My name is Decory Edwards and I am a 4th year graduate student in Economics at Johns Hopkins University. My primary research interests include computational macroeconomics, heterogenous rates of return, and the role of beliefs and trust in stock market participation and portfolio composition. Other research interests include measures of inequality regarding the distribution of income and wealth.
Luis E. Basurto is a doctoral student in the Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell University. His research interests lie around the dynamics between social safety net programs and various areas of human development, such as economic mobility and health, with a special focus on immigrants and families with children. Prior to his time at Cornell, Luis worked as a Research Associate in the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University, and a Research Analyst at the Urban Institute’s Health Policy Center. Luis holds an MS in mathematics and statistics from Georgetown University and a BA in economics and finance from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
Marcia Ruiz Pulgar is a Ph.D. student in Economics at the University of Michigan. Her current research interests lie in the intersection of Development Economics, Labor and Public Economics. Prior to starting at Michigan, Marcia worked as a predoctoral research professional at the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago on topics related to empirical public finance and labor economics. She also worked as a consultant at the InterAmerican Development Bank, and as a research associate at Innovations for Poverty Action. Marcia holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru.
Nishan Jones is currently pursuing a joint Ph.D.in Economics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan. She grew up in California and attended Chabot College before transferring to UC Berkeley where she earned a BA in Economics. Nishan’s research agenda includes understanding how macroeconomic policy and economic trends impact inequality and household finances/decision-making.
Aja is a third year Ph.D. student in Economics and Public Policy at Tufts University, where her research areas include both urban and public economics, with a particular interest in housing, residential segregation, and land use. Aja also works as a Research Fellow with Boston Indicators at the Boston Foundation. Aja has previously worked as a Rappaport Fellow with Massachusetts Housing Partnership, and prior to beginning her Ph.D., Aja worked as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State in Mexico and Colombia. She has also served as Peace Corps volunteer in Darien province, Panama. Aja has master’s degree in public policy from Princeton University and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Precious Fasakin is a PhD student in economics at the University of California, San Diego. Previously, Precious was a Predoctoral Research Fellow with the PhD Excellence Initiative at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Her current research interests lie at the intersection of political economy, spatial economics and applied game theory in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to her doctoral studies, Precious was a Research in Color Foundation fellow, where she evaluated wealth stratifications in sexual health behaviors and attitudes among women in Nigeria. Precious is committed to developing economic and political applications that address issues concerning human rights, global disarmament, border studies and global indigeneity through her scholarship.
Andrea Cristina is enrolled in Vanderbilt University. She interested in using causal inference to quantify the infrastructure investments impact of transportation system investment and land use policy and distribution of outcomes to understand equity implications of adaptation and decarbonization investments. Her interests are informed by eleven year career in policy-oriented research with consulting, government, and multilateral institutions in the U.S. and Latin America. Recent research projects include an evaluation of the distribution of benefits from a hypothetical clean-truck policy in DC. Another ongoing effort considers the distribution to evaluate how shocks in the supply of transit service impacts populations in different geographies and socioeconomic conditions. Andrea Cristina has a bachelor’s in Economics and International Affairs from the George Washington University and a Master’s in Public Administration focused on Sustainable Development from Columbia University. She is an alumni of Research in Color in 2022 and an NSF Graduate Research Fellow.
Cristina Glave (she/her) is an assistant policy researcher at RAND and a Ph.D. student in the Research, Analysis, and Design stream at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. She has an M.Phil. in development studies from the University of Cambridge and a B.Sc. in economics from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP).
Before joining Pardee RAND, she was an associate in the public policy analysis and evaluation department at APOYO Consultoría, a Peruvian consulting management firm. She was the project manager for the impact evaluation of public interventions and programs on agricultural innovation, national innovation systems, the development of strategic economic sectors in Peru, diagnosis of women's economic empowerment, and midterm evaluation of USAID interventions in alternative development, among others. She was previously a public servant in the Peruvian education sector and a research assistant for the Group for the Analysis for Development (GRADE), top 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.
Her research interests include impact evaluation, international development, economic policy, labor economics, human capital and development, and poverty reduction.
Héctor Reyes, from Bayamón, Puerto Rico, is pursuing a JD at Stanford Law School and a PhD in economics at Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences. He completed a bachelor of science in economics and mathematics at the University of Southern California (USC). Hector plans to serve and advocate for Puerto Rico by becoming a university professor, economic adviser, and think tank leader on the island. He developed an early interest in economics after witnessing his compatriots struggle to overcome Puerto Rico’s decade-long recession. Hector began his college career at Valparaiso University as a student-athlete on the track and field team, and transferred to USC in the fall of 2017. There, he served as a lab director managing a team of 20 research assistants at the Lab on Non-Democratic Politics in the USC Dornsife School of International Relations. Upon graduation, he became a fellow of the PhD Excellence Initiative at New York University.
Monroe Gamble is a second-year Ph.D. student in Finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His primary research interests lie in the areas of household finance and asset pricing. As an undergraduate, he attended the University of Missouri, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, focusing on economics and also minoring in mathematics. He has an extensive research background, having participated in the Harvard Research Scholar Initiative, served as a Research Associate at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and been a Ph.D. Excellence Initiative Fellow at the NYU Stern School of Business.
Sebastián Puerta is a first-generation, low-income scholar originally born in Colombia but raised in the Atlanta area by his Colombian mother and Egyptian stepfather. His working class background led Sebastián to a career in economics, hoping to do research that influences labor policy. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Economics at the University of California Berkeley. He is also passionate about advocating for better working conditions at Berkeley, serving as one of the Head Stewards of UAW 2865, the union for academic student employees at the University of California. Outside of organizing and research, Sebastián enjoys salsa dancing, cooking, and playing classical guitar.
