Lucas Maldonado is currently in his last semester studying Political Science, with a concentration in International Relations. While he was born in San Jose, CA, he grew up in Lima, Peru. He decided to pursue higher education in California in 2022, which led him to enrolling in El Camino College, a campus that gave him the essential support needed to to start his college journey.
The experiences he had during his time in community college led him to transfer to Berkeley in the Fall of 2024, hitting the ground running by immediately joining a URAP project and an on-campus research job. His URAP project is focused on studying urban politics in Brazil and Argentina with Dr. Alison Post, in which he analyzes city council meeting transcripts and recordings in search of key discussions related to budget amendments and pork-barrel politics. He also joined the Blum Center for Developing Economies as a student assistant, partaking in research that entailed compiling information from Latin American universities as part of effective and targeted outreach efforts.
Now in DC, he is an intern with the Membership Services department at the World Affairs Councils of America, a non-profit organization focused on supporting local councils across the country in bringing relevant, non-partisan, global affairs education to their communities via participatory events like panels and webinars. Lucas strives to help bridge the gap between local leaders and diplomacy experts, especially at a time in which global citizen engagement is of utmost importance.
Major(s): Political Science
Minor(s):