
Megan Baffaro
Political Science and Law, Societies, and Justice
Megan is an undergraduate student double majoring in Political Science and Law, Societies, and Justice, with a minor in Human Rights. She is a member of the Interdisciplinary Honors Program, and an undergraduate fellow for the Center for American Politics and Public Policy. She is interested in a variety of topics including environmental injustice, political polarization, human rights, and political theory. Through the Political Science Honors Program, Megan is currently researching the influence of elite messaging on climate change polarization, and the potential of a united elite for promoting climate policy.
Email: megb1717 AT uw.edu

Clement J. Bermudes Jr.
Political Science and Geography
Clement is an undergraduate student majoring in Political Science, on the Political Economy option, and minoring in Geography. His academic and research interests center on political-military affairs, international trade/political economy/development, and climate policy as it relates to the Pacific Rim. Currently, his research focuses on economic development in the Northern Mariana Islands. In the past, Clement has served as an Elections Official in Texas, conducted academic study at the United States Military Academy (West Point), and currently serves as an undergraduate intern at the United States District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.
Email: cjmudes AT uw.edu

Forrest Brungardt
Political Science and Geography
Forrest is an undergrad at the University of Washington in the Environmental Studies program. His interests include climate advocacy, community organizing, and gardening. Forrest advocates for comprehensive climate policy as the founder and chair of Sierra Club at the University of Washington and a member of the Sierra Club Seattle executive committee.
Email: forrest1 AT uw.edu

Sun W Choi
Political Science and Real Estate
Sun is an undergraduate student majoring in Political Science and Real Estate, with a focus on Political Economy and Asset Management. He is interested in international trade, environmental and energy politics, as well as US-China relations.
Email: schoi7 AT uw.edu

Nate Constan
International Studies and Political Science
Nate is an undergraduate student double majoring in International Studies and Political Science, with an emphasis in Environmental Studies. Nate first came into the University of Washington as an Environmental Sustainability and Resource Management major but quickly found that his passions and skills were best cut out for the policy side of climate mitigation. He is interested in the “greening” of economies, political reform, and Scandinavia’s model of capitalism, coined “Eco-Capitalism”. Previously, Nate has independently researched topics that complement his interests, his most recent being the correlation between coronavirus, climate change, and capitalism.
Email: nbc4 AT uw.edu

Nolan DeGarlais
Political Science and History
Nolan is an undergraduate student double majoring in Political Science and History. He is interested in studying policies aimed toward a just transition to a net zero society, as well as adaptation strategies and the intersection between climate and labor politics. Nolan is also actively involved with a variety of organizations, including Pi Sigma Alpha, the political science honor society on campus, as its Director of Finances.
Email: ndegar AT uw.edu

Mason Green
Political Science and Informatics
Mason (he/him/his) is a sophomore transfer student from Whatcom Community College, where he graduated with an Associates in General Engineering. Seeking a Political Science and Informatics degree, he hopes to learn how to synthesise information technologies with complex political issues. Mason is extremely interested in how advanced computing algorithms, data analysis, and machine learning can be used to better understand large scale political and institutional issues, specifically climate change. Mason is currently researching Alaska’s Permanent fund dividend – a form of Universal Basic Income- looking to examine how it has affected the state holistically, and works as a Back-End developer on a UW Start-up, AvePass. In the past, Mason has worked as a student advocate serving at Whatcom as ASWCC Student Body President and Senator. In Mason’s free time he runs with the Husky Run Club and is an avid music listener.
Email: msaongreen511 AT gmail.com

Peyton Groshart
Environmental Eng. & Political Science
Peyton is an undergraduate majoring in Environmental Engineering and Political Science with a focus on Climate Adaptation and policy. He’s interested in how to bridge the gap between large scale engineering projects and the legislation surrounding them, as well as breaking down the polarization of climate change in politics. As an avid hiker, the conservation of the Pacific Northwest’s forests and utilization of community outreach to protect Washingtons natural landscape in the decades to come lies at the heart of his long-term goals.
Email: lovepeace1000 AT hotmail.com

Hannah Harris
Sociology and Geography
Hannah is an undergraduate student double majoring in Sociology and Geography, pursuing the Environment, Economy and Sustainability Track. Her interests include climate change advocacy, political organizing, and community outreach. By pursuing her chosen fields, Hannah hopes to develop her skills in multimedia education to provide accessible information to communities affected by environmental harms. In the past, Hannah has worked with HFS SEED to spread awareness of on-campus sustainability and the Washington Bus to increase political action with Seattle youth. Hannah is currently working with UW EcoReps and Sunrise UW to continue advocating for policy change to mitigate the climate crisis and other Environmental Justice issues within the local community and beyond.
Email: hannahja AT uw.edu

