By Michelle Tong, Office of International Programs on June 2, 2026, 10:49 a.m.

Princeton Class of 2026 member Michelle Miao has been awarded a Gaither Junior Fellowship, which supports graduating seniors and recent graduates to work as research assistants to scholars at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. Miao is among 18 fellows selected for this opportunity and will work next year at Carnegie’s Asia program.

Miao, from Oxford, Ohio, is a politics major with a minor in history. She is a member of Forbes College and served as managing editor for the international news section of the Princeton Political Review and as a former president of Princeton College Democrats. She was also a news and opinion writer for The Daily Princetonian.

In addition, she is the recipient of the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS) undergraduate fellowship. Through the Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative (SINSI), Miao interned in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy for African Affairs at the Pentagon where she focused on China's influence in Africa. 

Beyond campus, Miao served as the communications director for the College Democrats of New Jersey.

Her international experience includes studying abroad for a semester at the University of Oxford and serving as a security program intern at the Center for the Study of Democracy in Bulgaria through the International Internship Program. 

She also participated in the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing.