Teaching Assistant

Nominated for the UChicago Harris "Outstanding Teaching Assistant of the Year" award (2019-2020)

Democracy Hacked: Cyber Threats to Modern Governments in the Digital Age

Professor: Jake Braun

Course Number: PPHA 33829 (Spring 2021)

Course Webpage & Syllabus

Student Evaluations:

This course is designed to offer students an overview of the current cybersecurity landscape and the corresponding human rights implications. Students will hear first-hand insider perspectives from public and private sector cyber professionals and international experts across the cybersecurity and human rights fields. Divided into 3 parts, students will gain insight on Cyber Security Technology, Protecting Citizens From Governments Online, and Combating Cyber Predators.

Infrastructure & Development

Professor: W. Gyude Moore

Course Number: PPHA 35565 (Spring 2021)

Course Webpage & Syllabus

Student Evaluations:

This course will examine the role of infrastructure as a foreign policy tool, both historically as in the case of the Marshall Plan and contemporarily as in the case of the Belt and Road Initiative. This course will give particular attention to infrastructure development in Africa.

Global Health Policy

Professor: Dr. Annette Brown

Course Number: PPHA 37730 (Spring 2021)

Course Webpage & Syllabus

Student Evaluations:

There is no economic health without public health. The interdependencies between national and international health are growing in the face of persistent health inequities within and between countries. This course begins with an introduction to the research and measurement tools needed to inform good policies and programs. We then examine the structures and institutions that influence global health, including the social determinants of health equity, global health governance and security, health behavior and incentives, and health systems and financing. We will also study several key topics for global health policy, including infectious diseases and immunization, nutrition and non-communicable diseases, and reproductive and maternal health. Many of the course readings are impact evaluations, and throughout the course students will be tasked with determining and defending what policy and programs recommendations they would make based on evidence.

International Economic Development and Policy

Professor: Dr. Amir Jina

Course Number: PPHA 35550 (Winter 2021)

Course Webpage & Syllabus

Student Evaluations: 4.7/5

The history, current pattern, and causes of the distribution of the wealth of nations remains one of the most fascinating and fundamental of all questions in economics and policy. This course will attempt to give an overview of economic growth and development, focusing on real-world data, by looking at the empirical and theoretical research that has been used to understand them and subsequently form the basis of development policies. The course is divided into three major sections: measuring and modeling growth and development, human capital, and markets. Throughout the quarter, we’ll explore sets of “development facts” – the way that the world currently appears to us as policy-makers – by looking at contemporary data. For each topic, we will discuss contemporary methodology and debates in development policy.

Contemporary US Intelligence

Professor: Congressman Mike Quigley (IL-5)

Course Number: PPHA 33420 (Fall 2020)

Course Webpage & Syllabus

Student Evaluations: 5/5

The course examines the U.S. Intelligence Community and its role in national security. It will analyze the intelligence cycle including planning and direction, collection, processing, analysis and dissemination. It will also focus on topics such as warning and surprise, denial and deception, covert action, oversight and the role of policy makers, civil liberties, ethics and accountability and intelligence reform. It will also compare the organization and activities of foreign intelligence agencies with the U.S. model. Many of these topics will be analyzed through the context of current events including the congressional investigation into Russia’s interference with the 2016 presidential election. The course will also feature high ranking current and former intelligence officials as guest speakers. No prior study of intelligence issues is required.

This course is taught by Congressman Mike Quigley (IL-5), a member of the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which oversees the activities of the U.S. intelligence community.

Economic Development & Policy

Professor: Dr. Alicia Menendez

Course Number: PPHA 35550 (Fall 2020)

Course Webpage & Syllabus

Student Evaluations: 4.73/5

The history, current pattern, and causes of the distribution of the wealth of nations remains one of the most fascinating and fundamental of all questions in economics and policy. This course will attempt to give an overview of economic growth and development, focusing on real-world data, by looking at the empirical and theoretical research that has been used to understand them and subsequently form the basis of development policies. The course is divided into three major sections: measuring and modeling growth and development, human capital, and markets. Throughout the quarter, we’ll explore sets of “development facts” – the way that the world currently appears to us as policy-makers – by looking at contemporary data. For each topic, we will discuss contemporary methodology and debates in development policy.

Development Economics: Theory and Policy

Professor: Dr. Miguel Santos, visiting professor from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government

Course Number: PPHA 35550 (Spring 2020)

Course Webpage & Syllabus

Student Evaluations: 4.21/5

Almost everybody agrees about the need for accelerating development in certain regions of the world, but there is considerable disagreement as to what is meant by development, how to think about it, and how to get there. This course has been designed to get students acquainted with analytical tools, frameworks and perspectives necessary to think critically about the development challenges faced by countries and regions, and to design effective interventions aimed at overcoming them.

In order to do so, we start by covering the most relevant theoretical frameworks and analytical models, and – drawing on empirical research, case studies, and real world-data – will evaluate their relevance – in terms of capacity to diagnose root causes of underdevelopment and subsequently form the basis of development policy.

The class is meant to be a capstone course that enables students to integrate different theories and methods, using them to interpret the observed data and formulate a coherent diagnostic narrative that can make sense of simultaneous observations about growth and social outcomes, within a particular context. By doing so, it aims at bridging the gap between the deductive method that characterizes much of academia (using general conclusions drawn form a model based on a set of premises to interpret the data) and the inductive approach, which is typical of the policy world (reaching conclusions by generalizing or extrapolating from specific cases to general rules).

Economic Development and Policy

Professor: Dr. Amir Jina

Course Number: PPHA 57300 (Winter 2020)

Course Webpage & Syllabus

Student Evaluations: 4.31/5

The history, current pattern, and causes of the distribution of the wealth of nations remains one of the most fascinating and fundamental of all questions in economics and policy. This course will attempt to give an overview of economic growth and development, focusing on real-world data, by looking at the empirical and theoretical research that has been used to understand them and subsequently form the basis of development policies. The course is divided into three major sections: measuring and modeling growth and development, human capital, and markets. Throughout the quarter, we’ll explore sets of “development facts” – the way that the world currently appears to us as policy-makers – by looking at contemporary data. For each topic, we will discuss contemporary methodology and debates in development policy.

Relevant Coursework

Graduate-Level

Statistics 1 & 2

Microeconomics 1 & 2

Analytical Politics 1 & 2

Program Evaluation (International Development Track)

Law & Economic Development

Emerging Markets: Finance & Entrepreneurship

The Wealth of Nations

Hydropolitics: Water Policy & Conflict

Translating Evidence for Policy and Program Design

Leadership in Chicago

Current Topics in Public Policy

Quantitative Security

American Grand Strategy

Conflict: Root Causes, Consequences, & Solutions for the Future

Policy Lab (World Bank)

Introduction to GIS and Spatial Analysis

Political Economy of Development

Financial Statement Analysis for Governments and Non-Profits

Undergraduate-Level

Statistics

Calculus

Microeconomics (full sequence)

Macroeconomics (full sequence)

Economics of Development & Growth

International Economics

International Monetary Relations

Environmental Economics

Economics of Government Expenditures & Taxation

China in the World Economy

Spanish (Seven courses)

French (Seven courses)

Mandarin Chinese (Four courses)

Piano

Other

UPenn Wharton

Corporate Finance

Financial Accounting

Operations Management

Marketing

Capstone Project

Wichita State University

Accessible Digital Documents

Accessible Face-to-Face Presentation

Accessible Online Presentations

Creating Accessible Video

Impairment Awareness

Introduction to Web Accessibility