Biographical Profiles of Current MPA Graduate Students
Originally from Long Island, New York, Amelia studied International Studies, Economics, and Jewish Studies at CUNY The City College of New York (CCNY). Through the integration of her majors, Amelia gained a clearer understanding of the shocks and stresses communities face and the public levers available to equitably drive change. During her time at CCNY, Amelia was awarded the Jeannette K. Watson Fellowship, a three year program that provides funded summer internships to promising undergraduate students, fueling her passion for urban resilience. After graduating, Amelia began working at Resilient Cities Catalyst, a NYC-based nonprofit organization working to catalyze change in cities and communities across the globe. Over the past 5 years, she has partnered with cities and communities to accelerate urban resilience projects in disinvested communities across the United States, working in cities like Tampa to redesign streetscapes for extreme heat, New York on street vendor policy, and San Diego on binational coastal resilience funding. Through her studies at Princeton, she plans to expand her analytical skills and understanding of public finance to develop innovative approaches to catalyze systems change in cities across the United States.
Consuelo is from Viña del Mar, Chile. Over the summer, she worked as a consultant for the World Bank’s IEG, where she contributed to the evaluation of the Education Sector Framework (ESF). Prior to graduate school, she worked as an Economist at the Ministry of Finance of Chile, where she co-led the Chilean Policy Evaluation Agenda for CNEP, overseeing research and team management while engaging with international partners including the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the OECD. She has also worked as a Project Manager with ConsiliumBots and TetherEd, managing the implementation of centralized school allocation systems in Colombia and Brazil in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank, and as a Research Associate with J-PAL, coordinating fieldwork in the Dominican Republic and Colombia. Consuelo holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in applied economics, both from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. She loves photography and outdoor activities.
Rebecca is from Annandale, Virginia. After graduating from Yale in 2020 with a B.A. in Ethics, Politics, and Economics, she worked for the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a data scientist and had a formative experience deploying to recovery efforts from Hurricane Ida. She transitioned into climate work, including as Deputy Director for Sustainability at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Between her first and second year at Princeton SPIA, she spent the summer working for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Geneva, Switzerland. Rebecca is passionate about making public institutions transparent and accountable.
Born and raised in San Diego, Rachael received her bachelor’s degree in physics and a minor in astronomy from the University of Virginia. Upon graduation, she began a career in government service, including a three-year post abroad in England as a staff officer in support of the Department of Defense and most recently as an intelligence analyst within the Department of the Treasury. Involving the intersection of emerging technology and financial intelligence to improving indicators and warning intelligence sharing within convention warfare, her career has been rewarding, challenging, and never without surprises. If you’re looking to find her, the best places to look would be pop punk concerts (the sadder, the better), national parks (especially the ones with caves), or art museums (art deco and impressionism preferred).
Gabe is originally from Newton, Massachusetts. Before coming to Princeton, he worked at the World Bank Group as an analyst supporting thematic evaluations covering the blue economy, biodiversity, environmental and social frameworks, and fragility, conflict, and violence-affected countries. Gabriel designed and implemented an AI-powered document search and evaluation tool for the Global Evaluation Initiative and conducted statistical analysis of World Bank and IFC initiatives. He assisted with a blue economy case study in Cabo Verde and a biodiversity case study in Côte d'Ivoire, conducting focus group discussions with NGOs and local fishermen and farmers, as well as conferencing with World Bank, government, and industry stakeholders. In 2023, Gabriel graduated from Grinnell College in Iowa where he majored in political science with honors and concentrated in global development studies. While in college, he worked as a research assistant with CERATH Development Organization in Ghana, designing and conducting surveys with fishermen and expert interviews with NGO leaders and government officials. Upon graduation from SPIA, he aims to return to the World Bank to work and lead in development practice. Outside of development work, Gabriel enjoys learning to cook new foods, experimenting with AI and machine learning, and trying to run faster.