2024 Equity & Inclusion Fellowship Student Recipients

Congratulations to the 2024 Equity & Inclusion Fellowship recipients!
 

Sarah Akyena

Sarah Akyena is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Economics at Georgia State University, Andrew Young School of Policies Studies. Her research broadly examines behavioral responses to public policies and how disparities in individual and household characteristics affect economic outcomes. One area of her research focuses on the implications and unintended consequences of public policies that address inequalities in the labor market and human capital achievement. In another work, she explores the impact of household and individual characteristics on labor market and education outcomes. Currently, she is working on her job market paper, which investigates whether the effort of policymakers to reduce welfare dependency by using wage subsidies to promote employment has an unintended effect on job match quality.

In her paper, she focuses on the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), one of the largest means-tested programs in the United States, that subsidizes the wages of workers from low-and-moderate-income households.
She previously worked as a Research Associate at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. She received an MSc in Mathematical Science from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, and a BA in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Ghana. She is a past recipient of the Mastercard Foundation Scholar Award at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) South Africa.

Elizabeth Aritonang​

Proudly from Queens, New York, Elizabeth Aritonang is a doctoral student in the Education Policy and Planning Program at The University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include the politics of K-12 school finance, particularly with the development of equitable formulas and the role of state legislatures in the implementation of school finance reform. 

Prior to attending UT Austin, Elizabeth worked for the New York State Assembly Ways and Means committee as the Senior Legislative Budget Analyst, working primarily on elementary and secondary education, as well as state public libraries.

Elizabeth obtained a Bachelors in English and Masters in Education Administration and Policy Studies from the State University of New York at Albany. Elizabeth is a product of the Educational Opportunities Program, a college access program serving economic and historically disadvantaged students. While completing her graduate program, she completed a fellowship through the Center for Women in Government and Civil Society. Her fellowship was at the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, where she worked on research and advocacy impacting children and families living in poverty.

Blessing Asuquo-Ekpo​

I am a doctoral student of Public Policy with a specialization in Policy Analysis and Program Management at Jackson State University. I hold a Master of Science in Political Science and a Bachelor of Science in Policy Studies and Administration. I am a Policy and Program Analyst with over 6 years of hands-on professional experience in managing grassroot projects and advocacy, analyzing the structure and operation of governments to find solutions to social issues through academic and policy developmental research and work. I am an educator, experienced in data analysis, qualitative and quantitative research and program implementation and evaluation. My current research interests are in education and health policies with a mission to advocate for better policies and lead programs that improves education and health outcomes for the under-served and underprivileged.

Currently, I am a Program Evaluator at the Mississippi State Dept of Mental Health where I am responsible for evaluating the Crisis Intervention Teams Program, a community partnership of law enforcement, mental health, addiction professionals and individuals focused on improving the crisis response system to reduce both stigma and the need for further involvement with the criminal justice system. I am actively involved with the United Nations Association as the Campus Chapter President advocating for better education and health policies for Mississippians. I am a 2 times delegate of the Women Graduates-USA Organization to the UN Commission on the Status of Women, a current Fellow of the Mellon Foundation, and a Graduate Assistant at the Margaret Walker Center, JSU.

Over the years, I have self-started and mobilized teams to strategize and formulate intervention programs and policy advocacy across various themes. I aspire to be a renowned policy and program analyst using the intersection of data and policy to spearhead interventions and programs capable of positively overhauling education and health outcomes.

Matthew Blake

Matthew Blake is a first-generation native of New York City. Matthew identifies as Afro-Caribbean and queer. A product of public education, Matthew has spent his career giving to the community. Matthew attended Hunter College for both undergraduate and graduate school majoring in English Literature, Education, and Literacy. In his role as an educator, he realized his potential to affect change in the lives of young people throughout the city. The vantage point of being an educator brought him to the world of policy. During the COVID lockdowns, Matthew had an intimate view of the lives of his students and their communities. This observation unearthed the realization that ethical policy practice and policy change have outsized impacts on the lives of individuals.

 This understanding of policy impacts led Matthew to the Columbia School of Social Work where he is studying Social Work with an emphasis on policy practice. Currently Matthew is a Fisher Cummings fellow and practices policy with the Federal Administration of Children and Families. In this role, Matthew strives to marry his understanding of literacy and policy to elevate and amplify overlooked voices. In his spare time, Matthew has a penchant for book clubs, creative writing, and competitive baking.

