Ana Maria was borned and raised in Bogotá, Colombia. Previously, Ana Maria worked at an international social consultancy firm called Instiglio, providing technical support to governments, multilateral agencies, philanthropies, among others in the design and implementation of results-based financing programs in low-and middle-income countries. She is committed to making social public spending more effective and impactful to transform the lives of the most vulnerable populations. For the last three years, Ana Maria's interest in migration issues developed as a consequence of being involved in different projects promoting the socioeconomic integration of Venezuelan migrants in Latin America. Ana Maria holds an B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Universidad de los Andes. At Princeton, she hopes to acquire a deeper understanding on how to implement evidence-based public policies and solutions. In her free time, Ana loves to dance to any latin rhythms, read romance books, travel around the world, and spend time with family and friends.

Ferdinand is a second-year MPA candidate at Princeton University with great interest in youth development and public policy. He had his undergraduate education at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. He is the Founder and Executive Director of the Young Achievers Foundation Ghana, one of the largest college access and youth development programs in Ghana. This past summer, Ferdinand returned to Accra to intern at the Ghana Ministry of Finance.

Born and raised in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Hana holds a B.A. from the University of Chicago, where she majored in political science and psychology. Most recently, she worked as a data analyst at the United Nations Development Programme in Sri Lanka and the Office of the U.N. Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, on initiatives to consolidate and analyze risk indicators to inform strategic and programming priorities on social cohesion and peacebuilding. Understanding and addressing the proliferation of hate speech and misinformation has been a recurrent focus in her professional career to date. At Princeton, Hana plans to build skills relevant to the design and evaluation of evidence-based and contextualized approaches to building sustainable peace. Outside of work and the classroom, she enjoys reading (particularly mysteries), playing board games, singing, and spending time with her cat, Moxie.

Raised in Central Texas, Rias studied economics and anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin. While pursuing his undergraduate studies, he developed an interest in social policy and trends in human behavior. After graduation and a subsequent career in the arts, Rias worked with a nonprofit in Texas to develop and maintain affordable housing projects for senior citizens and veterans. For his MPA internship, he worked as a Policy Strategy Intern at the Japan Economic Foundation in Tokyo this past summer. At Princeton, Rias aims to further his understanding of economics, analytics, and public policy in order to positively impact the future of federal housing policy. Rias also enjoys gardening and classical guitar performance in his spare time.

Born and raised in the Midwest, Conway moved to Washington, D.C., for college and lived there for over a decade until coming to Princeton. Conway worked for the federal government for seven years, serving as a nonpartisan policy analyst for a bipartisan board of political appointees that advise federal policymakers on the social insurance and means-tested programs administered by the Social Security Administration that provide retirement, disability, and survivor benefits. After Princeton, Conway hopes to return to public service and use his graduate degree to improve people’s access to federal programs that support determinants of well-being like housing, health, and education. Conway graduated magna cum laude from George Washington University, where his senior thesis, which measured multidimensional poverty in the United States by nativity status, received special honors and earned him a research assistantship with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative. In 2022, he was elected to the National Academy of Social Insurance. In his free time, Conway enjoys documentaries, Pilates, and hiking, and has served as a volunteer tax preparer.