AAG Welcomes Fall 2025 Interns

The AAG welcomes two new interns joining the AAG staff this fall.

Mirembe Ddumba is a junior studying Economics at Penn State University. She first became interested in geography during a Spring 2025 economic geography course, where she saw how maps and data could explain not just where things happen, but why communities grow and change the way they do. Using ArcGIS, she looked at how AI and shifts in different industries affect where people live and work, and realized that a map can sometimes tell a story better than pages of numbers. That interest led her to a Paragon Policy Fellowship, where she co-authored Charleston’s 2025–2027 flood-resilience plan and presented ideas to city leaders. She also co-created EcoGrow, a solar-powered smart farm with AI forecasting that won first place in a campus innovation challenge.

On campus, Mirembe served as Secretary of the African Student Association, planning events that highlighted culture, food, and music while building community among students. She also gained experience through an Amazon externship in workforce analytics and by attending Google’s Genesis2Genesis Student Conference, where she explored how finance and technology shape everyday decisions. Mirembe looks forward to contributing as a Media and Science Communication Intern at AAG and sharing geography in ways that are approachable and spark curiosity. In the future, she hopes to work internationally in London at the intersection of global affairs, policy, and economics, using geography as a way to better understand and address challenges around the world.

Samra McCullin is a fourth-year student at George Mason University majoring in Geography with a minor in GIS. Samra’s first introduction to the discipline was a human geography class that she took in high school, where she found passion in the intersection of social, environmental, and physical sciences. In her undergraduate coursework she is constantly surprised at how she is able to exercise both her creative and analytical strengths. The freedom of a multidisciplinary major has allowed her to explore many subgenres within geography, her favorites being tourism, transportation, and sustainable development. Following graduation in the spring, Samra intends to pursue her masters in Geographic and Cartographic Sciences, working towards a professional career in digital cartography. Samra feels lucky to have found geography as a career path so early into her academic journey and hopes that through her work as a Communities Support Intern for the AAG, she can help more people find purpose and belonging within the discipline.