Derrick Boakye Boadu​

Derrick Boakye Boadu is a doctoral candidate in Public Affairs at Florida International University (FIU), specializing in leadership concepts, public and non-profit management, collaborative governance, diversity management, and climate change issues. His current research focuses on discovering the relational and cognitive mechanisms for activating and sustaining distributed (shared) leadership practices in collaborative governance settings. Derrick is a Fellow of the Bouchet Graduate Honor Society, which is co-founded by Yale University and Howard University. This society aims to acknowledge exceptional scholarly achievement and excellence in doctoral education and the professoriate nationwide. He is also a Writing Fellow at the FIU University Graduate School and Writing Across Curriculum (WAC), as well as a Dissertation Year & Evidence Acquisition Fellow. Derrick has received many prestigious awards, such as the Distinguished Meier Inclusion Award at PMRA conferences. With a triple master’s degree from Europe and experience working at the United Nations at the UN Headquarters in New York, Derrick has been a keen leader and advocate for housing equity and combating climate gentrification issues in marginalized and disadvantaged neighborhoods in the United States and beyond. Ultimately, Derrick is deeply committed to using leadership to promote inclusivity, make a positive impact, and ensure economic development in marginalized communities.

Eunho Cha

I am Eunho Cha, a Ph.D. candidate at the Columbia School of Social Work. My research aims to understand the role of public policies in improving the lives of families and children, with a focus on mitigating work-care instability and conflicts. I utilize theories and methods from both economics and developmental psychology to explore parental decisions regarding work and child care arrangements, and their implications for children's development. My Ph.D. dissertation examines early childhood education and care policies in the United States, emphasizing their effects on the preschool enrollment gap, mothers' employment, families' economic well-being, and children's development. Currently, I am involved in the Early Childhood Poverty Tracker project, a longitudinal study tracking the lives of New York City families with young children. I was born and raised in South Korea and earned my B.A. in Economics and Social Welfare and my M.A. in Social Welfare from Seoul National University.

Christina Chu

Christina Chu was born and raised in the Inland Empire of Southern California. Christina’s upbringing as a daughter to low-income Vietnamese war refugees informed her undergraduate interests in public health and policy. After graduating from Brown University with a Bachelor's degree in Health and Human Biology in 2018, she was a research assistant on NIH studies on interventions promoting pre-exposure prophylaxis uptake at a HIV/STI safety net clinic. Afterwards, Christina became a data and policy analyst conducting health policy research for federal clients including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Christina is currently pursuing a Master's in Public Policy (MPP) degree at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) School of Public Policy. During the first year of her MPP program, Christina completed a Randall Lewis Health & Policy Fellowship at the Riverside County Office of Economic Development. She also worked as a Graduate Student Researcher at the UCR Inland Center for Sustainable Development to study the impact of the logistics and warehousing sector on quality of life in the Inland Empire. In Fall 2024, Christina became a CDC Public Health Law Intern to research public health laws on health equity, focusing on policy surveillance and legal epidemiology. Christina is excited to pursue career opportunities that advance the social and economic well-being of marginalized communities through policy change.

Monique E. Davis

Monique E. Davis (she/her) is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Applied Economics Graduate Program at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN. She was born in Chicago, IL and raised in the Chicagoland area. In 2013, she earned Bachelor of Science degrees in Applied Mathematics and Economics from the HBCU, North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, NC. Before returning to school in 2019, she worked for six years at JPMorgan Chase & Co. where the first two years she spent in Columbus, OH in a rotational development program supporting various roles, and the last four years she worked as a big data analyst/data scientist in New York, NY. Monique is an applied micro and labor economist specializing in using empirical methods to study the economics of racism, racial equity, and intergroup inequality.

Monique's interests as an economist are influenced by her experiences, both lived and observed, within African-American communities in the southside of Chicago and surrounding areas. Monique seeks to identify root causes of disparate, inequitable outcomes between privileged and marginalized communities, particularly regarding the Black community, and leverage the resulting knowledge to inform policy changes, structural and otherwise, which bring us closer to social equity and justice.

