I’m a PhD Candidate at Cornell University in the Brooks School of Public Policy. My coursework and training is primarily in economics, but I have also taken courses in demography and sociology. Broadly, my research focuses on three main threads: the effect of student loan debt on individuals’ labor market outcomes, financial health, and overall well-being; the interaction of higher education policy with other social policies (e.g. cash welfare, disability insurance, unemployment insurance); and understanding the causes and consequences of race and gender disparities in the labor market.

 

During my time at Cornell, I have worked on both independent and collaborative research projects. In an ongoing project, I examine the effects of work-requirements in welfare reform on postsecondary education enrollment overall and by program type. As a research assistant for Michael Lovenheim, for example, I conducted analyses exploring the distribution of returns to different college majors using data from Texas. With Evan Riehl, I have a paper forthcoming in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management that explores how differences in math and ELA standardized test design contribute to incentives for test preparation.

 

Prior to graduate school, I worked on policy issues related to college access and success, college preparation, and higher education finance at both the Education Trust and College Board. In these roles, I contributed to the data analysis and writing of policy briefs, research reports, journal articles, and book chapters, including the Trends in Higher Education series from 2016 to 2017.