Valerie was born in California and raised in Grand Forks, North Dakota. During her undergraduate studies, she majored in biochemistry and German at the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University in Minnesota, during which she became a Truman Scholar. She studied abroad in Austria, focusing on European politics and German language. Interested in climate policy, she attended COP24 in Katowice, Poland, to conduct research interviews. She later interned at the German Marshall Fund, which focuses on transatlantic relations. Valerie’s earlier laboratory research examined genetic expression in neurodegenerative diseases. Prior to attending Princeton, she received a Fulbright grant to research potential antiviral compounds against SARS-CoV-2 at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. Ultimately, she plans to focus on international policy at the climate-health intersection, developing strategies to combat infectious diseases that are spreading due to climate change. While at Princeton, she hopes to gain skills in health, climate, and science policy development and implementation. In her free time, Valerie enjoys playing piano, dancing, and being outside – whether hiking, skiing, running, or playing soccer.

Jess grew up in Brisbane, Australia before moving to Sydney to work as an economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia. Starting in February 2020, she was quickly thrown in the deep-end of policymaking during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has worked in the RBA's IMF team, informing its position on international issues; produced forecasts and scenario analyses using macroeconomic models; and, most recently, analysed the transmission of monetary policy tightening to the real economy via financial markets. She spent most of the summer preparing for the move (AKA rewatching the Real Housewives of New Jersey...), but did manage a week's holiday in California on the way over. At Princeton SPIA, she looks forward to learning from her multidisciplinary peers and exploring her interest in international finance and development.

Elizabeth is from Bellingham, Washington, and studied economics and political science at Middlebury College. In 2021, Elizabeth moved to Haiti as a field coordinator for a research project on small-scale corruption in the Haitian Ministries. Two weeks afterward, president Jovenel Moise was assassinated. In the ensuing political vacuum, criminal gangs expanded their violent activities, eventually forcing a stop to the project. Elizabeth then became a Human Rights Officer in the United Nations Political Mission in Haiti, where she managed, analyzed, and published data on gang-related human rights abuses, including killings, injuries, and kidnappings. Following her studies at Princeton, Elizabeth hopes to become a political economy practitioner, leveraging data and technology to improve international efforts to combat crime and help weak states strengthen their social contracts.

Faith was born and raised in Los Angeles, a city she holds near and dear to her heart. In 2020, she graduated with a B.A. in international studies from American University in Washington, D.C. After graduating, she worked in anti-war organizing as a congressional lobbyist, primarily focusing on advocacy in favor of nuclear nonproliferation, U.S. military spending cuts, and global climate action. She also serves on the field-building committee of the Ploughshares Fund, a nuclear nonproliferation fund working to expand and organize the nonproliferation movement. Faith is passionate about grassroots organizing and democratizing U.S. foreign policy so that it’s impacted by people in and outside of Washington. At Princeton SPIA, she looks forward to expanding her knowledge of NGO management and organizing tactics. As a Boren Scholar, she plans to return to D.C. after graduate school to work in a national security position in the federal government. But ultimately, she hopes to return to organizing in her home state of California. In her spare time, she enjoys trying new foods and teas, traveling, pop culture analysis, a good baseball game, and the occasional musical.

Behdad is originally from Iran and before pursuing graduate education, he was dedicated to driving social impact through evidence-based policy-making and public awareness in Iran. As the co-founder of the influential Sekke Podcast, with over 100,000 subscribers, he fostered informed discussions on critical economic and development issues. In his role as Head of the Department of Education at the Tehran Economic Policy-making Think-tank (TEPT) at the University of Tehran, Behdad enabled impactful research and provided high-quality education on applied economics and development. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Tehran. Upon graduation, Behdad plans to tackle the challenges of development in developing countries and continue nurturing specialized human resources for sustainable development.