Marylis Fantoni

I am a PhD Candidate at the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public & Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. With a focus on policy implementation and public management, my research explores citizen interactions with the government in a variety of settings, including in my native country of Brazil. I am interested in topics related to gender, representation, maternal health, and administrative burdens. My most recent work on domestic violence is at the intersection between public management, policy analysis, health, and criminal justice.


Nicolas Fuertes Segura

I am a Ph.D. Candidate in Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. My research focuses on health economics and the economics of education.

Prior to joining UCSB, I worked at the Office of the Manager of the Social Sector at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington D.C. where I conducted research on labor markets and economics of education. I was also the Data Center Coordinator at the School of Economics of the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia.

Amaya Gaines

Amaya M. Gaines is a doctoral student at the Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell University, specializing in Government. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and policy studies from Elon University, where she initiated the mixed-methods research project, “Policy Solutions Waiting to Be Seen: Applying Intersectionality-Based Policy Analysis (IBPA) to State Anti-Poverty Programs.” This project explores the relationship between policy and social identities in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs. She also received the Lumen Prize and the Cornell Brooks Racial Equity Research Grant for this project. Her research broadly focuses on primarily focuses on policy analysis, policy feedback theory, and the politics of public policy, along with political behavior and public opinion, emphasizing the perspectives of diverse class groups. Amaya is an alumna of the Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) program at the University of Michigan. Her commitment to service is demonstrated through her role as a doctoral student representative on the Dean’s Student Advisory Council at Cornell, her contributions to the book “Connections are Everything,” and her founding of the Phoenix Policy Institute at Elon, a student-run public policy think tank.

Sridipta Ghatak

Sridipta is a PhD candidate in Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy at the University of California, Irvine. Her research examines environmental justice outcomes of climate adaptation planning in cities and peri-urban regions. In her doctoral dissertation, she uses mixed method research design to investigate EJ outcomes of community-based adaptation schemes in India, with particular focus on the organizational and behavioral mechanisms that impact adaptation equity. Previous research investigates the politics of public private partnerships in urban infrastructure development, women’s participation in higher education and the job market, transit-oriented development, comparative analysis of peri-urban development in the global south, good practices in municipal urban physical infrastructure in high-density cities.

Her research has been funded by the Kellogg Center for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame, CIDE Mexico, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP), the Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies and Center for Organizational Research at UCI, the Schlossman Research Fellowship and Center for International Studies at MIT, among others. sridipta trained as an architectural engineer, urban planner and critical urban theorist at Jadavpur University in Kolkata, the School of Planning & Architecture Delhi, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, respectively.

Esther Gonzalez

Esther González is a PhD Candidate in Public Policy and Management at the University of Southern California; Esther is also a Research Associate with the Civic Leadership Education and Research (CLEAR) Initiative and serves as Diversity Chair of the Price PhD Student Association (PPSA). Her research domains are organization behavior, representative bureaucracy, and diversity management. Her research is multidisciplinary and applies methods and theories at the intersection of public administration and management science. Her dissertation is a series of three papers. In the first, she applies Crenshaw’s intersectionality framework to analyze how marginalized employee identities affect the relationship between perceived fairness and burnout in the workplace. In the second, Gonzalez conducts an ethnography of diversity executives in local government organizations to understand how they experience tokenization and signaling within their roles. In the last paper, she studies the impact of Latine representation in public jobs particularly for geographic areas, like Los Angeles, where the majority of the population is Hispanic/Latine. Esther has been awarded an endowed fellowship for her fifth-year studies through the Oakley Endowed Fellowship, and she was recently awarded the 2024 APPAM Student Equity Fellowship.

Sylvie Guezeon

My research focuses on equity in urban planning, more specifically at the intersection of community engagement, transit systems, and public health. 

My dissertation research elevates awareness within the university setting of the transit and mobility challenges facing international students, undergraduate and graduate. With this work, I want to test new data-collection tools and platforms for engaging vulnerable populations, ensuring they are given equal opportunity to co-create effective and responsive transit solutions.

