2025 Summer Fellows

Isabelle Canadine

Summer Fellow- 2025

Isabelle (Izzy) Canadine is currently an undergrad student at Lehigh University, majoring in Global Studies and minoring in International Relations and Religion Studies. She is a proud member of the Seldovia Village Tribe and was born in Alaska. She was adopted when she was young, and since then, she has had the opportunity to live and learn in diverse countries like Mozambique and Guatemala, which helped in an incredible way to develop her global perspective. She is a member of the first cohort as a Lehigh Soaring Together Scholar, and she continues to be dedicated to the success of women at Lehigh University and beyond. She plans to continue higher education after completing her undergraduate studies, and aspires to work with organizations like the United Nations. She hopes to be able to make a significant impact on Indigenous rights and the many other social rights issues that affect underrepresented communities in the U.S. and beyond.

India Buchanan

Summer Fellow- 2025

India Buchanan is a rising junior at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM). She is a double major in Political Science and American studies, with a prospective minor in Peace Studies. Her academic interests include, but are not limited to, studying the effects of American globalization, food politics & security, Native Hawaiian Politics, and the role of America within international relations. She has consistently been awarded placement on the Dean's List, and is the events planner for the Environmental Justice Club at UHM. India has been able to explore her interest in food politics through the Hawaiʻi Food+ Policy Internship, which allowed her the opportunity to study current legislation, develop testimony writing and critical research skills. India plans to diversify her understanding of politics while completing her undergraduate degree at UH Mānoa, and use the skills attained from the MPE Program to pursue a masters in Political Science.

Troy Cofie

Summer Fellow- 2025

Troy Cofie is rising senior at Adelphi University, Garden City Campus, majoring in economics with a minor in math and political science. His research interests include macroeconomic, economic policy, monetary theory, schools of economic thought, political economy, and state-coordinated development. Troy has completed an Independent Study on the theoretical propositions and policy implications of Modern Monetary Theory, which states that a monetary sovereign nation that issues its own currency doesn't have a financial constraint. Troy is part of the Leadership Fellowship program at Adelphi, which helps connect alumni who are in leadership positions with students in order to develop students' leadership skills. Troy was part of Adelphi University's Honors College World Affairs Fellowship and Adelphi's Jaggar Community Fellowship, obtaining an internship with the Amercian Cancer Society. Troy hopes to attend graduate school in order to obtain his master's in economics and, eventually, obtain a PhD in economics.

Daniela Quiroga

Summer Fellow- 2025

My name is Daniela Quiroga, and I am a first-generation college student. I'm from Dallas, Texas, but I am a current Junior at Clark University in Worcester, MA. I am majoring in Sociology and Urban Studies with a minor in Political Science. Most of my research interests concern minority mobilization and empowerment, urban planning, religion and politics, socialization, and comparative politics. I have worked with the Latin American Student Association and the Revolutionary Student Association, as well as a Spanish tutor on campus and a peer mentor. After Clark, I plan to attend law school and hope to do work related to urban planning, immigration, and human rights.

Jordan Alvarado

Summer Fellow- 2025

Jordan Alvarado (he/him) is a senior at the University of California, Davis majoring in History and Chicanx Studies. Working with students in the university as an academic community counselor and in juvenile detention facilities (JDF) as a volunteer educator, Jordan is interested in the impact of education on young peoples’ life outcomes. As an interdisciplinary scholar, his current and past research endeavors vary. In his Chicana/o/x Studies senior thesis, Jordan is exploring how volunteer educators in JDFs traverse the contradictory goals of education and carceral facilities. With the California History-Social Science Project, Jordan created an oral history to investigate how children in rural El Salvador navigated human rights struggles during the country’s 12-year civil war. With the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, he crafted policy recommendations to support immigrants seeking naturalization. Outside of research, he is a co-coordinator for the Reintegration Academy hosted at UC Davis and is a co-founder of the Prison Education Project Club at UC Davis. After graduating, Jordan plans to pursue graduate studies to uplift marginalized educational experiences and advocate for educational access, equity, and opportunities for all. In academia and beyond, Jordan is dedicated to missions of radical imagination and critical love.

Nona Chai

Summer Fellow- 2025

Nona Chai received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California San Diego in sociology with a minor in psychology. Their passion for humanity and our relationship with Mother Earth led them to the environmental and economic justice movement, where they utilize social science training to counter harmful, extractive systems and industries in ways that center and serve those first and foremost harmed. Their research interests include international climate policy and the mobilization and political economy of a just transition to regional regenerative economies, all in the service of creating a more just and loving world.

Alejandra Negrón Rodríguez

Summer Fellow- 2025

Alejandra graduated from the University of Puerto Rico - Río Piedras. She is a political science major with emphasis on international relations and comparative politics and a minor in French. Her research interests include elections, voter dynamics and authoritarian regimes. Once completed her Masters degree in Latina/o, Caribbean, and Latin American Studies, she plans to pursue a PhD in comparative politics, become a professor and develop research.

Dominique Williams

Summer Fellow- 2025

Dominique Williams is a first-year Environmental Studies major at Boston College with a concentration in Environmental Entrepreneurship and minors in Accounting for Consulting and Chinese. Her research interests include Environmental Economics, Latin American and Caribbean history, International Politics, and Public Policy. Her research interest focuses on the intersecting social, cultural and economic impacts of climatic shocks on developing nations and strategies for developing climate-resilient, sustainable economies. She works as a Student Assistant at Boston College’s Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society and serves on its Student Advisory Board. As a climate activist based in St. Kitts, Dominique seeks to integrate research with advocacy, using incorporating of climate justice and sustainable development to inform her work.