I am a graduate student at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy and will receive my Master of Public Policy degree in May 2024. My studies are focused on international policy. My goal is to work for a government agency, a research institution, or an international NGO to help develop strategic approaches and substantive policies to strengthen international cooperation and alliances that can reduce conflict and lead to greater peace and prosperity.In the summer of 2023, I interned for the European People’s Party at the European Parliament, where I researched and wrote reports on political and economic developments relevant to Transatlantic relations from multiple sectors, including technology, communications, and trade. I also reported on hearings at the European Parliament and Plenary sessions in Strasbourg and Brussels and drafted policy proposals on improving people-to-people Transatlantic relations. At the Ford School, I worked on a project for the US Department of State Diplomacy Lab, compiling the definitive history of the US Embassy in Skopje. World politics and global affairs were also the major focus of my undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan. I was particularly drawn to the study of the cultural and political dynamics in modern Europe, specifically how the emerging countries in Central and Eastern Europe navigated cultural and political integration with the European Union and supranational institutions like NATO. My senior honors thesis was a detailed cross-national analysis of nationalist parties in the former Yugoslavia, where I explored the relationship between ethnonationalist party rhetoric and the development of a sense of national identity in these countries. I also developed a strong interest in game theory and its applications in foreign policy and international relations.