Fellow:Alexander Drahos


Name Alexander Drahos School (Cohort) University of Georgia (2024 cohort) Majoring in A.B. International Affairs; A.B. Urban Studies Country United States Email Special:EmailUser/Adrahos31

Bio

Alex is a Harry S. Truman Scholar and Foundation Fellow studying international relations and urban studies at the University of Georgia. Interested in urban government innovation, he wrote a $2 million grant for autonomous bus pilots and organized a construction trades talent pipeline for The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. As the program manager for the Center for Advancing Innovation, Alex created a $75 million regional development plan and analyzed congressional budget requests to support social infrastructure with Reimagining the Civic Commons. On campus, he researches solar power land use, deepfake regulations, and hate crimes in post-conflict societies. Alex has redesigned campus curricula as the chair of Active Learning Ambassadors and was the managing editor for the Georgia Political Review. He is a United Nations Local Pathways Fellow, Sam Nunn Security Scholar, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and studied at the University of Oxford and Istanbul Technical University on an Erasmus+ grant. Alex has worked on seven projects with the Student Industry Fellows Program.

Education

Drahos is expected to graduate from UGA in May 2025 with a triple major in International Affairs, Political Science, and Urban Studies. His academic journey has also included studies abroad: at Istanbul Technical University under the KA171 Erasmus program, he delved into urban economics, planning theory, and GIS; in South America, he worked remotely on urban public space and civic infrastructure initiatives; and in Havana, Cuba, he explored food systems and agriculture policy. Additionally, Drahos studied international conflict at the University of Oxford with Dr. Adam Smith.

Professional Experience

Alex was a Chief Operating Office Intern at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, where he wrote autonomous bus grants, organized a construction trades program, and assessed previous strategic plan recommendations. As a Local Pathways Fellow with the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, he works on urban sustainability projects, focusing on transportation systems in Athens-Clarke County, and wrote housing policy memos for a Georgia county commissioner. While backpacking through South America, Alex worked remotely for Reimagining the Civic Commons, assessing congressional budget requests, analyzing digital marketing metrics, and compiling research on public space development to support civic infrastructure across the US. Before this, Drahos worked as a Program Manager at the Center for Advancing Innovation, working on a $75 million grant initiative to launch social impact startups. As a Team Lead in the UGA Student Industry Fellow Program, he has lead teams in prototyping electric vehicle chargers with Schréder, creating feasibility studies for the National Hockey League, designing sustainability solutions for Delta Airlines, and building talent pipeline programs for Cox Enterprises, among other projects.

Campus Leadership & Research Drahos contributes to significant research efforts as a Vinson Research Fellow at the UGA Carl Vinson Institute of Government, investigating the impacts of solar farm proliferation on agricultural production. He has also researched artificial intelligence deepfake regulations as a research assistant with Dr. Justin Conrad, analyzed urban terrorism patterns with the UGA Security Leadership Program, and co-authors a study on hate crimes with Dr. Andrew Owsiak. He has presented at multiple conferences and received funding from the UGA Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities to pursue this work.

At UGA, Drahos demonstrates leadership as the former chair of the Office of Active Learning Ambassadors, promoting engaging pedagogy across campus and redesigning curricula for a 600-person Honors courses. He served as the managing editor of the Georgia Political Review, overseeing content on political issues and managing event logistics.

Interests

Outside of his professional and academic life, Drahos enjoys backpack travel, playing the cello, board and card games, hiking, attending small concerts, and reading political history novels. Before college, he had been to two countries in the world. Three years later, he’s traveled to 16 (and counting).

Achievements

Drahos’s achievements include being selected as a Truman Scholar in 2024, one of only 60 students nationally recognized for exceptional public service leadership. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior, reflecting his outstanding academic and leadership qualities. As a Foundation Fellow, he is the recipient of UGA’s premier merit-based scholarship. Other accolades include being named an Outstanding Active Learning Ambassador (2023) and a Sam Nunn Scholar (2023) for his excellence in nuclear security grant proposals. Drahos also received the Dean William Tate Honor Society membership (2022) and the CURO Research Award (2022) for his research on hate crimes in post-conflict societies.