Sofia Guo

I am a third-year PhD student studying public child protective services workforce issues and child welfare appellate court processes. As an undergraduate economics student, I became curious about how resources are allocated across social programs and why certain populations face better outcomes given the same services. After graduation, I decided to work as research assistant in the federal government to examine how public policy is made at the highest level. During my three years in D.C., I learned the detailed process of collecting, organizing, and analyzing information from diverse sources to estimate proposed legislation costs. Through my experience, I realized that I could increase my contribution as a policy expert with further subject matter knowledge in the field of child welfare, and I began graduate training in combined clinical and research skills two years ago. Today, I bring interdisciplinary experience to my goal of addressing systemic issues in child welfare to increase racial and socioeconomic equity for vulnerable children and families.

Amidu Kalokoh

Amidu Kalokoh is a Doctoral Candidate in Public Policy and Administration at the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). He worked for the Office of the President of Sierra Leone, supporting national and international security, peace, and development. 

His research focus includes public policy, homeland security, emergency management, criminal justice, and governance. His current projects examine emergency preparedness for vulnerable populations, local emergency management capacity building in the United States, money laundering, and terrorist financing. His research supports policies and programs that tackle hazard vulnerabilities, build community resilience, and enhance public safety and justice for all. 
Amidu is a researcher and an active member of the academic community. His roles as an author, reviewer, student leader, and mentor demonstrate his commitment to the field’s development. His numerous awards and fellowships, including the 2023 Development Advocate of the Year, the 2024 Black History in the Making, and the 2024 Outstanding Public Policy and Administration Doctoral Student at VCU, Bill Anderson Fund Fellow, ASPA Founders’ Fellow, Public Administration Theory Fellow, APPAM Equity and Inclusion Fellow, and a Coastal Hazard, Equity, Economic Prosperity, and Resilience scholar testify to his hard work, leadership and collaborative skills.

Salpy Kanimian

Salpy Kanimian is a doctoral candidate in Economics at Rice University. She is particularly interested in the design, interaction, and spillovers of public programs due to decisions by organizational and policy environments and their impact on incentives and behavior, consumer welfare, and inequities. Her dissertation focuses on policy design in publicly funded and privately provided U.S. health insurance markets. Before her studies at Rice, she earned a dual degree in Mathematics and Economics from the American University of Beirut. 
Beyond her academic pursuits, Salpy actively contributes to the scholarly community by co-organizing a weekly virtual seminar called PhD-EVS. She is also a member of the NextGen Council for the Foundation of Armenian Science and Technology (FAST), where she serves as an advisory body in developing monitoring and impact evaluation frameworks for various programs, prior scaling-up.

Samuel Kim

I am currently studying for a MSW at Columbia University and an economic consultant at Analysis Group. I hope to apply my social work background to policy analysis and drafting, particularly with socio-economic policy issues concerning immigrant families and unhoused populations. Long-term, I aspire to be an expert who advises social policy and drives social initiatives to support underserved communities. In my free time, I enjoy trying new sauces, playing/watching soccer, and walking through new neighborhoods.

 

Abraham Lugo Bello

Abraham Lugo Bello is a long-time community advocate and immigrant from Caracas, Venezuela. Abraham graduated with his Bachelor of Political Science from the University of Nevada and is currently pursuing a Master of Public Administration in Non-Profit Management at CUNY Baruch College. Abraham has dedicated the next two years of his work as a Johnson Justice Policy and Advocacy Fellow at the Center for Popular Democracy — the largest national, multiracial organizing network in the country. His day to day is dedicated to being a Deputy National Campaign Manager around pro-renter housing affordability and helping put on civic leadership trainings across the US. 

Abraham grew up in Southern Nevada, where he quickly integrated himself into the political arena, nonprofit service, and community organizing. He finished his time in Las Vegas by organizing around economic and workers justice at Make the Road Nevada, focused on human rights for working-class immigrant communities. In order to extend the reach of his advocacy and grow further, he then relocated to New York City in 2021, where he continued to organize in North Brooklyn for the New York City Council. In his work now, Abraham is conducting participatory action research on how to meaningfully engage Latino immigrants in civic processes and their relationships with democracy.

