Ary Amerikaner is the Emeryville PLUS Fellow and a first year MPP student at the Goldman School of Public Policy. Before coming to graduate school she worked as a legislative assistant for U.S. Representative Mazie Hirono. She handled welfare, health, and social security portfolios, though her primary focus was on the Congresswoman’s education committee work. Ary also worked on two congressional campaigns and as a research assistant in the Education Policy Center of the Urban Institute, a policy think tank in Washington, DC. She grew up in Huntington, WV and went to Oberlin College, where she played varsity tennis for four years and majored in politics.