Jostin Kitmang is a Ph.D. student in Education Policy and Program Evaluation at Harvard University. His research interests include the economics of education and labor economics. Before joining Harvard, he gained valuable experience working at J-PAL LAC and the Peruvian government, where he led the implementation and evaluation of educational interventions. Jostin holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the Universidad de Piura in Peru.
Daisy is currently a second-year PhD student in public policy at the University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy. She is interested in understanding racial health disparities and the long-run effects of both de jure and de facto discriminatory policies. Prior to pursuing her PhD, she worked as a data scientist in market research and real estate and started her transition to academia as a research assistant at Tufts/NBER on projects about health, energy, and the environment. Research in Color gave her an opportunity not only to pursue independent research but also bridge her undergraduate education in sociology and budding interest in economics. She remains incredibly grateful to RIC, its leadership team, and her RIC mentor, Professor Ian McCarthy, who was generous with both his time and support.
Nicolas Dominguez is a doctoral student in Economics at the University of Maryland. He has experience as a government consultant in the Labor and Production Sector as well as research experience at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Group for the Analysis of Development (GRADE), and the University of Piura. Nicolas obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Piura and a Master’s degree in Economics from New York University.
Abdulmuttolib Salako is a first-year PhD student in Finance at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. Prior to joining Haas, he received a master's degree in Applied Economics from Western Michigan University, following his Bachelor's degree in Economics with Operations Research at Crescent University, Abeokuta, Nigeria. He was a research assistant at Baum Tenpers Research Institute, where he also completed a Certificate program in Mathematics. Abdulmuttolib was a part of the 2023 GAIN Mentoring Program for African Students. He joined RIC in 2023 and was mentored by Professor Jonathan Meer.
Anaïs Toungui is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in the Neubauer Family Economics and Public Policy (NFEPP) program at Tufts University. Her research interests lie at the intersection of development, public, and labor economics. Before starting her Ph.D. journey, she worked as a research assistant for a few years at the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and later at the World Bank. She also has experience working with organizations such as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, The Hunger Project, and the African Union. Anaïs is an alumna of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), where she earned her master's degree, and holds a bachelor's degree from Marymount Manhattan College.
Kayla Jones is a native of Baltimore, Maryland and a second-year PhD student in the Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell University. Prior to starting graduate school, Kayla earned her bachelor’s in economics at Morgan State University, participated in the Harvard University Research Scholar Initiative, and worked as a research assistant at the Federal Reserve. Kayla aspires to be an applied microeconomist studying topics within public and urban economics, with a specific focus on the intergenerational dynamics of poverty and inequality.
Darien Kearney is currently a Ph.D. student in economics at Howard University. He hopes to write his dissertation on the impacts of traumatic experiences on utility maximization and decision making.
Darien started his academic journey at Sam Houston State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Banking Services (double major) and a Master of Business Administration in Finance. While at Sam Houston State University, he was part of the student leadership boards for the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) and the Beta Alpha Psi National Honor Society (Kappa Mu Chapter), where he helped develop fundraising opportunities to increase chapter revenue.
Darien then pursued a Master of Science degree in applied psychology from the University of Southern California, where he wrote his thesis on the trading behavior of retail traders in relation to the meme stock frenzy. In his thesis, he analyzed how social media, market sentiment, and cognitive biases influenced the investment decisions of individual investors under the guidance of Dr. Jorge Barraza.
Darien also has a Master of Science degree in applied economics from Cornell University, where he wrote his thesis on the relationship between emotional well-being and student loan debt. In his thesis, he examined how different levels of student debt affect the happiness, confidence, and worry of young adults under the guidance of Dr. Vicki Bogan.
Darien is a native of Houston, Texas. He is passionate about advancing the field of economics and contributing to the public good. He was a cohort member of the American Economic Association Summer Program (AEASP), where he conducted research on the financial impacts of well-being on young adults under the guidance of Dr. Neil R. Ericsson and Dr. Justin R. Pierce of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. He was also a mentee of the Research in Color (RIC) 2021 cohort, where he explored the relationship between performance and player utilization in the NBA under the guidance of Dr. Sarah Jacobson.
Vaasavi Unnava is a second-year PhD student at the Ohio State University. She specializes in macroeconomics and political economy, with special interests in institutional frictions and their influence on macroeconomic aggregates. Before attending Ohio State, she received her MS in Economics and Social Sciences from Bocconi University, where she concurrently participated in the Research in Color Program. She credits the program with having a great influence on her research confidence as well as helping her explore her interests and begin the work of research. She continues to work to improve DEI outcomes within her department, and hopes to keep contributing to the field through both research and service in the coming years. You can read more about her at her website: https://www.vaasavi.com.
Kaythari Maw is a Ph.D. student in Economics in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. She is the first in her Burmese-diasporic community to pursue a Ph.D. in Economics. Kaythari holds a master’s degree in Regional Science at Cornell University and a bachelor’s degree in Economics at Barnard College, Columbia University. Her research interests lie at the intersection of labor economics, urban and regional economics, and Asian American studies. Kaythari plans to use her Ph.D. in economics to reduce the gap in research on the economic circumstances of the Burmese diaspora.
Tanya Sethi is pursuing her PhD in Economics at the University of Virginia. Her research lies in the fields of political economy, development economics and behavioral economics. Prior to her PhD, she worked as a Predoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Southern California; and as a research associate at J-PAL South Asia and the World Bank. She has also worked as a Policy Economist at the Ministry of Finance, Guyana. In her RIC mentorship program, she worked with Prof Johannes Haushofer.
She holds a Master's degree in Development Studies from School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi.