Anaya Truss-Williams is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Maryland, College Park where she is pursuing a dual degree in Economics and Economic Geography with a minor in Global Poverty. On campus, she serves as the vice president of operations of the Women in Economics club, a tutor for introductory economics courses for the office of academic achievement programs and a student in the Promoting Achievement and Diversity in Economics program. Anaya is also the diversity, equity and inclusion coordinator and assistant special projects editor at the independent student newspaper The Diamondback. She has reported on technology and urban development, contributes to Spanish-language coverage and helped start the “Priced Out of Town” series investigating housing unaffordability in their college town. She has previously interned at the San Francisco Fed’s Cash Product Office and has experience assisting with randomized controlled trials. This summer, she will work as a regional and community analysis intern at the Richmond Fed. She intends to pursue a Ph.D. in economics and hopes to specialize in spatial econometrics and other topics at the intersection of economics and geography.

Kaythari Maw (pronounced KAY-th-ree) is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Regional Science with a concentration in Urban and Regional Economics at Cornell University. She was awarded a Southeast Asia Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship to study Burmese language and area studies at Cornell University. Kaythari holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics at Barnard College, Columbia University. She reestablished the Myanmar Students Association at Cornell University and Columbia University. Her current research interests are urban and regional economics, as well as challenging the over-generalizing categorization of race and ethnicity in research. She hopes to participate in research that evaluates the economic circumstances of Burmese American communities. Kaythari intends to pursue a Ph.D. in economics and later pursue a career in academia.

Francisca Afantchao Biakou is a third-year undergraduate student at Temple University majoring in economics and sociology. She subscribes to the scholar-activist pedagogy, actively using her theoretical investments to create material change in local communities. She founded and directs The Zora Project, a grassroots community organization dedicated to providing literary access to under-resourced groups in the Philadelphia area. At Temple University, she serves on the Executive Board of SONKU Collective and is a recipient of the Liberal Arts Undergraduate Research Award for her forthcoming work on a local organization’s effects on the outcomes of high school-aged teens. She is passionate about economics as a theoretical launching point for change and hopes her research in the discipline encourages the development of organizations that radically address socio-economic disadvantage. Her current research interests are at the intersection of labor economics, welfare policy, race and gender.

Andrea Cristina is  with Eastern Research Group as an Economist focused on Resilience and Environmental Justice. ERG is a multidisciplinary consulting firm with a strong climate change and sustainability practice. Concurrently, she serves as a technical expert on the New York Climate Impact Assessment and a committee member for the Committee on Extreme Weather and Climate Change Adaptation for the Transportation Research Board with the National Academy of Sciences.  Andrea Cristina is interested in research on topics at the intersection of climate change, transportation, and inequality through causal inference.

Previously, Andrea Cristina managed the Environment, Energy, and Climate Change sector at J-PAL. Previously, Andrea Cristina was the lead for environmental economics analysis for the Chief Economist office at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and held a variety of policy-oriented research positions with the World Bank Climate Change group, Miami Dade County Office of Resilience, and the Embassy of Ecuador in Washington D.C. Andrea Cristina holds a degree from Columbia University School of International Public Affairs and a B.S. in Economics from The George Washington University.

Jemmy Marc is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Florida pursuing a major in economics. Born in Haiti and raised in Miami, the experiences he had growing up helped develop an inquisitive spirit early on. Being born in a different country along with early experiences from when he first immigrated led him to think about all the variables that are at play in a person’s or country’s economic outcomes. His research interests mostly revolve around how development and inequality manifest themselves both within and across nations. Jemmy aspires to become an economist in hopes of helping combat inequalities and creating a more equitable economy for all. He is a Jackie Robinson Foundation Scholar and is a teaching assistant for an undergraduate econometrics class. He also serves as a research intern for research firm Washington Analysis LLC, where he helps research potential investment changes arising from judicial, legislative, or regulatory developments across several sectors. He is passionate about giving back to his community and regularly participates in community service in the local Gainesville area through Progressive Black Men INC.

Sarah Siddiqui is a recent graduate of The Ohio State University, where she studied economics and history. She is interested in applying her quantitative background to study the role of religion and culture in economic and social outcomes. In addition to internships with The Brookings Institution and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Sarah spent one year in Amman, Jordan conducting research on local economic development issues. Sarah currently works as a research associate at NORC at the University of Chicago, where she conducts evaluations of international development programs. She is also involved in efforts at the Religious Freedom Institute to explore the contemporary impacts of religiosity.

