SYLFF Fellowship

Brian Daza is a Ph.D. student in economics at the University of Michigan. His interests span fields like development economics, international trade and labor. He previously worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the World Bank's Development Impact Evaluation group, Universidad del Pacifico, and the Ministry of Transports and the Ministry of Education of Peru. Brian holds a Bachelor of Economics from Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos and an M.A.Sc. in Data, Economics and Development POlicy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Luis Espinoza is a Ph.D. in economics student at the University of Michigan. His main research interests are the process of economic structural transformation, both from a historical and a contemporary perspective, and how it can be (or cannot be) fostered by active industrial policies. Moreover, he is interested in the relationship between this process and economic inequality. Before coming to Michigan, Luis worked as a Growth Lab Research Fellow at the Center for International Development at Harvard University. He has also worked as a full-time teaching assistant at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, and as a research assistant at GRADE, a Peruvian think-tank based in Lima. He holds a BA in Economics (2007) and a Diploma in Applied Mathematics (2011) from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, and a Master in Public Administration in International Development (2014) from Harvard University.

Ana Paula Franco is a graduate student in Economics at the University of Michigan with interests in economic history, labor and development economics. Prior to starting at Michigan, Ana Paula worked as a research fellow at Evidence for Policy Design at the Harvard Kennedy School on projects related to microfinance in Asia. She also worked as a research assistant at Group for the Analysis of Development and Universidad del Pacifico in Lima, Peru, on projects related to labor markets and gender in Latin America. She holds a BA in Economics from Universidad del Pacifico and a MSc in Economics from University College London.

Kianna Freeman is a Ph.D student at the University of Michigan with research interests in development, international and macroeconomic analysis. Prior to starting her Ph.D., Kianna earned a B.S. in Econometrics and Quantitative Economics from the University of South Florida where she preformed research analyzing the socio-economic effectsof oil trade with the U.S. on Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago. She hopes to further analyze the effects of relationships between first-world countries and developing regions, such as Latin American and Caribbean region.

Ariza Gusti is a PhD student in Economics at the University of Michigan. He is originally from Jakarta, Indonesia and came to the United States to pursue his undergraduate degree. He received a BS in Economics from the University of Minnesota. Currently, his research interests lie in the field of applied microeconomics and in particular development, public and labor
economics. His experience living a developing country stimulated his interest in economics and development economics in particular. In his spare time, Ariza is a big fan of sports and follows closely soccer, and basketball games. He also enjoys travelling and exploring new things, especially new cuisines.

Zsigmond Palvolgyi is a PhD candidate in Economics at the University of Michigan. He is interested in how governmental policies shape economic inequality. Some of his current research projects examine the connection between segregation and racial wealth inequality following the Fair Housing Act, the effect of the parental wealth on college major choice, and paid parental leave policies’ effect on maternal employment in Hungary. Prior to his doctoral studies at Michigan, he worked in various research assistant positions at CEU Microdata, at Szazadveg Economic Research Institute, and at the Hungarian National Bank. He holds an MA in Economics from both Central European University and Corvinus University of Budapest, and a BA in Finance and Accounting from Corvinus.

Nikhil Rao is a first-year PhD student in Economics. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2015 with a BA in Economics and Mathematics. Until recently, he was a Research Assistant at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Two broad topics of interest are: understanding the preferential sorting by gender into different fields of study and occupations as well as the selection out of the formal workforce; and understanding the extent to which social assistance programs and immigrant social networks aid immigrants’ economic and cultural integration.

James Reeves received a BA in Economics/Mathematics from Western Washington University and a MA in Economics from the University of Colorado Denver. Most recently, he was a research assistant in the Industrial Relations Section at Princeton University. His research interests are primarily in labor and public economics, with a specific focus on crime and the criminal justice system. Some of his current research projects explore gender gaps in career progression, the relationsip between federal tax credits and crime in low-income communities, and the role of housing ordinances in gentrification.