This commentary introduces the U.S. State Department-sponsored Diplomacy Lab. This program provides interdisciplinary teams of students an opportunity to learn how to directly inform government policy development and implementation. In the project discussed here, a team of student researchers considered how the new public charge final rule could impact Cabo Verdean immigrants in the United States. The program demonstrates how project- and human-centered pedagogy through social science research advances student learning by providing students an opportunity to directly observe the complex effects of policy decisions on people’s lives.