Current Students

Bryan is a from Mauritius and worked as a Senior Research Associate for the International Republican Institute’s (IRI) Center for Insights in Survey Research (CISR). At IRI, Bryan worked closely with program teams in emerging democracies to conduct public opinion polls and prepare polling reports for stakeholders. Bryan is also part of YOUNGO where he is collaborating with other young activists from around the world to make the voices of the youth heard in the fight against climate change. He has most recently used his proficiency in French to help with the French translation of the Global Youth Statement which was presented at COP28. Bryan received his B.A. in Political Science and Quantitative Economics at Lycoming College. After Princeton SPIA, Bryan hopes to work for international development institutions to contribute toward the implementation of economic policies that will help households in countries that are vulnerable to the impact of climate change. In his free time, Bryan enjoys working out and trying out new recipes.

Originally from Virginia, Patrick spent time growing up in the Dominican Republic and Panama. While studying political science and Arabic at the University of Notre Dame, he interned with American Near East Refugee Aid in Jerusalem and the West Bank and with the U.S. Institute of Peace’s Inclusive Peace Processes Team in Washington, D.C. Following graduation, Patrick worked with the International Organization for Migration in northern Morocco, before joining the USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance and working on the Levant regional team in Washington and the Disaster Assistance Response Team in Kyiv, Ukraine. Following his first year at SPIA, Patrick interned with Mercy Corps in Colombia, leading a mixed methods research project for the VenEsperanza humanitarian consortium on the results of livelihood programs supporting Venezuelan migrants and refugees. At Princeton SPIA, he hopes to deepen his expertise on policymaking across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus and further develop policymaking skills for international emergencies and diplomacy. Patrick enjoys hiking, trying new recipes, and learning languages.

Ryan is an experienced educator who previously served as the Director of Special Education and Student Support Services for a large high school within Boston Public Schools. Prior to this, Ryan worked as a teacher and certified transition specialist, where he supported students with a wide range of cognitive, emotional, and physical disabilities in successfully transitioning to post-secondary life. During his time in Boston Public Schools, Ryan helped lead a number of initiatives, including overseeing summer programming for high school special education students and providing compensatory services for students who displayed regression due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to his career in education, Ryan gained experience in government and public service through internships with a United States Senator's office and the Mayor of Boston. An avid traveler who has visited over 30 countries, Ryan took time away from the workforce in the year prior to Princeton in order to fulfill a lifelong dream of long-term travel, where he built language skills and a global perspective that will last a lifetime.

Ranen is a proud New Jerseyan and a MPA/J.D. joint degree student committed to civil rights advocacy with a focus on racial equity, gender justice, and LGBTQIA+ rights. Originally from Edison, New Jersey, he went to college at Washington University in St. Louis, where he studied political science, sociology, and women, gender, and sexuality studies. In college, Ranen served two terms as student body president and interned with the ACLU, EEOC, State Department, Abortion Action Missouri, and three Congressional offices, working on HIV decriminalization, reproductive freedom, anti-discrimination policies, immigration policy, and building employment pipelines for underrepresented groups. After graduating, he moved to Washington and founded OutVote, a nonprofit building a culture of civic engagement in the LGBTQIA+ community. He has also worked as a paralegal at a plaintiffs’ firm working on environmental issues, published a report on LGBTQIA+ food insecurity with the D.C. City Government, and conducted research at the Brookings Institution, where he worked this past summer. In his free time, Ranen enjoys biking, curling up with a good book, or catching up with friends over a great meal.

Yumi majored in Economics at the University of Tokyo from 2018 to 2022. After graduation, she joined Japan’s Ministry of Finance, where she has worked at the Customs and Tariff Bureau, the Fukuoka Local Finance Branch Bureau, and the Policy Research Institute (PRI) – a research body affiliated with the Ministry that conducts policy-related studies. At the Customs and Tariff Bureau, she took part in text-based negotiations for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) Agreement, promoted the streamlining of customs procedures, and launched new initiatives to strengthen controls on illegal exports. At the Fukuoka Local Finance Branch Bureau, she conducted regional economic research and participated in inspections of local financial institutions. At PRI, she conducted research on the behavior of financial institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic.