Kassandra Hernández is a Research Fellow at CPL and a Ph.D. student in Economics at UC, Berkeley. At CPL, she supports work on social safety-net program usage and college student success. Previously, Kassandra was a Research Analyst at the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative, focusing on economic mobility and opportunity and COVID-19 impacts on the Latinx community. Her work has been covered in both English and Spanish media and was presented to members of the U.S. Department of State. She holds a MPP and a B.A. in Philosophy with a minor in Labor & Workplace Studies, both from UCLA, and is an alumna of the American Economic Association Summer Program (AEASP). She is a proud Californian, daughter of Mexican immigrants, and first-generation college student.