Julia Brandenstein is a Masters student at Stony Brook University studying Public Policy Analysis. Her interest in civic engagement has been fostered throughout her undergraduate experience due to her involvement in Stony Brook’s Center for Civic Justice, Federal Advocacy Corp, and her position as a Civic Engagement Fellow for the non-profit organization Up to Us. Julia was also the first place winner of the national Up to Us campus competition for her work advocating for fiscal sustainability amongst her peers at Stony Brook. She completed her senior honors thesis at Stony Brook in Election Reform, and was awarded first place Graduate prize for her work at the International Forum on Research Excellence in 2022, and was subsequently published. She currently serves as the Graduate Coordinator for Stony Brook’s Center for Civic Justice, and enjoys running and creative writing in her free time. After graduate school, she hopes to attend law school to both develop and advocate for federal policy in the sphere of public interest.