I firmly believe that advising and mentoring is an important aspect of teaching—particularly for those students who belong to traditionally underrepresented groups in the economics profession such as women, people of color, LGBTQ, and those from low-income households. I am committed to dedicating significant time, energy, and resources to each of my students, knowing first-hand the challenges they face. For example, in 2019 I was awarded a mentoring grant from the William T. Grant Foundation, securing two years ( $60,000 total) of stipend support for one of my graduate students.
Every time a student needs guidance, I reflect on the many people who have helped me along the way and I humbly pay that generosity forward in any way that I can. For example, I have been the faculty advisor for the Women in Economics undergraduate group since 2019, helping them achieve formal recognition as a student organization in 2020. In my role as faculty advisor, I attend virtual e-board meetings, go to in-person celebrations, and help plan events. Last spring I helped them plan their research newsletter covering current economic events and this fall I helped plan their speaker series to highlight economic careers in various settings across government, think tank, and private sector organizations.
Over the last 10 years, I have actively mentored 5 post-doctoral students, 24 doctoral students (serving on 14 dissertation committees, 6 as chair), 14 master’s students, and 25 undergraduate students through the Community to Community research lab at the Dukakis Center. Many of these students became co-authors on one or more of my projects, working as paid research assistants in multigenerational teams across disciplines including Economics, SPPUA, Criminal Justice, Sociology, Bouve, and Network Science. All students have access to a common space to work, weekly research lunches and seminars, and several social gatherings during the semester.
Post-Doctoral Students (tenure/placement)
- Hanna Hoover (2022–2023, Lecturer III, University of Michigan)
- Aria Golestani (2022–2024, SSRC Criminal Justice Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Public Policy at Cornell University)
- Susan Parker (2023–2024, Research Assistant Professor, The Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University)
- Josh Lown (2023–2025, Postdoctoral Researcher, Initiative on Cities, Boston University)
- Hitanshu Pandit (2023–present)
Doctoral Students
Dissertation Committees (Program, degree year, title, placement, my role)
- Shahriar Sadighi (Economics, 2017, Essays in Empirical Labor Economics, Amazon, Chair)
- Michael Gleba (Public Policy, 2019, Making Zoning Alienable, City of Newton, Member)
- Mark Gooley (Economics, 2019, Understanding Mortgage Choice, Northeastern University, Chair)
- Richard Paulsen (Economics, 2019, Three Essays in Productivity and Earnings, University of Vermont, Member)
- Rachel Sederberg (Economics, 2019, Three Essays in Labor Economics, Bowdoin College, Member)
- Urbashee Paul (Economics, 2022, Essays on Skilled-Labor Immigration and Economic Mobility, Analysis Group, Chair)
- Shiqin Liu (Public Policy, 2022, Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Regional Economic Development: Spatial Variations and Empirical Analyses of Firm Formation, Small Business Innovation and Income Inequality, Center for Transportation Research, University of Minnesota, Chair)
- Forrest Hangen (Public Policy, 2024, The Financial Motives and Legal Responsibilities of Landlords: Using Urban Informatics to Model Landlords’ Management Strategies, Phreesia Life Sciences, Member)
- Tomer Stern (Economics, 2024, Applied Microeconomic Insights: Occupational Licensing, Employer Concentration, and Social Movements, Burning Glass Institute, Member)
- Zach Finn (Economics, 2025, Three Essays on the Empirical Microeconomics of
