Gabe Royal is an active-duty Army officer and a Ph.D. student at the Trachtenberg School for Public Policy and Public Administration at George Washington University. He spent the last eight years serving as an Army Aviator, with deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan. He is a member of the Trachtenberg Minority Leadership Program and was recently elected student chair for the 2021-2022 Academic Year cohort. He also serves on the board of trustees for the Connecticut Boys and Girls State Foundation, working to increase the diversity of future Boys and Girls State delegates and educate the next generation of public servants. 

Gabe earned a Bachelor of Science in U.S. History and American Politics from the United States Military Academy in 2012. His current focus and field of study within the Public Policy program is in Public Budgeting and Finance. Upon receiving his graduate degree, he will teach American Politics as an instructor in the Department of Social Sciences at West Point.