Nina Gaither ’25, Sasha Thomas ’22, and Crystal Wang ’23 Awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships

Nina is starting a PhD at the University of Chicago this fall, and planning to study Industrial Organization (IO) +, meaning the overlap between IO and other fields such as labor or public. “My work with John Eric Humphries has been instrumental in allowing me to go straight from an undergraduate program to graduate school,” Nina said. “By working on his projects over the last three years, I've learned what it's like to develop research ideas, produce results, and edit papers for submission. I would also like to thank the rest of my advising team—Steve Berry, Ed Vytlacil, and Winnie van Dijk—for helping me through the major and through the grad application process.”

Sasha is entering the economics PhD program at the University of Michigan this fall, and is primarily interested in studying household behavior—e.g., how individuals make decisions within households, how household dynamics shape macroeconomic outcomes like inequality, and how policy interventions can influence these processes. Since graduating, Sasha has been working as a research analyst on the Survey of Consumer Expectations team at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. “I’m grateful for the breadth of classes and research opportunities offered by the department,” Sasha said. “Working on my senior thesis with Professor Orazio Attanasio was particularly formative—it helped me develop critical research skills and gain confidence in my abilities. I brought him a basic, somewhat personal idea inspired by how I see the world, and he encouraged me to run with it. That experience really shaped how I think about research.”

Crystal is starting an economics PhD at Stanford in the fall, and is primarily interested in policy-relevant applied microeconomics—e.g., the economics of crime, policing, and incarceration, as well as LGBT health and intergenerational wealth. Since graduating from Yale, Crystal has worked as a pre-doctoral research analyst in the Consumer Credit Panel team at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. “Yale most prepared me for graduate study through the Herb Scarf Summer Research Opportunities program,” Crystal said. “The program allowed me to get my feet wet right after my first year, and then with my senior essay—there’s really no classroom or RAship substitute for writing a single-authored 30-page paper, and my advisor Zachary Bleemer was an invaluable source of guidance.”