Teresita Martinez

Teresita Martinez is dedicated to addressing structural and systemic inequalities in education finance from Pre-K through higher education. She is a second-year Ph.D. student in the School Organization and Education Policy (SOEP) program at the University of California, Davis. Additionally, she serves as a graduate student researcher at both the California Education Lab and Wheelhouse: The Center for Community College Leadership and Research. Martinez earned her M.A. in Economics and Education with a focus on Education Policy from Teachers College, Columbia University. She also holds a B.A. in Economics with a minor in Education from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Bryan Matthew

Bryan Matthew is a New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service Graduate Student pursuing his Master of Public Administration with a specialization in Public Policy Analysis. His passion and commitment to public service stemmed from his values and his love to serve and help others in need. He believes in giving back, similar to those who have helped him.

Prior to joining NYU, Bryan served as an AmeriCorps VISTA at the Puerto Rican Action Board (PRAB Inc.) Within his role as the Community Service & Volunteers Coordinator, Bryan focused on leading his AmeriCorps team, developing and strengthening relationships with various stakeholders, spearheading community service projects, and developing strategies for volunteer recruitment and retention during the pandemic. He also interned for the U.S. Department of Commerce through the Partnership for Public Service. Bryan earned his Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice and Social Work from Rutgers University. 

After NYU, he hopes to further his education by obtaining a PhD. or JD, pursue a career in Public Policy and be a change agent in addressing complex issues within the world. Bryan is very eager to lead and create effective, efficient policies that will foster positive long-lasting impact.

Menna Mburi

Menna Mburi is a doctoral student in Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research broadly interrogates structural and social drivers of inequities among diverse Black immigrant families. She is particularly interested in examining how eligibility restrictions in the U.S. social safety net create access barriers and exacerbate racial and ethnic disparities in health, economic security, and well-being among young children in low-income Black immigrant families. Prior to pursuing her PhD, she was a data analyst at Duke University’s Social Science Research Institute where she supported interdisciplinary projects focused on education, social change, and child development. Menna holds an Ed.M. in Education Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In graduate school, she is continuing her commitment to promoting racial equity in early childhood as a research assistant with the Equity Research Action Coalition at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. As the child of African immigrants, Menna seeks to uplift and center the histories, perspectives, and experiences of ethnically, linguistically, and socioeconomically diverse Black immigrant families in child and family policy and social policy research.

Lily McFarland

My name is Lily McFarland (they/she) and I am a current Master of Public Policy student at Rutgers University - New Brunswick, with degree concentrations in both Research Design & Methods and LGBTQIA+ policy. I completed my Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago, with a degree concentration in Education Policy Studies. I also completed the Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Fellowship at the University of Michigan in 2019, which granted me the opportunity to eventually pursue my MPP. Although I have consistently pursued educational opportunities in public policy and public administration, I briefly left the field from 2020-2023 to pursue a short-term career as a Traveling Nanny. 

My passions for research and policy interventions lie at the intersection of poverty alleviation and the lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ individuals and their families. I am also particularly interested in ensuring that LGBTQIA+ individuals and families living in rural communities have similar access to supportive services and policy interventions like their urban and suburban counterparts. I strive for a future where all LGBTQIA+ folks can live safe, affirming, and joyous lives, and this informs much of my research and policy interests.

Laura Morales-Whetstone

Laura Morales-Whetstone, a fourth-year Ph.D. Candidate in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, specializes in water policy and governance. Her equity-focused research examines resource distribution to underserved communities, emphasizing drinking water access.

Morales-Whetstone is engaged in multiple high-impact projects. She contributes to the City of Madison Guaranteed Income Pilot Project, an RCT study with the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) and UPenn. She also collaborates with Professor Manny Teodoro, analyzing voter turnout's impact on water payments in lieu of taxes in Wisconsin. Her Morgridge Center-funded dissertation studies Sandbranch, Texas, a community on an urban fringe without water access for 30 years.

At IRP, she holds both a project assistantship and a graduate student fellowship. Morales-Whetstone is also a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar. Her academic work builds on six years of environmental planning and water industry experience, including asset management for a UK water utility. An aspiring professor, she utlizes mixed methods to advance equitable water policy through research and teaching.

Erica Mtenga

I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Economics at Georgia State University. My primary research interests are in applied econometrics, health economics, development economics, and applied microeconomics. My current research looks at the estimation of treatment effects in the presence of misreporting with applications in non-mutual exclusive programs in health, treatment effects estimation with missing/incomplete data in program participation, education in developing countries, and the economics of substance use.

