I am a Professor and an Applied Economist in the Department of Economics at Cal State LA as well as Lead Faculty at LEEAF. I earned my Ph.D in Economics from Texas A&M University, College Station. Currently, I am a Faculty Fellow at the Center for California Studies as well as at the Center for Effective Teaching and Learning. My research interests are in the fields of urban/regional economics and public policy. I care about empowering the community to attain social justice and economic equity.
My current research focuses on housing segregation and the disparate impact of economic shocks on disadvantaged communities, crime in a socioeconomic context, homelessness, gender-based violence, crimes against minorities and other unequal impacts of various programs and policies. My expertise includes cross-sectional, panel and time series analysis using STATA, R, SPSS, Airtable, Excel, as well as geo-spatial analysis using ArcGIS. I have worked with both large and complex quantitative data as well as survey and qualitative data. Previously, I was a recipient of the 2022-23 Haynes Foundation Faculty Fellowship, 2021-22 Provost Faculty Fellow at California State University, Los Angeles as well as Research Fellowship at the Centre for California Studies (Cal State Sacramento), partially funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Besides research, I have created and directed programs in partnership with community stakeholders and student organizations. I have developed a program called Gateway to Employment, sponsored by the Bank of America Philanthropic grant, for the students of Cal State LA and neighboring Community Colleges to assist first generation students in preparing for the job market. In addition to that, I serve as the research coordinator for the College of Business and Economics to organize seminars, brown-bags, coordinate grant-writing resources as well as build research partnerships with stakeholders in the community. Previously, I have served as the co-Director of the Financial Fitness Program. I have participated in shared governance at the institution including serving in the Executive body of the Cal State LA Academic Senate and at the Cal State LA Foundation Board of Trustees. I have also participated in strategic planning initiatives and outreach activities. I am also a liaison to the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP) - standing committee of the American Economic Association. As a professor I have taught multiple classes at the undergraduate and graduate level on a diverse range of topics with class size ranging from 15 - 55 students and supervised students' thesis. I use active learning techniques in my teaching, as recommended by ACUE. I have led curricular changes and course redesigns. I am also a writer, blogger and photographer at https://www.powerinapause.com. My recent conversation with East Los Angeles Women's Center on Sexual Assault Advocacy: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5ZxJw3pe0F/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== Here is a link to my comments relating to inflation: WalletHub. Contact: Department of Economics California State University, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 90032 Google Scholar Publons SSRN ResearchGate To get in touch, please use this Contact Form. |