Adewale Maye is currently a graduate student pursuing his Masters in Applied Economics and Data Science at The George Washington University. Before joining GWU, he held various roles in policy organizations and thinks tanks in DC where he focused on expanding workers’ rights on issues including paid leave, paid sick days, and fair scheduling, as well as advocating for broader economic justice initiatives that impact marginalized communities and communities of color. He currently works as a Research and Policy Analyst at the Economic Policy Institute for the Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy where he studies the root causes of racial economic inequality to advance inclusive and restorative policy solutions that build equity. Adewale graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park with a bachelor’s in Economics.

Britney Anglin is a first-year master’s student at Howard University, pursuing a master’s degree in economics. She obtained her bachelor’s degree at West Virginia University, where she majored in economics and minored in political science. Being a first-generation US-born citizen, to Jamaican immigrant parents, Jamaica is a large part of who she is. Having spent her childhood summers in Jamaica, she had a firsthand look at the economic disparities that the country faces. With this in mind, her current research interests focus on Jamaica and how economic and/or education policy decisions or the lack thereof have had an impact on the inhabitants of the country.

Patrick Edwards is a fourth-year undergraduate student at Rochester Institute of Technology, pursuing a major in Economics with a concentration in economic theory and policy, with minors in mathematics and sociology. His research interests include applied microeconomics, health economics and economic inequality. His recent research has focused on how welfare and place-based policies affect intergenerational mobility and health outcomes in Black and low-income communities. He has participated in IDDEAS@Stanford, Introduction to Graduate Education @ Northwestern, and McNair Scholars Program, increasing his interest in academia and research at the graduate level. Last summer, he was selected as an AEASP (American Economic Association Summer Program) Scholar and worked with the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Most recently, he received the Gilman Scholarship for his studies at the University of Oxford. Patrick plans to pursue a doctoral degree in economics.

Hana Hamdi earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Biomedical Engineering with a minor in Women’s and Gender studies from Rutgers University, where she also received a certificate in Women’s Leadership for Social Change from the Institute of Women’s Leadership. She then earned a Master’s of Public Health in Epidemiology with a certificate in Forced Migration and Health from Columbia University, where she published her thesis on access to palliative care in Senegal in collaboration with Human Rights Watch. Her work experience includes: being a Research Analyst at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, a Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Fellow with the Global Health Corps in Uganda, an Adjunct Instructor at York College-CUNY as part of the undergraduate health sciences program, and currently a Clinic Data Analyst at Planned Parenthood. Her research interests are in understanding reproductive health access and policies in terms of their health and economic impact on women and society.

Sonia Torres Rodríguez is a mixed methods research analyst at the Urban Institute. Born and raised in Caguas, Puerto Rico, Sonia’s experiences as a member of the Boricua diaspora influenced their policy-oriented research interests in labor, racial stratification, migration, and development economics. As a research analyst, they use empirical methods to explore racial equity, neighborhood change, equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and community-engaged methods. Sonia also assists with the management of the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership, a network advancing the effective and equitable use of data and technology. Previously, Sonia completed an ethnographic research fellowship with Stanford’s Center for Poverty and Inequality, exploring the economic experiences of Black and Latin families in Texas and Florida.

Sonia earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematical Economic Analysis from Rice University. They are currently completing a Master of Science in Applied Economics from Johns Hopkins University, with coursework in regional economics, microeconomics, and econometrics, and were recently awarded a 2021 APPAM Equity & Inclusion Student Fellowship. Outside of academia, Sonia is passionate about community-based mutual aid, and has volunteered for two initiatives including Rice for Black Life, which raised $93,000 dollars, and a Winter Storm Uri Campaign, which raised $20,000.

Cristina Glave is currently an associate at APOYO Consultoría in Peru in the public policy analysis and evaluation department. She oversees the impact evaluation methodologies of public interventions and programs on agricultural innovation, national innovation systems, and the development of strategic economic sectors in Peru. Before this, she was a public servant in the Education sector and a Research Assistant for GRADE, a Peruvian Think Tank, working on nutritional programs and their impact on child development and economic growth, youth vulnerabilities and life trajectories, magnet schools, and early childhood education. Cristina’s current research interests are in Gender Economics, Economics of Education, Human Development, and Structural Inequalities. She holds a BA in Economics from the PUCP in Peru —where she got a grant for her bachelor’s thesis in women’s economic empowerment in Peru— and an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge.

