2026 Summer Fellows

Alejandro Bracero Colon

Alejandro Bracero is a senior undergraduate at the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras Campus. He is a political science and economics major student emphasizing in quantitative methods, international relations and in government, law and public policy. Alejandro is a fellow of the Public Policy and International Affairs program, which helps to insert minorities and underrepresented populations into public policy graduate programs, and is a 2026 Truman finalist. His research interests include political economy, vote rationality, economic policy, health policy, populism and public policy. Alejandro has conducted research on how Subjective well-being (SWB) impacts voter rationality for political parties and candidates in Puerto Rican elections, on populism in Argentina during the Juan Domingo Perón years and conducted a comparative study focusing on Spain's and Sri Lanka's constitutional paths towards their representative electoral systems. After obtaining his bachelor's degree, he hopes to complete a Master's of Public Policy (MPP) program and eventually, obtain a PhD in political economy.

Gregory G. Díaz-Elías

Gregory G. Díaz-Elías is an undergraduate student at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, pursuing a B.A. in Political Science with minors in Economics, International Relations, and Project Management. His work focuses on political economy and economic development, particularly on how institutional structures and governance shape economic outcomes in developing and economically constrained contexts. He has worked directly with communities in Puerto Rico and abroad. In Belize, Gregory collaborated with Garífuna communities, gaining experience in local development, cultural preservation, and socioeconomic dynamics in vulnerable contexts. In Puerto Rico, he has been involved in initiatives related to municipal management, local economic development, and the implementation of public programs. Gregory currently serves as a Research Assistant & Outreach at the Economic and Financial Education Center within the Department of Economics at UPRM, where he contributes to applied research and community-oriented economic education initiatives. Following graduation, he plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Development Studies, aiming to engage in both academic research and field-based work focused on economic development and sovereign debt challenges.

Ethan Gwinn

Ethan Gwinn is a rising sophomore at Howard University double majoring in Economics and Sociology and a member of the Humanities and Social Science Scholars Program (H3SP). He employs mixed qualitative and quantitative methods to examine how critical race theory illuminates policies driving residential segregation, redlining, and educational inequality, with a focus on their cumulative impacts on Black communities.

Hanaan Kazia

Hanaan Kazia is a rising senior at George Mason University double majoring in political science and sociology. Her research interests include social movements, the democratization of society, participatory policy, and public academia. She is affiliated with Alpha Kappa Delta, Pi Sigma Alpha, and Mason's Honors College. Hanaan has worked in numerous research positions, which have explored campaign finance reform, policy formation in local politics, Muslim-American community empowerment, the role of AI in education, and more, connecting her academic interests to real-world praxis. She is an alum of the Next Systems Studies fellowship, and has spoken about her work as a guest panelist at the Next Systems Teach-Ins. Outside of education, she is a student organizer fighting to protect free speech, immigrant students, and workers at GMU. Hanaan seeks to bring all of this experience to graduate school, where she will continue to work closely with her neighbors in her local DC metro area community in the fight for a better world.

Hugo Lopez Plascencia

Hugo Lopez Plascencia is a double major in History and Latin American studies, graduating from the University of California, Riverside. He is interested in U.S. and Latin American relations. His research has primarily focused on representations of Panama in the United States, during the 1910s and 1970s. Hugo has been working under the mentorship of faculty within UCR’s Latino and Latin American Research Center. He has also completed a public history internship at the Civil Rights Institute of Inland Southern California, where he conducted research and assisted in organizing material in a digital asset management system for an exhibit on the LGBTQ+ community in California’s Inland Empire. Hugo plans to attend graduate school with the goal of earning a PhD in History.

Julianna Madlock

Julianna Madlock Martinez is from Cleveland, Ohio and an undergraduate student of sociology at the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez, where she is also a track and field athlete specializing in the 400m dash. Her academic interests include grassroots mobilization and political theory, the lasting socioeconomic impacts of nationalist social movements, and the most constructive strategies for social transformation, to name a few. She is also the president and founding member of the student association "Estilo Colegial" which is the first fashion related organization on her campus striving to foster creative communities promoting consciousness and combating fast fashion. Julianna hopes to use her leadership skills and passion to continue seeking higher education in political science or law and contribute towards the Puerto Rican pursuit of liberation.

Ishita Maddineni

Ishita Maddineni (she/her) is a senior at the University of California, Riverside majoring in Political Science. She has developed a strong commitment to public service through her work with the Riverside County Probation Department, where she supported individuals on probation by assisting with resources such as GED completion, resume building, and housing access. As a participant in the MSIRA Fellowship, Ishita has further explored her research interests, which focus on the role of government in addressing recidivism and drug use in low-income communities.

Tiffany Pham

Tiffany Pham is currently an undergraduate student at Louisiana State University. She is double majoring in Sociology and Geography with a concentration in Environmental Studies, and she has a minor in Communication Studies. She has a passion for environmental injustice and environmental sustainability research to counteract harmful industries, promote policy changes and community outreach, and enable resource allocation to benefit vulnerable communities. Tiffany is also part of the Ogden Honors College at LSU, which has offered her additional intensive coursework to diversify her skills along with an opportunity to conduct mentored research for a senior honors thesis. The honors college awarded her with scholarships to study abroad in Paris, France, where she conducted a project that shined light on the importance of the city's minority landscape. She is also president of Asian Students Art Organization (ASAO) at LSU, which provides an engaging space for minority Asian students to express their passions for art and culture through organized exhibits and community networking events. Tiffany hopes to diversify her research skills that will allow her to succeed in her graduate school pursuits.

Michelle Santiago

Michelle A. Santiago is currently an undergraduate student at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus. She is majoring in Political Science, and minoring in Programming and Computing. She completed a summer internship at the Office of the Governor, where she gained insight into political image cultivation and interagency policy coordination, working directly under one of the Governor's legal advisors. Before that, she served as an editing intern at the University of Puerto Rico School of Law's law review, helping students engage in legal research. Her research interests center around colonization, agnotology, mobilization, blame attribution, and how the perception of public institutions can significantly influence the vote.

Jane Teran

Jane Teran is a fourth-year undergraduate student at Rutgers University double-majoring in Geography and Latino and Caribbean Studies. Her academic interests center on urban change, redevelopment, and gentrification, examined through the lens of political economy and the role of the state in shaping urban space. She is particularly interested in how immigrant communities transform commercial corridors, and how gentrification led by high-income people of color reshapes material landscapes. Jane is currently developing her undergraduate honors thesis on Morris Avenue in Elizabeth, New Jersey, also known as Little Colombia, where she analyzes how Latinx-led redevelopment reshapes space, commerce, and community identity. Her research combines field observation, spatial analysis, census data, and historical context to understand how Colombian businesses, murals, and storefront changes contribute to corridor-based urban gentrification. Jane is a recipient of the Lloyd C. Gardner Fellowship at Rutgers University for 2025–2026, she has been named to the Dean’s List from 2023 to 2025 and is a member of the Honors College. In 2024, she received the Victor Fernandez Fragoso Award from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the Enlightenment Award from the Latino Student Council in recognition of her contributions to Latinx culture, scholarship, and campus leadership.