Graduate School of Business and is in residence at Stanford for the 2024-25 academic year. At Princeton, he hopes to further his understanding of the relationship between development, regime types, and foreign policy.