Rolando Cuevas

Rolando was born in Hayward, California, and was raised both in California and in his family’s native state of Jalisco, Mexico. He earned a B.A. in international studies with minors in Mandarin and international business from American University. He focused his studies on economic development, global governance, and the political economy of Asia, with a particular focus on China. Throughout his studies, Rolando interned for the U.S. Department of State, U.S. House of Representatives, and U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Upon completing his studies, and inspired by his family’s humble beginnings, Rolando began working in international development where he managed and provided technical input to USAID-funded projects in Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe focused on access to justice, local governance, human rights, food security, and economic development. As a development professional, he traveled to Myanmar, Bangladesh, Honduras, Ukraine, and Timor-Leste to conduct technical assignments, project start-ups, and project close-outs. Prior to Princeton, Rolando was a Democracy and Governance Specialist at Chemonics International, where he provided technical support to 21 USAID-funded democracy and governance projects. This past summer, he interned with UnidosUS. He has a holistic understanding of the lifecycle of donor-funded development projects and is passionate about addressing bottlenecks and policy challenges in the development industry. He hopes to explore behavioral economics with a policy lens to better understand incentive structures and behaviors that impact interventions aimed at increasing access to justice and strengthening local governance. He is a founding member of Chemonics International’s LGBTQ+ employee resource group and is passionate about diversity and inclusion in the international development community. Rolando enjoys traveling, listening to nostalgic tunes on long road trips, experiencing live music, and hosting dinners with friends that spontaneously turn into dance parties.