Current Ph.D. Students

Malini is a Ph.D. student in the Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy (STEP) program at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs. Malini grew up in Frederick, Maryland, and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in environmental engineering from Columbia University. Prior to Princeton, Malini was based in San Francisco, where she was a senior consultant at Ramboll, specializing in air quality modeling, climate change mitigation, and human health risk assessment. Her research is focused on the deep decarbonization of the power sector in India, and she uses the tools of power system modeling and air quality modeling to understand the air-climate-health tradeoffs of electricity policy choices.

Wahyu's research interests lie in conservation science and policy, with particular emphasis on conservation social science and wildlife trade topics. Prior to joining Princeton, he worked for several international organisations as a researcher looking at various conservation issues, including illegal wildlife trade, illegal logging, REDD+, and voluntary carbon markets. He holds an MSc in biodiversity, conservation, and management at the University of Oxford (Mansfield College) as an Oxford-Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Scholar, where his dissertation applied conservation criminology to explore wildlife crime in Indonesia. He received a BSc in geography with a major in cartography and remote sensing from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Indonesia.

Oladoyin is from Lagos, Nigeria, but went to high school in South Africa and Wales. Her undergraduate studies at Princeton University were in operations research and financial engineering. She is interested in energy planning to increase access to energy and industrialisation in sub-Saharan Africa. Her work specifically considers the realities around the political economy and the need for transition to low carbon technologies. Before starting her STEP Ph.D., Oladoyin completed a master’s in operations research and information engineering at Cornell University. She also worked in Mumbai, India, as a data analyst, and in London as a data engineer before recommitting to her passion to see Africa rise. When she’s not thinking about her research, she’s writing on her blog, yenuwo.com where she expresses her creative and introspective side.

David is a Ph.D. student in Security Studies and a Fellow at the Center for International Security Studies. David’s doctoral work lies at the intersection of regime typology and international law compliance. Prior to coming to Princeton, David graduated from Swarthmore College with a B.A. with honors majoring in political science with a minor in Asian studies. After Swarthmore, he attended London School of Economics and Political Science, where he earned a Master of Science in international relations as a Cunningham Scholar. His research at LSE, theorized a connection between political economic structures such of state-led capitalism and geopolitical revision. Most recently, David earned his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was a Keller Scholar. His research and coursework focused on questions of public international law, the law of war, international human rights, and the Use of Force. Professionally, David has accompanied his academic pursuits holding roles as a research assistant at the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University, and most recently as a legal intern for the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. 

Dana is a senior political advisor and a graduate of the Master in Public Policy program at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. Her professional career spans more than 15 years at the heart of Israeli politics, during which she worked across government institutions, policy design, and high-stakes negotiations. Prior to coming to Princeton, Dana led political operations for the Israeli Opposition Leader, after serving in a similar role in the Prime Minister’s Office. Over the years, she designed and led legislative initiatives and helped shape national policy through senior positions in the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Dana played a central role in the formation and maintenance of Israel’s 36th government, known as the “Change Government.” Between 2023 and 2025, she coordinated the opposition’s parliamentary response to the judicial overhaul crisis. Her work reflects a deep engagement with coalition-building, institutional resilience, and democratic governance. Dana holds both a B.A. and an M.A. in political science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she specialized in civic education. She is also a graduate of executive programs in negotiation and leadership at Harvard University. Originally from Kibbutz El-Rom in northern Israel, Dana lived in Jerusalem with her partner and their three children prior to coming to Princeton.