My path to the academy was not linear and started with time spent in various roles outside the university conducting research that directly informed public policy across a variety of regional economic issues. Through these real-world experiences, it became clear that local policymakers often lacked rigorous data and analysis about which policies were most effective, yet many academic economists typically did not apply their knowledge to the most pressing policy issues in these local contexts.
Since joining Northeastern University in 2014, I have continued to focus on projects that are both academically rigorous and policy relevant by working in partnership with community-based organizations, city departments, and state agencies. Much of my work is interdisciplinary in nature and revolves around large-scale empirical evaluations to determine underlying causal relationships using novel data sets and a variety of methods and techniques—including randomized control trials and mixed-methods research designs with nearly 2,000 citations and an h-index of 19.
Over the past three years, I have drawn on my expertise in evidence-based scholarship to launch the Community to Community (C2C) Impact Accelerator, a $4.8M investment in community-engaged research across Northeastern University’s global network of 13 campus locations. C2C’s Engage-Think-Do model intentionally bridges the gap between knowledge and practice, developing research–practice partnerships between roughly 50 faculty affiliates and nearly 100 community-based organizations, city departments, and state agencies. In recognition of C2C’s success, I was awarded the inaugural Global Network Accelerator Award in 2023 by the Provost for creating “a model of how Northeastern University’s global network can be leveraged to create real and measurable change.”
My research has been awarded more than $14M in external funding over the past 10 years, providing over 50 undergraduate, master’s, Ph.D., and doctoral students with paid research assistantships in my lab. In recognition of my research productivity and policy impact, I was awarded Northeastern University’s Excellence in Research and Creative Activity Award in 2022, became a fellow at the IZA Institute of Labor Economics in Germany in 2023, received the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) Evidence Champion award in 2024, and was named a Data Champion by the National Youth Employment Coalition in 2025. My contributions largely span the five main research pillars listed below that describe both my academic and policy contributions in each area.
