My Story

As of May 21, 2023, I serve as a Senior Economist in the Interdisciplinary Research Area, Center for Economic Studies (CES) at the U.S. Census Bureau, a role which represents both growth and a new set of challenges from my previous position in Labor Force Statistics Branch (LFSB), the Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division (SEHSD).

It is here, in this role, that my love for humanity and fascination with data find a unified purpose. I am currently immersed in research that seeks to understand the effects of labor market conditions on our societal attitudes—examining how they shape our perceptions of gender and immigration. I'm also examining the engagement of unbanked households with the tax system, and the effects of 2018 tariffs on steel and aluminum on gender wage gap.

Alongside these, I explore the impact of randomized monetary incentives on item non-response rates and measurement errors, which capture my newfound interest in survey methodology research.

The path that led me here wasn't always clear. It was the wisdom and mentorship of one of my undergraduate professors that encouraged me to explore economics at the junction between my then dual major in political science and mathematics. I was intrigued by the interactions between people, political values, and economic systems, and became increasingly interested in using data to further study these dynamics. I graduated with Magna Cum Laude as a triple major in political science, mathematics, and economics.

The ambition to study the structure of relationships between human actors and political and economic systems fueled my intellectual curiosity to pursue a doctorate in economics.  I received my doctorate from University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in 2020.

In addition to research, teaching has always been an important part of my education.  During graduate school, I taught two full semesters of microeconomics and macroeconomics courses at Richard J. Daley College in Chicago. I strive to identify students’ strengths and prior knowledge to provide customized learning experiences for them and build new knowledge into what students already know.