Angie Jo selected as Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar
PhD candidate in Political Science Angie Jo
Photo by Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies
MIT Political Science PhD candidate Angie Jo has been selected as a 2022-2025 Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar.
The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholarship is a three-year leadership program designed to train engaged leaders, equipping outstanding doctoral candidates with the skills to translate their ideas into action for the betterment of their communities, Canada, and the world. Scholars receive leadership training in addition to funding for their studies.
Of 500 applicants this year, Angie was one of 13 selected.
“Angie Jo epitomizes the Trudeau Foundation’s values: she is fiercely smart, a leader among her peers, and earnestly dedicated to improving the welfare of citizens during difficult times,” said David A. Singer, Raphael Dorman-Helen Starbuck Professor and Head of the Department of Political Science at MIT.
Angie is currently a PhD candidate in Political Economy. Her research examines differences in how wealthy democratic countries insure themselves against the risk of large collective crises—such as financial crises, COVID-19, and climate change-induced natural disasters—and recover from their aftermath. She is interested in how societies conceive of the proper role of the state in protecting the public welfare, and in what moments the meaning of welfare itself can change.
Before coming to MIT, Angie worked in macroeconomics research at Bridgewater Associates and earned an A.B. in Architecture from Harvard, where her thesis on Brutalist civic buildings won the Hoopes and Bowdoin Prizes. She earned her Master of City Planning degree from the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT, during which she studied master-planned cities and industrial policy in Asia.
Angie has held leadership positions at Harvard College Effective Altruism—a forum for exploring how to use limited resources to help others—and Diversity/Equity/Inclusion working groups at MIT.
Raised in South Korea, Canada, and the US, Angie speaks English, French, and Korean, and enjoys writing, running, and dancing salsa.