Jennifer Cañas is currently a graduate student at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, at Brandeis University, where she is pursuing a Master in Sustainable International Development as a Feldman Foundation Fellow. Before joining Brandeis, she got a bachelor’s degree in Business and Economics at Escuela Superior de Economía y Negocios in El Salvador. Jennifer has work experience in social and economic research, financial analysis, and data management. Her current research interests are structural transformation, labor market, migration, and gender, focusing on Latin America.

Nayun Eom is a third-year international undergraduate at Tufts University, majoring in economics and sociology with a minor in Science, Technology, and Society (STS). At the intersection of her studies, her research interests center around the digitized Future of Work. Her recent work focused on an underclass of gig workers in the online platform economy. In her future research, she hopes to shed light on how to uplift marginalized laborers who are denied dignity and equity in an algorithm-driven workplace. As an aspiring social scientist, she analyzes social issues as symptoms of structural systems such as capitalism and seeks solutions on a policy level. In prior years, she worked as a research intern at Oxfam, Asian Institute of Technology, and the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School. On campus, Nayun co-founded and leads The Lantern think tank, where she and her peers investigate the societal impact of science and technology to advocate for responsible innovation. In her free time, she enjoys cycling, reading, and pondering ways to deconstruct capitalism in daily life.

Ana Tereza Santos is a researcher in the Labor Market unit of the IDados Consultancy in Brazil. She is currently studying the labor market effects of automation and the role of occupational skills in employment and wage structure. She holds a Master's and a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil. In the master thesis, she studied the role of technology and skills on the occupational structure and wage inequality in Brazil. The resulting thesis was nominated for the Brazilian Development Bank Award. Ana Tereza has also worked as a research assistant in several projects in previous years. Her academic experiences stimulated her interest to pursue a Ph.D. and follow an academic career.

Dili is a senior at the University of Missouri studying Economics and Mathematics. She is originally from Nigeria, which has greatly influenced her interest in policy and poverty alleviation, in relations to Africa. Her other research interests include labor, health and macroeconomics. She was a research intern for the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania, where she researched the impact Think Tanks in Africa had in policy making. In the future, she hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in developmental economics and examine the why and how communities stay in poverty.

Daniela is currently a graduate student of Global and Chinese Economy at Fudan University (Shanghai, China) and a recipient of the 2021 Chinese Government Scholarship. She graduated as University Valedictorian with a Bachelor of Science in International Relations and Diplomacy, and Economics from Seton Hall University (NJ, U.S.). Through her undergraduate work as research assistant and newspaper writer, she published/co-published articles in global outlets like Foreign Policy on conflict, diplomacy, and economics. Her current role as project management coordinator and newsletter editor for the NJ State Department, Center for Hispanic Policy, Research and Development has granted her with experience on public sector’s initiatives that improve the socioeconomics of Hispanic/Latinx people. Motivated by RCT’s findings, from studies in low-income contexts, that have resulted in scalable strategies to improve children’s health and education outcomes, Daniela is pursuing a career in international development economics. Her current research interests lay on the intersectionality between poverty and psychological well-being, public education in rural areas, and the narrowing of income- and wealth-inequality gaps. Born and raised in Peru and as an immigrant to the U.S., Daniela considers herself a global leader and thus, hopes to help ignite more openness and inclusivity in the study of economics.

Juan José Tapia holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. He is currently working as a research assistant at the World Bank, in the Trade and International Integration Unit. Previously, he worked as a research assistant at GRADE, a think-tank in Peru, where he was able to manage several micro datasets and household surveys. Juan has also worked as a teaching assistant for the undergraduate Econometrics course at his former university. His medium-term plans are oriented towards further developing his research skills to pursue a PhD in order to contribute to his career development. Juan’s research interests lie in the areas of development economics, human capital accumulation and higher education

Marcia Ruiz Pulgar is a predoctoral research professional at the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago where she works on topics related to empirical public finance and labor economics. Previously, she worked assisting in the development of two large-scale field experiments that seek to improve anti-corruption bottom-up mechanisms in Peru, led by researchers from Columbia University and the Inter-American Development Bank. She also worked at Innovations for Poverty Action on RCTs aimed at improving educational outcomes among children. Marcia’s current research interests lie in the intersection of Development Economics, Public Economics and Political Economy. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru. She is from Lima, Peru.

