Volume 36 | 2024-2025

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

Diana Chavez-Varela

Diana Chavez-Varela is pursuing a Master in Public Affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. Diana received her B.A. in Political Economy from the University of California, Berkeley and is a 2022 Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs fellow. Diana conducted casework for refugees at the International Rescue Committee and led investigations into humanitarian crises as a manager at UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center. She co-authored an AI and Child Rights report with UNICEF, presented her research to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, and represented UC Berkeley at Amnesty International's Summit at Hong Kong University. She then engaged with policymakers on conflict resolution in Oman, the UAE, and Jordan through a fully funded educational scholarship in the Middle East. Following graduation, Diana co-founded the Global Community College Transfers organization to destigmatize educational pathways for community college students. Recently, Diana worked as an analyst at Deloitte conducting cyber and strategic risk analysis for C-Suite executives of multinational organizations.

Ariel Munczek Edelman

Ariel is a born-and-raised New Yorker and a first-year MPA student focusing on urban and social policy. Their interest in public policy developed out of their undergraduate work on the political economy of drag performance. After graduating from Wesleyan University, Ariel provided research and technical assistance for a number of federal agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Food and Nutrition Service. Ariel then managed New York City's financial counseling programs at the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. They are particularly interested in policy work that expands affordable housing, worker cooperatives, and alternatives to policing and prisons.

MANAGING EDITOR

Jennifer Williams most recently worked as the Special Assistant for Research to the President at the Council on Foreign Relations. There, she conducted research on foreign policy issues connected to the work of the then-President Richard Haass and served as lead researcher for his latest book, "The Bill of Obligations." With an honors degree in International Studies and a minor in International Economics from Vassar College, Jennifer focused her academic studies on global affairs and Middle East studies. After briefly exploring the legal field as a paralegal, Jennifer returned to her true passion, foreign policy, in 2020. Her expertise is bolstered by significant experiences abroad, including two U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarships in Jordan and Morocco,  a year-long study abroad student in Egypt, and the Vassar Ann Cornelisen Graduate fellowship in Jordan. These endeavors not only honed her Arabic skills but also nuanced her understanding of regional dynamics. In her free time she loves to play and watch soccer, in particular her favorite team, Arsenal FC.

DIGITAL EDITORS

Paco Gonzalez

Paco is an MPA student and Fulbright Scholar from Guadalajara, Mexico. At SPIA, he is pursuing his interests in urban development and climate policy in Latin America. Before coming to Princeton, Paco worked in Mexico City as a public policy analyst at Fundación IDEA, providing technical assistance to criminal justice institutions across the country. He holds a BA in Political Science from NYU Abu Dhabi. Paco enjoys learning languages, eating and talking about Mexican food and exploring new places.

Michelle Zhang

Michelle is a PhD student in Security Studies at Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs. Her research interests focus primarily on the issues of limited resources and competition in the space sector and how those aspects affect the policies driving the operationalization and commercialization of space technologies. She is also interested in the intersections between space and cybersecurity. Prior to Princeton, she worked for the FBI in the New York Field Office after interning in the Cincinnati Field Office. Michelle holds a dual B.A. in English and Security & Intelligence with a minor in Japanese from The Ohio State University.