With a generous gift from Yale College alumni Jennifer Millstone ’00 and David Millstone ’99, ISPS launched a new a program in 2022 to provide support for Yale undergraduate students who are exploring careers in public service through summer internships in government. Students accepted into the Millstone Fellowship receive a stipend to pay for housing, transportation, and other expenses while gaining valuable experience and building a network of peers and professional contacts in pursuit of careers in public service.
Led by faculty director Christina Kinane, this year’s program has attracted 14 fellows who will be working at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Department of Defense, and other highly competitive destinations in government.
The 2024 Class of Millstone Fellows:
Anna Bernstein
College: Branford
Major: American Studies
Millstone Internship: Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia
Experience: Anna has worked as an intern for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the Office of Finance and Budget, a marketing strategist for yale Hospitality, and a special projects fellow for the National Education Equity Lab.
Activities: Anna serves as director of internal affairs for the Executive Board of the Yale Policy Institute and captain of yale Women’s Club Soccer. She has also created resource guides and directories for Justice Impact Alliance and assisted local students with college applications for New Haven Reach.
Sadie Bograd
College: Davenport
Major: Urban Studies (Certificate in Data Science)
Millstone Internship: New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development
Experience: Sadie has worked as a Peter G. Peterson Foundation intern at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, where she conducted research into fiscal policy issues, and a summer associate at the Kentucky Student Voice Team, which works to make Kentucky’s schools more democratic and just via research, advocacy, and storytelling.
Activities: Sadie is the investigations editor and a former city reporter for the Yale Daily News, a research assistant studying housing costs at the Yale School of Management, a communications manager for the Yale Sustainable Food Program, and a volunteer tax preparer with Yale’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program.
Caroline Chen
College: Silliman
Major: History
Millstone Internship: Washington, D.C. Office of U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn.
Experience: As one of Yale’s 2023 President’s Public Service Fellows, Caroline partnered with a New Haven nonprofit to make early childhood education more accessible and affordable. She has also interned at Jacobs & Dow. She currently serves as an office aide for Silliman College and a research assistant for ISPS faculty fellow Allison Harris.
Activities: Caroline volunteers as an advising fellow for Matriculate and a pardon program volunteer for Yale’s Undergraduate Prison Project. She also serves as one of Yale Club Running’s captains and the social chair for Yale Taps.
Elizabeth Dejanikus
College: Timothy Dwight
Major: Political Science and Humanities
Millstone Internship: U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs
Experience: Elizabeth has served as an intern for the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on China and for the Yale Law Journal and as a student assistant in the Yale Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office. She is the managing editor of the Yale Review of International Studies and is the online managing editor of the Yale Undergraduate Law Journal.
Activities: Elizabeth has performed in several productions with the Yale Ballet Company, and she is a member of the Yale Ski Team. She works as an assistant at New Haven Ballet and leads incoming students on backpacking trips as part of the First-Year Outdoor Orientation Program (FOOT).
Axel de Vernou
College: Saybrook
Major: History (BA/MA) and Global Affairs
Millstone Internship: United States Federal Government
Experience: Axel has worked as an open-source exploitation intern in the federal government, a grand strategy and nuclear strategy intern at the Hudson Institute, and a research assistant/ intern at the Alexander Hamilton Society, the Yorktown Institute, and the Wilson Center.
Activities: During his junior year, Axel served as the co-president of the Alexander Hamilton Society and one of the head brothers of Brothers in Unity, a campus society dedicated to public service and national security. He is also a member of the William F. Buckley Jr. institute and assists the Yale-William & Mary Geopolitics of Technology Initiative.
Salvador Gómez-Colón
College: Ezra Stiles
Major: History
Millstone Internship: United States Federal Government
Experience: Salvador is the founder and president of Light and Hope for Puerto Rico, which leads natural disaster relief and climate resilience initiatives in Puerto Rick and the Caribbean. He has served as an intern for the United Nations Development Program, the U.S. Department of State, the city of New Haven, and U.S. Rep. Seth Mouton, D-Mass. In addition, he has worked as a summer business analyst at McKinsey & Company and a development intern for The Wilson Center.
Activities: Salvador has earned numerous awards in recognition of his humanitarian work and public advocacy. He has published a memoir for middle-grade readers about his experience with Hurricane Maria and his early humanitarian work and delivered speeches at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, The Aspen Institute, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Cameron Greene
College: Branford
Major: Economics
Millstone Internship: U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Economic Policy
Experience: Cameron took a gap year to intern at the White House Council of Economic Advisors and The Brookings Institution. He has also worked as a research fellow for Harvard Business School, a Dahl Research Scholar with ISPS, a researcher for the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs’ Leitner Program on Effective Democratic Governance, and a research assistant in the Yale Department of Economics and Yale School of Management.