Nishan Jones was a student at Chabot College before transferring to UC Berkeley in 2018 and earning a B.A. in economics. While at UC Berkeley, Nishan co-founded the student organization Underrepresented Minorities in Economics with the goal of providing a safe space for Black and Brown students to thrive in economics at Berkeley. Her interest in economics began in a California Geography course where she studied the link between Proposition 13 and the proceeding lose in funding for specific school districts with a higher proportion of minorities. She went on to study abroad as a Gilman Scholar at the University of Edinburgh and participate in the American Economic Association Summer Program at Michigan State University where she wrote a paper analyzing the advantages of an Ivy League education across varying income distributions. Currently, Nishan is a Research Assistant at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston where she is analyzing large panel and survey data to monitor generational employment probabilities, and the current/future implications of the covid19 pandemic on labor market outcomes. Nishan intends to earn a Ph.D. in economics and connect her research interests of education policy and labor economics to improve the socio-economic status of people of color.

Joshua Charles, a Mexican-Saint Lucian American, is a first-year MPP student at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy. Under the guidance of environmental economist Dr. Sarah Jacobson, Joshua is researching the relationship between financial crises and macrofinance through RIC. As a graduate student, Joshua engages with the Pearson Institute on issues of global conflict, while simultaneously pursuing an academic and policy expertise in financial policy. Most recently, he served as a research assistant for Professor and Pearson Institute Director James Robinson. 

Joshua has extensive global internship experience, particularly in Africa. Prior to his time at the University of Chicago, Joshua worked as a market research intern with infrastructure development company Primesec Limited in Ghana, and interned as a Sustainability Coordinator for the Global Livingston Institute in Uganda. Previously, he was also a research intern for the Southern African Institute for Policy and Research and the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development in Zambia.

Joshua Charles earned a BS in interdisciplinary studies and a distinction in research from Cornell University.

Zerah Aizle Lamorena is an undergraduate senior at Stony Brook University, pursuing a double major in Economics and Business Management with a specialization in Finance. She was born in the US but lived in the Philippines during my high school years which sparked my interest in economic development, specifically dealing with topics of labor markets, firms, finance, education, gender, and political economy. She is currently working as a Research Assistant both at UCLA, where she assists with projects based in the Philippines, and at her home institution where she researches unemployment insurance issues. She is also writing two theses about financial technology and reservation wages of unemployment insurance recipients. Last summer, Zerah was selected to participate in the inaugural class of PREDOC Summer Course in Social Science Analytics hosted by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where she researched and presented her own paper about the influence of race, employment status, and educational level on food choices. Additionally, Zerah mentors freshman scholars and was also a former teaching assistant for Macroeconomic Theory.

Tasha Torchon is a Masters student of Data Science at the University of Michigan School of Information. Prior to this, she completed a Masters of Applied Economics from the University of Michigan and a Bachelors of Linguistics from Yale University. She has a long-standing research interest in socioeconomic inequality. At Michigan, she has advanced research on nontraditional student outcomes and women’s professional history for the Center for the Education of Women. As an American Economics Association Summer Program scholar, she analyzed how racial minorities and older students changed their college enrollment patterns based on statewide unemployment rates. Currently, her thesis explores the income disparity between gig workers and full-time employees. Tasha is considering a PhD because through her research she wants to elucidate the needs of marginalized people and devise best practices to address them.

Doulo Sow is a second-year student of economics and statistical engineering at the Polytechnic Institute of Paris (ENSAE Paris IP-Paris). Most recently, he was a research assistant at the International Food Policy Research Institute, where he conducted heterogeneity analysis using machine learning techniques. Prior to this, he worked at the National Agency of Statistics and Demography of Senegal (ANSD) where he carried out statistical analysis on the relationship between employment and training.

Doulo graduated top of his class as a statistical engineer from the National School of Statistics and Economic Analysis in Senegal.  His research interests revolve around econometric modelling and causal inference through machine learning methods applied to impact assessment. He is a recipient of the Eiffel Scholarship from the French Government and is also a member of the Young Economist Network of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.