This summer, MDRC is pleased to welcome four undergraduate interns, one master’s-level Evidence-to-Practice intern, and two doctoral fellows in the Gueron Scholars Program. The Gueron Scholars Program (GSP), which runs this year from June 8 to July 31, offers paid internships and doctoral fellowships (with stipends) to introduce students to MDRC and the field of education and social policy research.

This year, MDRC is pleased to have received funding from Pennsylvania State University’s College of Education, the Duke Endowment, and several individual donors.

MDRC welcomes the following GSP scholars this summer:

Undergraduate Interns

	Mariah Iris Ramo is a rising senior at Barnard College, majoring in urban studies (political science) and minoring in educational studies. Ramo was born in the Philippines and raised in Hawaii and has been involved in many civic projects in Hawaii, including the Hawaii Community Foundation and HawaiiKidsCAN. She is interested in K-12 education and has previously conducted research on student belonging for first-generation students.
	Madeline Shanafelt studies education and public policy and political science at Penn State University, where she is also pursuing a master’s degree in educational theory and policy. Shanafelt is studying how states teach social studies, particularly the more controversial parts of American history, and is interested in how economic and family structures affect children’s educational experiences.
	Dinaye Smith is a third-year student from Coatesville, PA, majoring in education and public policy at Penn State University. She serves as the president of the Education and Public Policy Undergraduate Association, is participating in the Studamire Education Policy Research Practice Lab, and has worked with Penn State’s Black Caucus and the National Council of Negro Women.
	Nisrine Tiouti is a rising senior at Davidson College, majoring in economics with a minor in film and media studies. Her policy interests include housing, economic mobility, and K-12 education. Tiouti is a Bonner Scholar dedicated to community-driven research and has a passion for translating evidence into action.

Evidence-to-Practice Intern

Morgan Gilmer is a rising third-year PhD student in Human Development and Family Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and will complete a master’s degree in spring 2026. Gilmer studies how a sense of community and social support protects youth and families in the context of adversity, focusing primarily on the economic, social, and geographic context of rural communities and how families navigate obstacles, such as underinvestment and barriers to accessing formal social services.

Doctoral Fellows

Joyce Kim is a PhD candidate in sociology and higher education at the University of Pennsylvania, with interests in the policy areas of postsecondary education policy, employment, economic mobility, and young people. Her research employs qualitative methods to study how undergraduates navigate the transition from college to careers at two higher education institutions in New York City. Her previous graduate school research, published as a peer-reviewed article, explores how students’ racial and class backgrounds influence the moral aspects of their career choices at an elite university. Before beginning her PhD, she studied civic adaptation among North Korean defectors, worked at a nonprofit providing job skills training, and conducted research at a business school.

Tremaine Sails-Dunbar is a fourth-year PhD student at the University of South Carolina, where he studies the intersection of homelessness, mental illness risk, criminality, and the social and structural level factors that influence these outcomes. His work applies a mixed-methods approach grounded in moral reasoning to examine how policy design and implementation shape outcomes for vulnerable populations. Tremaine’s primary policy interests include homelessness and housing stability, behavioral health and mental illness, social service utilization, and economic mobility. He is particularly interested in how integrated service models, such as housing combined with health and social supports, can improve long-term outcomes and reduce system fragmentation.