Laura Alcocer entered the energy industry by accident. At the behest of her senior thesis advisor at Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) in Mexico City, she took a job at the advisor’s consulting firm, EnergeA, which specializes in energy project development in Mexico. “I didn’t have a particular sense of what energy was, and then I got into oil and gas pretty quickly and I really enjoy it,” Alcocer said. Alcocer plans to pursue a PhD post-EPIC. Read more…
Tom Bearpark has long been interested in politics and policy. After growing up in a small town in northern England, Bearpark moved to London at the age of 18 to pursue a degree in economics and philosophy at the London School of Economics (LSE). At EPIC, Bearpark works with the Climate Impact Lab, a multidisciplinary team of researchers from EPIC, the University of California, Berkeley, Rutgers University and Rhodium Group. His work primarily focuses on quantifying the effects of climate change on conflict and migration patterns. Read more…
Michael Cahana remembers being attune to environmental issues at a young age, though doesn’t remember the cause. “The thing about economics that kind of stuck me with me is that it allows you to frame environmental problems in mathematical contexts so that you can better inform your policy outlook on those problems,” said Cahana, who graduated with a bachelor’s in economics and minors in computer science and environmental policy from Northwestern last spring. At EPIC, Cahana works with Professors Ryan Kellogg (Harris Public Policy) and Thom Covert (Booth School of Business). He is currently investigating how oil and gas companies innovate during cycles of boom and bust. Read more…
Catherine Che admits she didn’t have a grand plan when deciding to study economics as an undergraduate at Princeton University. Having originally planned to pursue a chemical engineering degree, Che switched to economics for its greater course and career flexibility. She is finishing her thesis for UChicago’s Master’s in Arts Program in the Social Sciences (MAPSS) with a concentration in economics. Che, who started at EPIC in August, works on a variety of environmental and energy economics projects for EPIC Director Michael Greenstone, including studying electricity theft and how to incentivize paying for electricity in the Indian state of Bihar. Read more…
Claire Qing Fan was always concerned about the environment and climate change, but never imagined it would lead to anything career-related. That changed when she spent a semester studying abroad at a program on sustainable development in India. “I learned about development, but also realized the important role the environment and climate change would play in people’s lives and trajectory,” she said. Fan works on a variety of projects for EPIC Director Michael Greenstone. Read more…
Simon Greenhill entered college planning to become a journalist. Greenhill particularly enjoyed long-form, investigative journalism because it required a deep dive into complex issues with the ultimate goal of understanding a societal issue. As an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley, Greenhill realized he could do the same thing in economics. At EPIC, Greenhill works with the Climate Impact Lab, focusing on how climate change will affect human migration. Read more…
Dylan Hogan was unsure about pursuing academic economics for a career. The introductory courses simply hadn’t excited him early in his time at Brown University. That changed for good once he took a couple of environmental economics courses, which Hogan said was his first experience with anything empirical and real-world applications of theory. At EPIC, Hogan works on the mortality sector with the Climate Impact Lab. He plans to pursue a PhD in economics and one day would like to teach. Read more…
Chinmay Lohani came to the University of Chicago, and EPIC in particular, for the normal reasons: strong academics, leading economic research and prestige. There was one other passion area that drew him to there: music. He earned his bachelor’s in economics from the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru and subsequently got his master’s in economics at the London School of Economics. Just several months later, he came to Chicago to work for EPIC. Lohani will work with Fiona Burlig, an assistant professor at Harris Public Policy, on energy research, including examining how consumers in Delhi, India, respond to changes in electricity prices. Read more…
Nigam earned his bachelor’s in economics from Princeton University, where he conducted independent research on violent conflict and educational attainment in Colombia, as well as on immigration enforcement and traffic cop behavior in Texas. He also tutored introductory microeconomics in college, eventually becoming head tutor at Princeton’s in-house tutoring center. The experience has steered him toward his goal of getting a PhD and becoming a professor of economics. At EPIC, Nigam works for EPIC Director Michael Greenstone on a variety of projects. Read more…
Norman in December graduated with a bachelor’s in economics from Bowdoin College, a small liberal arts school just outside of Portland, Maine. She initially thought she would major in history or a similar social science field, but “I found myself much more excited and interested in more quantitative analysis of social problems that drew me to history and those types of classes,” she said. At EPIC, she works primarily on calculating the impact of climate change on energy consumption with the Climate Impact Lab. Read more…