Xuan Li is a sixth-year PhD student in Economics at Boston University who is interested in both Political Economy & Labor Economics.

Aanchal Bagga is a third-year Ph.D. student in Economics & Public Policy at Tufts University. Her research focuses on economic & social barriers faced by women & girls in developing countries, with a particular emphasis on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Aanchal is currently working on addressing IPV in India & a project with J-PAL South Asia on STEM education barriers in Karnataka. She aims to leverage her expertise to inform policy-making & contribute to long-term development.

Ridwan Hossain is a sixth-year Ph.D. candidate in Economics at Fordham University, currently on the academic job market. His research interests lie in development economics, education, applied microeconomics, and applied econometrics. His dissertation features a randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted among school-aged children in Bangladesh, examining the impact of monetary and non-monetary incentives on student performance.

Ridwan holds a master’s degree in Applied Economics from the University of Massachusetts Boston, USA, and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from North South University, Bangladesh.

Aastha Rajan is a 3rd year Economics Phd student at Northwestern University. Her research interests are related to topics in labor & public economics. She has extensive experience in project management, data analysis, & policy evaluation. Most recently, she worked as a Staff Economist at the Council of Economic Advisers. Prior to starting her PhD, she worked as a Research Assistant at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. She graduated with her Bachelors of Science in Economics from Texas A&M University in 2018.

Gamaliel De La Torre is a PhD candidate in Economics at the University of California, Irvine. He works on topics in labor & public economics, with a particular focus on social safety net programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). His most recent work studies how fiscal decentralization of SNAP can lead to productive & allocative efficiencies in the administration of the program. Prior to joining UCI, he received his bachelor's degree from Emory University.

I am a fifth-year PhD candidate in economics at Vanderbilt University. My research is in applied microeconomics & lies at the intersection of law, political economy, & economic history. My dissertation work examines the effects of state antitrust laws around the turn of the twentieth century. Before attending graduate school, I worked as a policy analyst at the U.S. Government Accountability Office in Washington, DC. I hold a master’s degree in Economics from Vanderbilt University, a master’s degree in Public Policy from the George Washington University, a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Florida Atlantic University, & a bachelor’s degree in Political Science & German from the University of Missouri.

Priyanka Pimple is currently pursuing her PhD in Economics at the University of Arkansas, with a research focus on development economics & labor force participation. Her work investigates the impact of India's maternity benefit on women's employment decisions & child health outcomes, aiming to inform policies that promote gender equality & economic development. Priyanka is eager to learn & grow through the AMIE Mentorship Program, leveraging the guidance of experienced professionals to enhance her research. Dedicated to addressing socio-economic disparities, she looks forward to engaging with & contributing to the AMIE community.

Aika Aku is an Agricultural Economist at the College of Economics & Business Studies (CoEBS), Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) in Tanzania with vast experience in teaching, research & consultancy. Her area of interest is on crops value chain, rural urban livelihoods, poverty & gender dynamics. Earlier in her carrier she worked as a research assistant in different research organisations such as Agricultural Policy Research in Tanzania (APRA), Innovation for Poverty Action (IPA), World Vegetable Centre (AVRDC), MSU & IFPRI to mention a few. In recent years she was involved in the coordination of an Agricultural Programme for Policy Prioritization through Value Chain Analysis (PPVC) in Tanzania. The project focus is on the sunflower value chain where the study is tracking results on policy reforms & public & private sector responses. Ms. Aku has also worked on & conducted research in value chain development for rice, cashew nuts, & beef.

Pranjal Rawat is a 4th year PhD Candidate in Economics at Georgetown University. His advisors are Prof. John Rust & Prof. Nathan Miller. His research leverages reinforcement learning to improve the design of complex dynamic markets & deep learning to incorporate unstructured data like text & images into consumer choice models. Pranjal has 3 years of work experience as a Data Scientist at American Express & holds Masters & Bachelors in Economics from India.

Haimanot has been working in research, teaching & community outrage programs in HEI's of Ethiopia over ten-years. His research interest falls on Agri-food systems, food security, Anti-Poverty, impact evaluation, climate change, health economics, development economics & related.