Welcome!

I am a doctoral candidate working under the supervision of Professor Miguel Sarzosa at Purdue University. I expect to receive my PhD in Economics in July 2023, and will start a new position as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics at Wesleyan University.

My fields of specialization are Applied Microeconomics, Labor and Public Economics. Specifically, I work on exploring the causes, consequences and solutions to the issues of under-representation of women in STEM fields in college, STEM occupations and the gender earnings gap. More broadly, my research interests include handling large datasets and using econometric methods to find causal estimates of the effects of education and related policies as well as studying issues like discrimination in all its forms.

Why should we, as economists, expend time and resources to study the issue of gender gap in STEM? There are several economic consequences of women being under-represented in STEM fields. It contributes to the gender earnings gap. It is economically inefficient. And it implies that scientific inventions may not adequately account for the needs of half of the population.

In my job market paper, I evaluate how adoption of common K-12 standards - the most-used policy promoted by the 2009 Race to the Top Program - affected students' high school and post-secondary performance and career choices, as well as the gender gaps in these outcomes. In my previous project, I explored how teacher gender affects girls' high school STEM performance and preference.