Placement: PhD Economics, Chicago

Faraz was a Pre-Doctoral fellow with EPIC, interested in energy and fossil fuel consumption in developing countries. He worked on several different projects, including one study that focused on the economic impacts of hydraulic fracturing in U.S. counties, and another on China’s Huai River policy.

Before coming to EPIC, Faraz received his undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, where he studied Math and Economics. At the time, his research was focused more on economic theory and development economics, but growing up in Pakistan he was always very well aware of pollution and energy crises. It was his childhood there that later served as a motivation for studying energy topics and finding “a solution to the energy problems of developing countries.”

Given his interest in energy economics, Faraz decided to join EPIC in order to work closely with Michael Greenstone and other researchers with similar interests. While here, he hoped to learn more technical skills, such as writing code for a research project. “Getting firsthand experience on how research is conducted is also a big plus and will help me when I attend graduate school.”