Luke Jouflas
Political Science
Luke is an undergraduate student majoring in Political Science and was just accepted to the Political Science Honors program.
Email: ljouflas AT uw.edu

Lily Kinyon
Political Science and International Studies
Lily is an undergraduate student majoring in Political Science and International Studies with a focus on Environmental Studies and Italian. She is interested in international environmental policy, corporate climate governance, and electoral systems/politics. She hopes to utilize her dual degrees to pursue an MPA in Environmental Policy with the goal of working internationally on climate policy. Lily previously worked as Field Manager in a state political campaign, volunteered with WashPIRG to ban plastics in Washington State, and currently works on the executive board of Pi Sigma Alpha as Director of Communications.
Email: lilyk21 AT uw.edu

Zoe Lew
Environmental Studies
Zoe is an undergraduate student majoring in Environmental Studies, with a focus in climate justice and environmental policy. She is interested in policy and research on reducing and preparing for climate change impacts on human health. Since coming to the University of Washington, she has lobbied to Washington state’s House of Representatives and Senators for the University of Washington and is currently a research assistant for Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford University.
Email: zoelew AT uw.edu

Shern Sze Lim
Economics and Political Science
Shern Sze is an undergraduate student majoring in Economics and Political Science. She is interested in environmental policy and its power to incentivize both organizations and governments to take concrete actions on climate change. At UW, Shern Sze advocates for international students’ representation in the Student Senate and serves as the Director of ASUW’s Office of International Student Advocacy.
Email: shernsl AT uw.edu

Alicia Lopez
Political Science
Email: ally9842 AT uw.edu

Sydney Lyman
Political Science and Environmental Studies
Sydney Lyman is an undergraduate student majoring in Political Science with minors in Environmental Studies and Ethics. Her current interests include global environmental policy, institutional sustainability, the ethics of climate change, and the intersection of climate change and capitalism. Sydney is the recipient of several philanthropy honors, including the Young Philanthropist award from Spokane County United Way, for her community service and organizing efforts. At UW, Sydney is active with First Year Programs as a environmental studies FIG instructor and writes for the student newspaper The Daily, focusing on environmental issues and current events.
Email: sydlyman AT uw.edu

Phillip Meng
Interdisciplinary Honors Business Administration, Finance
Phillip Meng is an undergraduate student in the Interdisciplinary Honors program studying finance. He is interested in the role of climate change/sustainability in trade and foreign policy, green finance, and public opinion towards environmental issues. Phillip has been a research assistant in the Jackson School of International Studies and created the Polling and Open Data Initiative at the University of Washington, a public-interest data analytics student organization. In 2022, he is serving on the council of the Pacific Chapter of the American Association for Public Opinion Research.
Email: pmeng AT uw.edu

Aditi Menon
Applied and Computational Mathematical Sciences
Aditi Menon is a sophomore at the University of Washington. She is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Applied and Computational Mathematical Sciences with a concentration in Social and Behavioral Sciences and minoring in Public Policy. At UW she is involved in a variety of organizations like UW Consulting Association and the editorial committee at HOMEROOM UW. She has always been passionate about using her dual mathematical and statistical experience and social science background to conduct research in public policy. Aditi is particularly interested in researching a just transition to clean energy, corporate sustainability, and the economics of environmental policy. She hopes to pursue a career in environmental and sustainability policy analysis.
Email: aditim15 AT uw.edu

Nick Oh
Depts. of Political Science and Economics
Nick is an undergraduate student majoring in Political Science and Economics. He is interested in tackling climate change/environmental issues through game theory applications and time series analysis of US risk perception of said issues. He is currently a research assistant for Nela Mrchkovska’s “When Religious Leaders Preach on Climate Change” and also works on his own project about finding ways to shift the aggregate risk perception. In the past, Nick participated in West Coast Model EU 2022 as the Environmental Minister of Germany.
Email: zephy AT uw.edu

Jessica Vollbrecht
Political Science and International Studies
Jessica is an undergraduate student majoring in Political Science, with a focus in Political Economics, alongside minoring in International Studies from the Jackson School. She is interested in studying foreign relations, economic development, international trade and finance, and international climate policy. Her current research involves around the short and long term effects of environmental policy on major industries within the market, such as transportation.
Email: jessvoll AT uw.edu

Ashley Wu
Political Science and Dance
Email: ashl3y.wu AT gmail.com