 

Karla Palos Castellanos

Karla Palos Castellanos, a Master of Public Policy student at UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy, holds BAs in Political Economy and Applied Mathematics from the same institution. Her research interests include social safety net, criminal justice, higher education, and public health. Her goal is to advance research and policies that mitigate the harm of the legal system while understanding how social programs can support individuals reintegrating into the community post-involvement. Additionally, she seeks to enhance the equity and accessibility of social safety-net programs, particularly targeting underserved low-income and communities of color.
 
Prior to joining her masters program, Karla worked at the California Policy Lab as a research associate where she led projects analyzing the effectiveness of the Extended Child Tax Credit and the Housing Choice Voucher Program's impact during COVID-19. She also estimated eligibility for automatic criminal record relief under SB 731 legislation and explored the impact of outreach timing on SNAP eligibility for college students in California during the pandemic. 
Karla is passionate about democratizing data literacy and data science. She continually seeks ways to improve and share her knowledge with others.

Paul Park

I am an applied microeconomist specializing in health, the environment, and education. With a decade of experience in finance at leading firms like JP Morgan Chase and Deutsche Bank, I transitioned to academia to deepen my exploration of economic impacts on public policy, social outcomes, and environmental sustainability. My current projects primarily investigate the health effects of environmental factors, the efficacy of education funding mechanisms, and the economic impacts of industry-specific policies. Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Economics at Florida State University, my background in finance enriches my research, blending rigorous data analysis with practical insights. This combination fuels my dedication to deriving actionable insights that can significantly enhance public policy, health outcomes, educational practices, and environmental conservation.

Mengying Peng

Mengying Peng is a third-year doctoral student in Economics at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, Japan, and a former visiting research scholar at MLF Teachers College at Arizona State University. Her research explores educational inequalities and gender issues in both developing and developed countries, with a focus on how education policy can effectively address and mitigate these challenges. She examines areas such as affirmative action in higher education, gender disparities in STEM fields, diversity in the K-12 teacher workforce, child labor issues, and related topics. Through her research, she aims to understand and address disparities related to race, ethnicity, gender, and caste, as well as the barriers faced by disadvantaged students. 

As a first-generation college student from a small town in China, Mengying has experienced firsthand the transformative power of education. Her academic journey has taken her from China to Japan and the United States, deepening her understanding of educational inequalities. This experience has made her more determined to help disadvantaged students and shows her dedication to making education equitable and accessible for all.

Melody Afrane Pinamang

Melody Afrane is a PhD student in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the University of Maryland, College Park. At College Park, she serves as a teaching assistant in health services and policy and quantitative methods, as well as assisting in various research projects. In addition to her doctoral studies, she holds master’s degrees in applied economics from Mississippi State University and in Public Policy from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

As an aspiring health services researcher and health economist, her research interests include antitrust laws in the healthcare delivery system, value-based payment models, program evaluation, chronic conditions, and maternal health. She is particularly interested in how health policies can improve healthcare costs, access, and outcomes for vulnerable populations. 

Outside of academia, she is actively involved in community outreach, offering free math tutorial sessions, and occasionally volunteering at academic conferences. She is also a co-founder of an NGO aimed at providing counseling services, tutoring sessions, and fundraising to support tuition and basic needs for needy but brilliant students in Ghana, West Africa. Through her dedication to advocacy and research, she aims to effect positive change through quality-of-care coordination recommendations, reducing health disparities, and improving health equity.

Katie Pullom

Katie Pullom is a Ph.D. student in Education Policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. She focuses on connections between poverty and education, especially in how to best provide comprehensive supports to students through school to support learning and engagement in the classroom. Her research interests include ways to leverage community partnerships to mitigate the effects of poverty and provide supplemental resources to schools and ways to collaborate across agencies to strengthen the safety net for students to provide the support, resources, and school climate necessary for students to thrive throughout their educational trajectory.
She is a pre-doctoral fellow with the Institute of Education Sciences. Before joining her doctoral program, Katie served as the policy director for the Alabama House Democratic Caucus. She was a public school educator who taught high school chemistry and physics. She holds a M.Ed. from Pace University and a B.S. in Chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Kevin Quintero