Household Finance: Examining Medical Debt, Birth Cohort Size, and Childcare, Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, Member)
- Samuel Westby (Network Science, 2025, Focused and Panoramic Perspectives on the Future of Work, Chair)
- Elijah Miller (Public Policy, defended proposal, expected 2025, Chair)
- Peiran Cheng (Economics, defended proposal, expected 2026, Member)
- Christopher Curtis (Network Science, in progress as part of PEAR NRT program, Member)
Funded Research Assistantships (Program, date of assistantship)
Shahriar Sadighi (Economics, 2015–2017), Richard Paulsen (Economics, 2017–2019), Rachel Sederberg (Economics, 2016–2019), Urbashee Paul (Economics, 2019–2022), John Fallon (Economics, 2020), Ioana Hulbert (Political Science, 2020), Kendall Bailey (Political Science, 2020), Philip Rubin-Streit (Economics, 2020), Shiqin Liu (Public Policy, 2020–2022), Tianyi Tao (Economics, 2021), Abigail Ballou (2022), Nathaniel Lawshe (Criminal Justice, 2021–2022), Roy Gernhardt (2022–2023), Tomere Stern (Economics, 2021–2024), JD Foster (Sociology, 2023–2024), Zach Finn (Economics, 2023–2025), Peiran Cheng (Economics, 2023–present), Sebastian Ramirez (Public Policy, 2025–present)
Master’s Students
Master’s theses and directed studies (Program, degree date, title)
- Skadi Renooy, (Public Policy Exchange Student, 2014, Bottling Community Identity and a Sense of Place)
- Walter McHugh (Economics and Computer Science, 2018, Unstructured Data Toolkit for Social Science)
- Tom Hopper (Public Policy, 2019, Evaluating Residential Density Around Fixed Route Transit Stations in Greater Boston)
- Matt Blackbourn (Public Policy, 2024, Massachusetts Workforce Development at a High-Level: Context on Governance and Public Programs for Meeting Green Economy Workforce Needs)
Paid Research Assistantships (Program, date of assistantship)
Walter McHugh (Economics and Computer Science, 2015–2018), Linda Li (MPA, 2015)
Amy Campbell (MPA, 2018–2019), Joelle Juarez (MPA, 2019–2021), Skye Olander (JD/LPP, 2020–present), Julia Vasta (MPS, 2020–present), Christine Yu (MPP, 2021–2022), Kat Stecher (MPP, 2023–2024), Eleanor White (MUPP, 2023–2024), Nathaniel Parker (2024), Joseph Koroma (2024–present).
Undergraduate Students
PEAK Awards for Undergraduate Research
- Eric Bell, (Economics, Fall 2024, Analyzing Boston’s Summer Youth Employment Survey)
- Sophie Sawyers (Economics and Data Science, Fall 2024, Designing a Data Dashboard for Boston’s Summer Youth Employment Survey)
- Samara Shankar (Economics and Data Science, Fall 2024, Analyzing Boston’s Summer Youth Employment Survey)
Independent Studies (Program, semester/year of independent study, title)
- Yingjun Lin (Economics, Spring 2018, How Summer Jobs Programs Affect Behavior)
- Erica Smith (Economics, Spring 2018, Financial Capability in Summer Jobs Programs)
- Jennifer Goldberg (Economics, Fall 2018, Gender Disparities in Economics Seminars)
- Ryan Megahey (Economics, Spring 2019, ESL Programs in Massachusetts)
Paid Research Assistantships (Program, date of assistantship)
Tess Pritchard (Economics, 2015–2018), Yingjun Lin (Economics, 2017–2018), Malia Bow (Economics, 2017–2018), Idelsa Sanchez (Economics, 2017–2018), Erica Smith (Economics, 2017–2018), Kimani Taylor (Economics, 2018), Jaqueline Chang (Economics, 2018), Eeling Chong (Economics, 2018), Eli Fenichel (Economics, 2018), Peyton Luxford (Economics, 2018), Jennifer Goldberg (Economics, 2018–2019), Anabella DeLoach (DMSB, 2019), Alyssa Pascoe (Economics, 2019), Caroline Hegg (Economics, 2019–2021), Katharine Stecher (Economics, 2019–2022), Julia Naldone (Economics, 2022), Sawyer Dixon (Economics, 2022), Isabel Ratto (Economics, 2022–2023), Mikhail Ankudovych (Economics, 2024), Maria Jerghiuta (Economics, 2024), Sophie Sawyers (Economics and Data Science, 2024–present), Eric Bell (Economics, 2024–present), Samara Shankar (Economics and Data Science, 2024–present), Emma Young (Economics, 2024–present).
