Meet GCC's Spring 2025 Research Assistants

February 20, 2025

GCC is pleased to introduce our spring research assistants: Maya Burton (GU '27), Madeleine Pumberger (LLM '25), and Madhura Shembekar (SFS ‘26). They will be working with our adaptation, mitigation, and communications teams to expand our research databases, support GCC's outreach efforts, and build effective strategies for climate policy advocacy. Research Assistant positions at GCC provide Georgetown students with valuable opportunities to engage in research and support GCC's work helping federal, state, local, and Tribal governments reduce climate pollution and increase resilience to climate impacts. We are excited to see the contributions they bring to GCC this semester.

Maya Burton (GU '27) is the Communications Research Associate for GCC. Maya is a second-year Environmental Biology major at Georgetown University. She returns to the Georgetown Climate Center for the second semester and is excited to apply her passion for environmental law and energy policy to her research with the Center. At Georgetown, Maya also serves as a communications office assistant with Georgetown’s Center for German and European Studies and volunteers with the Homeless Outreach and Education Program. She is originally from Kansas City and is an avid runner and outdoorswoman who loves starting her mornings with a crossword puzzle.

Madeleine Pumberger (LLM '25) is the Mitigation Research Assistant at GCC. She is currently pursuing an LL.M. in Environmental and Energy Law at the Georgetown University Law Center through the Fulbright Program. At Georgetown Law, she has been a research assistant to Professor Jennifer Hillman, working at the intersection of investment law, trade law, and climate change law. Madeleine earned her first law degree from the University of Vienna (Austria) and Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (France), with a specialization in Public International Law and European Law. Prior to joining Georgetown Law, she worked as a researcher at Ecologic Institute in Berlin, Germany, focusing on climate finance, carbon pricing, and energy law. She also worked as a legal consultant at the United Nations Office in Vienna and as a trainee lawyer at the European Commission and the Office of the Legal Advisor of the Austrian Foreign Ministry. Madeleine is deeply committed to assessing legal avenues to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy while upholding the rule of law. When not researching or reading for school, she enjoys visiting the Kennedy Center, exploring art galleries, staying active at her favorite yoga studio, and enhancing her multilingual skills.

Madhura Shembekar (SFS '26) is the Adaptation Research Assistant at GCC. Madhura is a junior in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown majoring in Science, Technology, and International Affairs with a concentration in Energy & Environment and a minor in Spanish. Originally from Scottsdale, Arizona, Madhura is fascinated by the intersection between climate change, policy, and justice. At Georgetown, she has previously worked with the Earth Commons Institute on various research projects as well as for their magazine, Common Home. Madhura is a Sustainable Business Fellow with the McDonough School of Business and she currently volunteers with the Center for Social Justice on their new Climate and Environmental Justice program. In her free time, she loves reading, exploring DC, and going to the movies.