Kevin Quintero (He/Him/His) is a PhD candidate in Policy, Politics, and Leadership at UC Berkeley’s School of Education. Kevin’s research examines the evolving racial and ethnic politics within suburban areas, particularly in response to demographic shifts driven by growth in immigration. More specifically, his research seeks to advance our understanding of Latino suburbanization and the educational experiences of families who reside in the suburbs. He is a mixed-methods researcher who uses theoretical frameworks and empirical data to analyze the changing demographics of suburban neighborhoods and their impact on educational opportunities. In addition to his research interests, Kevin has served as the co-chair of the Graduate Association of Latinx Students (GALS) and is currently the Graduate Programming Coordinator, working with the Chicanx/Latinx Student Development Office to improve the graduate experience for minoritized students. As a student, he has devoted his time to providing mentorship to students and serving as a liaison between graduate students and campus administration. Kevin earned both a Master’s in Education and a Bachelor’s degree with majors in Political Science and American Studies from UC Berkeley.

Milagros Ramirez

My name is Milagros Ramirez, and I am an emerging social policy scholar who is passionate about anti-poverty, economic mobility and child and family policies. My interest in anti-poverty and social mobility are deeply personal to me. As a first-generation American, daughter of poor Dominican immigrants, and beneficiary of public assistance programs as a child, I know firsthand the challenges and stigma associated with participating in America’s social safety net. While I witnessed incredible resiliency and resourcefulness in my community, I knew early on that our safety net system was broken and not designed to lift families out of poverty. These experiences fueled a lifelong commitment to social justice, and I have dedicated my career to public policy and social welfare. I am interested in various social policy topics, including applying a racial equity lens to examine and advance anti-poverty solutions, strengthening youth workforce programs to better support vulnerable young people, and broad child and family policy issues. My commitment to these issues has led me to work in key sectors such as early childhood, community development and child welfare, and allowed me to use the tools of research and data to inform policies and programs that aim to combat poverty and its effects.

Nefara Riesch

Nefara Riesch is a PhD candidate in Sociology and Social Policy at Harvard University. Her work examines the determinants and consequences of policing and criminal legal system policy change. Prior to her doctoral studies, Nefara worked in policy research, focusing on homelessness, housing insecurity, and policing. Nefara holds an AM in Sociology from Harvard, an MPP from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and a BA in History from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is from East Palo Alto, California.

 

Farzana Sharmin

Farzana Sharmin is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at Northern Illinois University (NIU), specializing in Comparative Politics and Public Administration. Her dissertation sheds light on why gender discrimination is more pronounced in some public policies but not in others. Her research is centered around the issue of social equity in comparative public policy and public administration, with a particular focus on gender, race, sexual orientation, and religious institutions. In addition, she is involved in projects related to emergency management and decentralization in South Asia. Her recent publications include “Low- and Middle-Income Country Perceptions of Global Health Engagements” and “#Black Lives Matter: Where Do the Paradigms of Public Administration Fit?”. 
Farzana holds a Master of Public Administration degree (MPA), with a concentration in public policy, from Missouri State University (MSU). She obtained her undergraduate degree in Public Administration from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. 

Currently, Farzana serves as an instructor in the Department of Public Administration at NIU. She has five years of experience teaching courses on public policy and public administration. Prior to joining NIU, she worked as a teaching assistant at MSU. Farzana strives to incorporate an equity-conscious lens in her research and pedagogical approach.

Elizabeth Tong

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Tong is a 3rd year PhD student at the University of Washington (UW) Evans School of Public Policy and Governance. Lizzie applies an interdisciplinary and mixed-methods approach to examining how the intersection of social and place-based policies shape economic opportunity and upward mobility for low-income households. More recently, their research focuses on the influence of community-based organizations and social service delivery in the construction of “structurally transformative” policy. 

