Before arriving on the Hilltop, Lily Nguyen (MSFS’26) spent two years living and working in rural Japan through the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. Based in a small community in Kumamoto, she taught English in local schools and liaised with national officials to advocate for improved labor standards for fellow participants—an experience that ultimately inspired her to come to Georgetown, accompanied by a broad interest in climate change and international affairs.
“I’ve always wanted to live in Washington, DC, and when I decided to pursue graduate school in international affairs, I knew I wanted to be at the best of the best,” she says.
As she prepares to walk across the stage this May to receive her Master of Science in Foreign Service degree with a concentration in Science, Technology and International Affairs, those once-broad interests will have sharpened into a more defined path. Through coursework, research and hands-on policy experience, Nguyen has developed a focused commitment to climate finance and carbon markets.
Refining global interests through community and coursework
As the daughter of Vietnamese refugees, Nguyen grew up in a diverse immigrant community in Wichita, Kansas, surrounded by people who were constantly bridging cultures, languages and shared values.
That environment made global issues feel personal from a young age and sparked her interest in international affairs, she shares. While she initially chose the MSFS program for its rigor and leadership in international affairs, it was that same instinct for connection that ultimately confirmed her decision.
“I wanted to be surrounded by ambitious classmates and faculty who take global challenges seriously, and MSFS absolutely delivers that,” she says. “At the same time, it’s a surprisingly close-knit community.”
Early in the program, Nguyen participated in the Gettysburg Leadership Staff Ride, an interactive seminar sponsored by Georgetown’s Department of Government held at Gettysburg National Military Park designed to highlight applicable lessons of leadership, tactics and strategy, communications, use of terrain and the psychology of persons in battle. This experience, she says, set the tone for “that balance of history, strategy and reflection” throughout her time in the MSFS program. At the same time, she continued developing her Japanese proficiency, progressing from intermediate coursework to Business Japanese and strengthening both her policy vocabulary and professional communication skills.
“One of my favorite weekly traditions has been the Japanese language table, where students of all proficiency levels grab a free drink from the MUG and practice speaking together in a relaxed setting,” she says. She credits her instructors—Professors Yoshiko Mori, Motoko Omori Lavallee and Kumi Sato—with supporting her growth inside and outside the classroom.
Her favorite class, however, was Introduction to GIS and Spatial Analysis, taught by Professor Julia Marrs. Covering the fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems, the course introduced tools increasingly used in climate science, urban planning and security analysis. Nguyen says Marrs’ kindness and clarity “made what initially felt like an intimidating technical subject both accessible and exciting,” while the class itself transformed how she approaches global challenges by equipping her with spatial tools to visualize patterns in climate vulnerability, infrastructure and security risk.
“Being able to map data and see how geography shapes policy made issues like climate security and humanitarian resilience feel tangible and measurable in a new way,” she says.
Her final project for Marrs’ class, “Weathering the Ring of Fire: Mapping Climate Hazards on Military Installations in the Indo-Pacific,” applied those lessons to examine how climate risks intersect with defense strategy. The project sharpened her interest in using geospatial analysis to visualize complex climate security dynamics and demonstrated how technical tools can inform strategic decision-making.
Nguyen also credits Professor Theresa Sabonis-Helf, her STIA concentration chair, with profoundly impacting her time at Georgetown. Generous with her time, Sabonis-Helf spent hours in conversation with Nguyen discussing everything from favorite classes to larger questions about energy security and how to remain hopeful about the future.
“She consistently encouraged me to pursue experiential learning beyond the classroom,” she says, crediting Sabonis-Helf with her STIA-sponsored visits to the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant and NearStar Fusion to learn more about advancements in nuclear energy and fusion technology. “Those experiences made the policy discussions we had in class feel tangible and immediate, and they deepened my interest in the role of advanced energy technologies in global security.”
Growing through leadership, service and global dialogue
Throughout her MSFS journey, Nguyen has come across multiple opportunities that make her experience feel full circle, like volunteering with the Kakehashi Program, which connected back to her time living in Japan.
At Georgetown, she served as communications and media head for the SFS Energy Club, a graduate teaching assistant for a course on Energy Transitions and a graduate student fellow with the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. In the latter role, Nguyen helped organize public dialogues and programs on major political and social issues. She was also elected as an MSFS student representative and helped facilitate communication between students and MSFS program leadership. One of her favorite responsibilities was organizing the annual MSFS Winter Ball at the Mexican Cultural Institute—a formal winter celebration where students, faculty and alumni come together to connect, celebrate and network, all in their finest attire.
Beyond the Hilltop, Nguyen gained professional experience with USAID, the National Cherry Blossom Festival and the Holy See Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations, which she described as feeling like a family. Working at the intersection of climate change, migration, technology governance and humanity, she supported preparations for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development and the High-Level Political Forum while with the mission in New York City—gaining firsthand exposure to multilateral negotiations and development finance discussions.
“In true UN fashion, we even had our own ‘side events,’ from Mets baseball games and movie nights to one memorable afternoon when we were invited to a private rooftop overlooking Times Square and surprised with a projection of Pope Leo XIV’s face on a massive Times Square screen,” she recalls. “The incredible home-cooked lunches didn’t hurt either.”
These experiences have deepened her interest in how climate vulnerability intersects with fragile and crisis-affected settings. But beyond the professional opportunities, it’s the everyday moments, like running into program leadership in the halls, where “ambition and kindness coexist so naturally,”that made the program feel accessible and supportive in a way she hadn’t expected.
Where global policy meets friendship and community
With graduation approaching, Nguyen hopes to pursue a career at the intersection of climate security and development finance, helping design and deploy financial mechanisms that strengthen resilience in vulnerable and fragile contexts. Building on her experiences, she also hopes to remain active in spaces where policy, finance and ethical leadership converge, while continuing to build bridges between the United States and Japan and explore the moral and diplomatic dimensions of global governance.
“Together, they helped me see how finance, security, and diplomacy can reinforce one another in global policymaking,” she says. “MSFS put me at the center of global policy conversations while grounding me in a close, supportive community. It’s rigorous, fast-paced and full of opportunity.”
“I’ll miss the energy of being in a place where global policy feels immediate and alive,” she says.
Looking back on her time at Georgetown, Nguyen recalls highlights such as meeting inspiring public figures, like the Irish Taoiseach and the Mongolian Apostolic Prefect of Ulaanbaatar; competing in Model NATO; and winning first place in the Global Social Innovation Lab Pitch Competition with her teammates. But some of her favorite memories are the smaller, lighter moments—getting overly competitive during classroom negotiations and war games, hosting mini potlucks in her ethics class or organizing a zoo trip with her cohort to practice a little “panda diplomacy.”
“There’s something special about walking from class to an embassy event or leaving a seminar discussion and heading to a book talk with a policymaker whose work you just studied. Georgetown, and SFS in particular, makes the world feel both big and accessible at the same time.”