BE-Lab
DR. PETER BLAIR
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Peter Q. Blair is a member of the faculty at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, where he codirects the Project on Workforce. An NBER research associate affiliated with the Economics of Education Program, he is the principal investigator of the Blair Economics Lab, a multi-university collaboration that focuses on supply-side issues in higher education, the effects of occupational licensing on labor market discrimination, and the link between residential segregation and educational outcomes. Four graduates of his lab are now in tenure-track roles in economics departments.
In addition to his scholarly work, Blair served as a volunteer economist with the Council of Economic Advisers during the Biden-Harris presidential transition. He is an active member of his local church, where he mentors graduate students.
Blair received his PhD in applied economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, his master’s in theoretical physics from Harvard, and his bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics from Duke University. He is the youngest of seven sons and got his start understanding markets by selling fruit and vegetables with his brothers in the Nassau Straw Market in the Bahamas.
BENJAMIN
POSMANICK
Ben Posmanick is a PhD Candidate in Economics from Clemson University. He is originally from the greatest city in the world, St. Louis, MO, and went to college at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, just outside St. Louis. During his time at SIUE and Clemson, he has been fortunate to have great professors that instilled a love in economics in him. "I bring that love to my work and research."
FIELDS: FINANCIAL ECONOMICS, LABOR ECONOMICS, PUBLIC ECONOMICS,AND APPLIED ECONOMETRICS
KENNETH
D. WHALEY
Kenneth Whaley is a PhD candidate in Economics at Clemson University. He uses applied microeconomic analysis to study public and urban economic topics broadly related to neighborhood quality, housing, and schools. He will be available for interviews during the 2020 ASSA meetings in San Diego.
FIELDS: PUBLIC ECONOMICS, URBAN ECONOMICS, INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION
ELIJAH
NEILSON
Elijah Neilson is a Ph.D. candidate in Economics at Clemson University (expected graduation date - May 2020). His research focuses on the determinants of human capital investment. Prior to entering the Ph.D. program, he studied Mathematics at the University of Utah.
FIELDS: LABOR ECONOMICS, APPLIED ECONOMETRICS , AND INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION
FELLOWS AND STUDENTS
Pre-doctoral, Graduate and Post-doctoral
BOBBY
W. CHUNG
Dr. Bobby Chung is a labor economist who received his Ph.D in Economics at Clemson University in 2018. He is currently a postdoctoral research associate at the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His most recent work includes social network analysis and occupational licensing.
FIELDS: LABOR ECONOMICS
JANELLE FOUCHÉ
Janelle Fouché is a PhD student at Harvard, studying Education Policy & Program Evaluation. She is a Malcolm Hewitt Wiener PhD Scholar in Poverty and Justice and a Partnering in Education Research (PIER) Fellow at the Center for Education Policy Research. Her research interests lie at the intersection of the carceral system and education policy, as she believes the two are inextricably linked to issues of race, inequality, and opportunity. In addition to her academic work, she spends her time tutoring inside prisons and juvenile detention centers and reading timely texts from police and prison abolitionists.
Janelle holds a B.S. in Economics and a B.S in Management Science (with a concentration in Finance) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
SALMAN KHAN
Salman Khan is a PhD student at Harvard University studying Education Policy and Program Evaluation. He earned his BA from Rutgers University and his MA from Stanford University. His research focuses on issues of college and career readiness, post-secondary access, and labor market outcomes for first-generation, minority, and low-income students.
ARKĀDIJS ZVAIGZNE
Arkādijs Zvaigzne is a Ph.D. student in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and holds an M.S.Ed in Higher Education from the University of Pennsylvania. He has previous experience in higher education policy and administration in the European context, specifically in working on the higher education system of a small country. Arkādijs is interested in researching and improving college access, informed college choice, and the financing of higher education, as well as how these aspects work in the context of small countries.
ASHUTOSH
BHURADIA
Ashutosh Bhuradia is a doctoral student in Education Policy and Program Evaluation and Presidential Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He holds a master’s in International Comparative Education from the Stanford, a master’s in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University, and a bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from the University of Technology of Madhya Pradesh, India. He has managed large-scale education assessment programs and field experiments in developing countries while at the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford. His interests include the impact of affirmative action policies and after-school programs on the skill development and labor-market outcomes of low-income youth.
CORBAN
RAWLS
Corban Rawls is a class of 2021 undergraduate at Harvard University studying Government with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. Corban has experience living across the world, spending 3 years living in Melbourne, Australia, in addition to other countries. He has an interest in policy as it relates to technology, health, and business. Apart from academics, Corban is an All-American swimmer on the Men’s Swimming and Diving team at Harvard and volunteers to teach children to swim in the Boston area.
MORGAN
ADDERLEY
Morgan Adderley is currently pursuing her Master of Public Policy at the University of Oxford. Her studies have enabled her to hone her skills in comparative policy analysis, law, international trade, and the relationship between technological progress and economic development. Prior to enrolling in graduate school, Morgan worked as a journalist. She covered a myriad of issues relating to the development outcomes of the Bahamas and wider Caribbean, including criminal justice, tax reform, and climate change. Morgan graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern University, where she earned a BA in International Affairs and minors in Political Science and English. Her interests include development economics, postcolonial theory, media representation, critical race theory and intersectionality.