Dana Yoo

Dana Yoo is currently pursuing a master’s degree in the MPP program at the Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to HKS, Dana served as a diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Korea, where she focused on supporting gender-based violence (GBV) survivors and advancing international development initiatives in collaboration with multilateral organizations. Dana is particularly interested in exploring the intersection of women’s empowerment and environmental sustainability.

Abdi Yulian

Abdi Yulian is a first-year MPA/ID student at the Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to HKS, he served as an Indonesian diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, focusing on policy development in trade, investment, and global supply chains. He also contributed to Indonesia’s G20 Presidency and ASEAN Chairmanship, supporting initiatives on finance and green economy. At HKS, Abdi seeks to further explore the intersection between industrial policy and regional cooperation. He holds a B.Sc. in Economics from Universitas Indonesia.

Wendy Zhu

Wenyu Zhu is a first-year Master in Public Policy (MPP) student at the Harvard Kennedy School from China. Prior to HKS, she interned as an investigator and data analyst at the Integrity Vice Presidency of the World Bank Group, where she supported anti-corruption investigations and contributed to data-driven solutions for the Bank’s internal risk assessment matrix.

At HKS, Wenyu serves as a research assistant on the Reimagining the Economy project, focusing on industrial policy and macroeconomic development in Kenya. Her academic interests include inclusive economic development and the role of innovation and infrastructure in structural transformation. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (BSFS) in International Political Economy and Mathematics from Georgetown University in 2024.

Umran Mustafa

Umran Mustafa is a first-year MPP student at the Harvard Kennedy School from Dhaka, Bangladesh. Prior to attending the Kennedy School, Umran worked across sectors in Bangladesh. He was a founding member of a blue-collar job-tech startup and led a successful pre-seed funding round. Additionally, he served as a financial analyst in the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority. Umran is passionate about private sector development and infrastructure in emerging economies. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, where he double majored in Applied Economics and Statistics.

Palakshi Nerkar

Palakshi Nerkar is a first-year Master in Public Policy student at the Harvard Kennedy School, concentrating in International & Global Affairs. She is the Cofounder of Innosapien Agro Technologies, where she leads AI-driven projects focused on sustainable agriculture, agroforestry, and climate finance. Her work involves developing digital monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems to strengthen climate resilience for smallholder farmers and support their participation in carbon markets.

With a background in electronics and telecommunication engineering, Palakshi has collaborated with policymakers to advance AI-based agricultural policy and led the development of decision-support tools for optimizing carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation. She is passionate about applying emerging technologies to drive inclusive sustainable development and enhance global environmental governance. She is currently exploring the role of frontier technologies in shaping equitable climate and carbon market policies in the Global South.

ByeongKyu (Colin) Jun

ByeongKyu (Colin) Jun is a first-year Master in Public Policy (MPP) student at Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to HKS, Colin studied Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in International Relations at King’s College London and studied Economics at Korea National Open University. Colin recently finished his mandatory social service in Korea, working at the local daycare centre for people with disabilities.

Colin also previously interned at the UN World Food Programme and worked at international NGOs like PeaceX, LIMUN Foundation and the World Federation of United Nations Associations. Colin is interested in leveraging the education and social policies to create opportunities for more people in the world.

Jason Hess

Jason Hess is a master’s in public policy candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he studies as a 2023 Truman Scholar and concentrates in International and Global Affairs. He joined the Growth Lab in November 2024 as a Research Assistant supporting research on Morocco’s electric vehicle transition. This summer, he is embedded with Mera Batteries in Casablanca, focusing on supply chain localization, critical mineral positioning, and the geopolitical dynamics shaping Morocco’s role in the global energy transition. He earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Youngstown State University in Ohio, in the heart of the U.S. Rust Belt. As captain of the university’s Baja SAE team, he led the design and fabrication of a competition-grade off-road vehicle and partnered with regional manufacturers.

His professional experience includes working as a manufacturing engineer at Collins Aerospace (Raytheon), where he supported avionics, systems used in both fighter and civil aircraft. For four years, he also served as an assistant head high school football coach in his rural Pennsylvania hometown. Committed to a career in public service, Jason works at the intersection of policy and engineering to address local and global challenges

Michael Hinz

Michael is a first-year MPP student at the Harvard Kennedy School. At Harvard, Michael is focused on economic development and public-private partnerships. Michael began his career as a consultant concentrating on valuations and financial modeling. He later worked in investment banking in groups specialized in debt and equity capital markets, activism defense and shareholder advisory. He received a B.A. in Economics from Vanderbilt University and is a native of Washington D.C.

Gokul Ganesh

Gokul Ganesh is a Master in Public Policy (MPP) student at the Harvard Kennedy School, originally from India. Prior to HKS, Gokul worked as a Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow at Columbia Business School, where he conducted empirical analysis on inflation and supply chain disruptions, and as a Consultant with Altica Partners, an Africa-focused investment firm supporting private credit transactions across the continent and advising on infrastructure-linked investments. He previously worked at J.P. Morgan in trade and supply chain finance, leading client engagements and developing financial models for infrastructure projects. Gokul is interested in infrastructure financing and policy in emerging markets, particularly the role of Public-Private Partnerships in enabling sustainable infrastructure development.

He holds a Master in Financial Engineering from UCLA Anderson and a B.Tech. in Electronics & Communication Engineering from NIT Karnataka (India).

Ranjitsinh Disale

Ranjitsinh Disale is an Ed.M. candidate in the Education Policy and Analysis program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Before attending HGSE, he served as an education advisor to the Government of Maharashtra and later to the World Bank’s Global Coach Program, where he led large-scale efforts to improve teaching and learning outcomes in under-resourced communities. He is best known for initiating India’s QR-coded textbook policy, now scaled nationally, and for receiving the Global Teacher Prize in 2020 for his innovative work in inclusive education. His research interests include bilingual education in crisis contexts and the use of technology to reduce educational inequity.