Activities: Cameron is a member of Yale’s Men’s Club Soccer Team, a former member of Yale’s NCAA Division 1 Men’s Varsity Fencing Team, and an amateur chess player.
William Hin
College: Pierson
Major: Ethics, Politics, and Economics
Millstone Internship: Orange County Office of the Public Defender
Experience: William has worked as a peer liaison for the Yale University Asian American Cultural center, a legal intern for Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), a Yale admissions ambassador, and a civic engagement organizer for AHRI for Justice, constructing a three-month curriculum and mentoring 20 high school students on social justice issues.
Activities: William is the development director for the Yale Undergraduate Legal Aid Association, co-social chair for Yale Danceworks, and fundraising chair for Southeast Asian Movement at Yale. Two summers ago, he completed a program in biodiversity, sustainable food systems, and environmental justice at The School for Sustainable Field Studies in Costa Rica.
Casey Lewis
College: Timothy Dwight
Major: Political Science
Millstone Internship: Clark County (Nev.) District Attorney’s Office
Experience: Casey has worked as an intern for U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., and for the operations manager for Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak. Both roles included research and policy analysis, drafting memos and more.
Activities: Casey is a project leader for the Yale Undergraduate Legal Aid Association, developing toolkits to address segregation, resource inequity and the criminalization of youth in New York City; co-director for the Yale Politics Initiative; and legislative fellow for Yale Democrats.
Thomas Lowe
College: Branford
Major: Global Affairs and History
Millstone Internship: The Inter-American Foundation
Experience: Thomas has worked as a policy intern in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs. He has also served as a research intern for the African American Civil War Museum and works as a research assistant for John Lewis Gaddis, Robert A. Lovett Professor of Military & Naval History, to create artificial-intelligence-rendered virtual experiences of historical settings.
Activities: Thomas leads a team of Yale students who are collaborating with officers from the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Air Force Academy to develop a primer on space law and policy meant primarily for U.S. Air Force JAG Officers. He is also a member of the Yale Spizzwinks and chairs a committee for the Yale Model United Nations Conference.
Aya Ochiai
College: Timothy Dwight
Major: Mechanical Engineering and Environmental Studies
Millstone Internship: U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Lab
Experience: Aya has worked as a mechanical engineering intern for the federal government, an assistant in the Yale Machine Shop, and a research assistant in the lab of Jan Schroers, Robert Higgins Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science.
Activities: Aya works as an undergraduate production peer mentor and a STARS peer mentor. As technical director of the Yale Dramatic Association, she has led efforts stage productions for the largest theaters on campus.
Pranav Pattatathunaduvil
College: Ben Franklin
Major: Global Affairs
Millstone Internship: U.S. Department of State
Experience: Pranav previously worked as a foreign policy research assistant for the Special Competitive Studies Project, assisting in the planning of the Quad Tech, Business, and Investment Forum. In addition, he served in two research internships at the Hudson Institute over a year and a half, researching the evolution of India and China’s foreign policy strategies.
Activities: Pranav is the co-president of the Yale Policy Institute, the incoming president for the Alexander Hamilton Society, and co-founder and co-president of the Geopolitics of Technology Initiative, which works to engage students at the intersection of technology and foreign policy. He recently spearheaded the inaugural Geopolitics of Technology Forum, which was held in partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense
Griffin Richie
College: Davenport
Major: Ethics, Politics, and Economics
Millstone Internship: U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C.
Experience: Griffin has worked as an intake and client relations intern for the Georgia Justice Project, an editorial intern for the Yale Law Journal, a site coordinator for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, and an intake volunteer for the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation.
Activities: Griffin has been a discussion leader for the Yale Undergraduate Moot Court, a staff writer for the Yale Undergraduate Law Journal, an elections and legislative fellow for Yale College Democrats, a member of the Yale Political Union, and a parliamentary debate coach for high school students through the New Haven Urban Debate League.
Aerin Washington
College: Branford
Major: Architecture and African American Studies
Millstone Internship: City of New Haven’s Economic Development Administration, advised under the Yale Urban Design Workshop and the Greater Dwight Development Corporation
Experience: Aerin has worked as an event assistant for the Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law School and a housing case analyst with Statewide Legal Services of Connecticut.
Activities: Aerin is the president of external affairs for the Yale Undergraduate Legal Aid Association, head of the Equal Justice Center at the Yale Policy Institute, and served as director of outreach for Yale Votes.