Vanessa Marie Booth is currently a rising junior in the UNLV Honors College studying for her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a double minor in Brookings: Public Policy and Journalism. Vanessa currently serves as the Managing Editor for the UNLV Scarlet & Gray Free Press, is a OREO Fellow for the UNLV Office of Undergraduate Research, and is a Student Policy Researcher for Brookings Mountain West & The Lincy Institute. Off campus Vanessa spends her time volunteering for the homelessness intervention program called Hero School and works as a Communications Intern for the US Director of National Intelligence Office. 

As a contributing student researcher and co-author to the Data Hub, Vanessa spends her time researching critical policy issues and publishing her findings in the form of factsheets, briefs, and manuscripts in the Brookings Data Hub. Through this collaborative initiative between Brookings Mountain West & The Lincy Institute, students and faculty members publish timely data and information related to the Las Vegas metropolitan statistical area, the State of Nevada, the Mountain West region, and beyond.