Since starting at UW, Lizzie served as the lead research assistant on a program evaluation of King County’s workforce development and housing program. With the Poverty and Inequality Research Lab (PIRL) at Johns Hopkins, Lizzie has conducted ethnographic interviews on race and class trends in income inequality to better understand the mechanisms of social mobility. She also works with PIRL to assess the relationship between neighborhoods and economic outcomes in Seattle’s residential mobility program, Creating Moves to Opportunity. In the Spring of 2024, Lizzie received a seed grant for cell-phone mobility data and seeks to construct a measure of access to social service organizations. Prior to beginning their PhD, Lizzie worked as a research assistant for the Community Development and Policy Studies Team at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Shakima Tozay

Shakima Tozay is an accomplished clinical social worker and U.S. Navy veteran. With over 15 years of experience working with veterans and active-duty military, Kima prioritizes empathy, respect, and trauma-informed care in her practice. She currently works as a medical social worker with the aging population. Kima has worked with individuals and families across their lifespans and enjoys taking an interdisciplinary approach to learning. She is the awardee of three prestigious fellowships: The Council on Social Work Education Doctoral Policy Fellow (2023); Frederick Bastiat Fellow @ Marcatus Center (2024); SAMSHA/Washington State Health Care Authority Kagen Leadership Fellow (2021).
Additionally,  Kima holds clinical licensure in Washington State and is a board-certified case manager. Committed to social justice and reproductive health equity, she has also earned certifications as a Diversity Professional and Perinatal Mental Health clinician. 

Kima received her B.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences (2006) and her MSW (2009) from the University of Washington Tacoma. She is a doctoral candidate pursuing a DSW with a concentration in Organizational Leadership at the University of Alabama, School of Social Work. Focusing on organizational leadership, her research interests include maternal health equity, program evaluation, policy/advocacy, and community engagement to effect systems change.

Katherine (Kat) Wilson McCoy

Katherine Wilson McCoy is a doctoral candidate at the University of Central Florida in the Public Affairs program. She received a M.S. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Florida Atlantic University and a B.A. in Criminology from the University of South Florida. Her research interests are interdisciplinary but are grounded in social equity. More specifically, her work focuses on policies that negatively impact marginalized communities and identifies solutions to address these issues. Her dissertation examines whether legal factors or social factors better predict negative attitudes toward the police among Black Americans.

Katherine is a graduate research assistant on a pilot study that examines the contribution of public-private partnerships toward hurricane relief operations. Additionally, she is a project manager on a National Science Foundation-funded project that involves developing community partnerships and building a regional data-sharing platform to help with emergency responses.

Her teaching portfolio includes Media and Crime, Race, Ethnicity, Equity, and (In)Justice, and Introduction to the Criminal Justice System. In 2023, she was awarded a research fellowship with the Center for Policing Equity. She was recently named a recipient of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) Doctoral Fellowship award.

Isaiah Wright

I am a third-year PhD student at the University of Washington, where I am dedicated to exploring the intricate dynamics of race, poverty, and inequality. My academic journey, marked by significant milestones, includes being the first in my family to pursue a PhD. Before my time at UW, I completed both an undergraduate and graduate degree at the University of California, Riverside, where I studied Economics and Public Policy, respectively. I have a mother who raised me for the majority of my life by herself and helped provide me the opportunity to make it here. Growing up I interacted with many of the systems I hope to study and improve. 

My research targets the intersection of race, poverty, and inequality by attempting to understand how various social policies have directly or indirectly affected black communities and other communities of color. Some of my other work has included being part of a team working to understand the Washington State Ballot system and developing better practices to improve outcomes among rejected ballots for voters.

Rebecca Xiè

My name is Becca Xie. I am a first-generation student and student parent at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs. I am currently in my second year of PhD studies. I am interested in research at the intersection of labor and personal finance. More specifically, my research investigates how individuals manage their personal finances in relation to an income shock, such as those tied to job loss, a health shock, or changing family structures.

Manning Zhang

Manning Zhang is currently a fifth-year PhD student in Sociology and Public Policy at Brandeis University. Her dissertation research focuses on justice in physical activities and seeks to bridge the urban community health equity gap through fitness initiatives. With broad interests in the intersection of the sociology of culture and health policy, Manning has co-authored works on the support towards first responders during COVID-19, health resources for people with eating disorders, and neighborhood violence. 

Manning uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore her research questions. Her ongoing projects include women’s narratives about STEM career choice and the mechanisms between neighborhood resources and mortality. As a first-gen non-native English speaker, she also proudly works as a senior consultant at Brandeis University Writing Center, providing writing support for students and faculty members in the community.