Current Students

Isabel, a native Clevelander, is currently pursuing a joint MPA/J.D. at Princeton/Harvard with the intent of concentrating in international financial policy. Most recently, she worked as a senior research assistant for the Global Financial Institutions section in the International Finance division of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Her time at the Fed strengthened her interest in economic policymaking by allowing her to contribute to briefings for the Board of Governors and to conduct research on the foremost issues in international finance systems, such as the implications of heightened geopolitical risk and dollar funding market vulnerabilities. Her academic interest in international political economy can be traced back to her time at Brown University where she studied economics and international and public affairs. Her coursework in Providence was complemented with her experience leading teams on Brown’s nonpartisan student-run think tank, the Brown Initiative for Policy, and working closely with Professor Wendy Schiller to explore domestic violence policy diffusion. In her free time, Isabel enjoys reading, lifting, solving and making crosswords, and obsessing over her labradoodle.

Before commencing Princeton SPIA, Jack was an analyst at Australia's Department of the Treasury. In this role, he briefed decision makers on inbound foreign investment proposals. This involved balancing a number of considerations including national security, competition and the impact on tax revenue to determine whether applications were in Australia's national interest. More recently, he has worked providing whole-of-economy advice on climate and energy policy, with a particular focus on sustainable finance instruments including climate disclosures, green bonds and carbon markets. Jack has written interventions and briefs for the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group, and attended meetings for APEC's Sustainable Finance Initiative. Prior to his time at Treasury, he worked in Australia's Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet on policies to further women's economic equality. Jack is a graduate of the University of Melbourne, where he studied economics and politics. In his spare time, he enjoys watching the NBA and is thrilled by the opportunity to watch Lebron James play in person prior to his retirement. At SPIA, he looks forward to learning from the wealth of knowledge held by both peers and faculty.

Clara is a French-American from California. Before Princeton, she lived in Mexico and worked as a research associate for Innovations for Poverty Action doing impact evaluations of interventions in security and education. Previously, she worked for a housing nonprofit and the City of Oakland's Department of Transportation doing community projects and outreach. After Princeton, she aims to work in transportation planning and policy.

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. This past summer, Valerie interned with the Health Diplomacy Alliance in Geneva, Switzerland, where she contributed to the organization's efforts on the role of health diplomacy in addressing antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the climate-migration-infectious disease nexus, and other global health issues. 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.