Work with thought leaders and academic experts in Economics

Christos A. Makridis holds academic appointments at Columbia Business School, Stanford University, Baylor University, University of Nicosia, and Arizona State University. He is also an adjunct scholar at the Manhattan Institute, senior adviser at Gallup, and senior adviser at the National AI Institute in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Christos is the CEO/co-founder of [Dainamic](https://www.dainamic.ai/), a technology startup working to democratize the use and application of data science and AI techniques for small and mid sized organizations, and CTO/co-founder of [Living Opera](https://www.livingopera.org/), a web3 startup working to bridge classical music and blockchain technologies. Christos previously served on the White House Council of Economic Advisers managing the cybersecurity, technology, and space activities, as a Non-resident Fellow at the Cyber Security Project in the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, as a Digital Fellow at the Initiative at the Digital Economy in the MIT Sloan School of Management, a a Non-resident Research Scientist at Datacamp, and as a Visiting Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Christos’ primary academic research focuses on labor economics, the digital economy, and personal finance and well-being. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed research papers in academic journals and over 170 news articles in the press. Christos earned a Bachelor’s in Economics and Minor in Mathematics at Arizona State University, as well a dual Masters and PhDs in Economics and Management Science & Engineering at Stanford University.

I am broadly interested in the factors that promote or diminish happiness and well-being. My research program explores how constant connectivity to the Internet impacts people’s relationships and well-being and how we can harness technology to improve well-being and promote positive behavioral change. I am a Vanier Scholar and a Rising Star of the Association for Psychological Science (APS). I have written for *The* *New York Times*, *The Conversation*, and *Psychology Today*, and my work has been covered by other prestigious publications such as *The* *Economist, BBC, NPR, Forbes, Fast Company, Time Magazine, The Wall Stree Journal, National Geographic,* and *The Washington Post*. I have consulted for companies such as Ipsos, Canvas8, and Luce Research. See more at www.kushlev.com

Tyler Ransom is an associate professor of economics at the University of Oklahoma. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Duke University in 2015. His research interests include labor economics, economics of education, urban economics, and machine learning applications. He has published papers in leading journals such as the Journal of Labor Economics, the Journal of Human Resources, and the Journal of Econometrics. He is also an associate editor of the Annals of Economics and Statistics and a research affiliate of IZA and GLO. He has taught courses on econometrics, data science, and economics of education at both undergraduate and graduate levels. He has received several awards and fellowships for his research and teaching, such as the OU Dodge Family College of Arts & Sciences Irene Rothbaum Outstanding Assistant Professor Award in 2022. He is proficient in various coding languages such as Matlab, Stata, R, Julia, Bash, Git, and LaTeX. He also has advanced language skills in Japanese.

I'm an Assistant Professor of Geography in the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences at the University of Delaware, and faculty in the Minerals, Materials, and Society Program. My recently released book, "Rare Earth Frontiers: From Terrestrial Subsoils to Lunar Landscapes" with Cornell University Press, is based on five years' research in the capitals and borderlands of China, Brazil, and the USA. It recently received the Meridian Book Award from the American Association of Geographers for its "unusually important contribution to the art and science of geography." Full professional fluency in Mandarin and Portuguese. Worldwide research, consulting, and negotiation experience.

Robert Gmeiner is an accomplished economist with a strong background in both academic research and teaching. He holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Economics from Florida State University and a B.A. in Economics and Russian, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Wake Forest University. Currently, Dr. Gmeiner is on the faculty at Methodist University, where he teaches courses in economics and statistics. His areas of expertise include time series statistics, econometrics, macroeconomic policy, inflation, economic policy (fiscal and monetary), international trade, antitrust/competition, and economic forecasting. He has published several articles in top academic journals and has presented his research at numerous conferences and workshops. Prior to working at Methodist University, he worked for the Sunwater Institute, where he researched the economics of intellectual property rights. Gmeiner is known for his dedication to his students, rigorous and timely work, always meeting deadlines. He takes pride in distilling top-level research into actionable insights, easily understood by a non-technical audience, and his ability to make complex economic concepts accessible and engaging. Outside of his work in economics, Gmeiner enjoys gardening, long-distance running, and spending time with his family. He is also an active member of several professional organizations, including Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, and the Philadelphia Society.

Dr. Ryan Howell is an Associate Professor at San Francisco State University. His research interests include the psychology of goals and how people pursue and achieve them. Dr. Howell received his PhD in Social/Personality Psychology from the University of California, Riverside in 2005.

Sutirtha Bagchi is an Associate Professor of Economics at Villanova University where he teaches courses in microeconomics and public economics. Dr. Bagchi has a Ph.D. in Business Economics and an M.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor. He also received an MBA from Purdue University West Lafayette, in addition to a B. Tech. (With Honors) in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.

Jim Samuel is an Associate Professor of Practice and Executive Director of the Informatics Program at the Bloustein School. He is an information and artificial intelligence (AI) scientist, with significant industry experience in finance, technology, entrepreneurship and data analytics. Dr. Samuel’s primary research covers human intelligence and artificial intelligences interaction and information philosophy.  Dr. Samuel’s applied research focuses on the optimal use of big data and smart data driven AI applications, textual analytics, natural language processing and artificially intelligent public opinion informatics. His expertise extends to socioeconomic implications of AI, applied machine learning, social media analytics, AI education and AI bias. Dr. Samuel completed his Ph.D. from the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College – City University of New York, and he also has M.Arch and M.B.A (International Finance) degrees.  Dr. Samuel has worked with large multinational financial services corporations, and advises businesses and organizations on data analytics and AI driven value creation strategies. He is passionate about research driven thought leadership in AI, information philosophy, analytics and informatics. 

Thomai Serdari, Ph.D. is a strategist in luxury marketing and branding. She helps clients launch, grow, and successfully manage luxury brands. She is an expert on luxury and actively studies, values, and reports on companies or funds that operate and invest within the luxury goods market. Prof. Serdari has been teaching at New York University since 2004 and at Stern since 2012. She developed the core courses for the Luxury Marketing specialization among others and became Academic Director of the Fashion & Luxury MBA in 2019. Originally trained as an architect at the National Technical University of Athens, Prof. Serdari received her doctorate in Art History & Archaeology from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University in 2005. She also holds an MBA from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University, with a specialization in corporate and quantitative finance (2009).

Wesley R. Hartmann is a Professor at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. He received his PhD in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2003, and his MA in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2001. He also holds a BA in Economics and Political Science from the University of California, Irvine.

Dan Baack is an expert in advertising, brand management and international marketing. His academic research focuses on how differences in how consumers process information affect promotional activities. This includes investigations of creativity and advertising effectiveness, of advertising’s impact on brand image and of culture’s influence on marketing activity.

Roger Sparks is a Professor of Economics at Mills College, Oakland, CA. He earned his PhD in Economics from the University of California, Davis and has been at Mills College since 1989. Professor Sparks is currently director of the Master of Applied Economics program at Mills and chair of the Economics Department. He has more than 20 research papers published in economics journals, has refereed many paper submissions to professional journals, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Kemper Human Rights Education Foundation. Professor Sparks’ research applies game theory and the economics of information to a variety of topics, including the theory of unemployment, efficiency wages, employee stock offerings, cyclical changes in labor productivity, the determination of mortgage rates, mortgage securitization, environmental policy, utility regulation, psychiatric decision-making, the energy paradox, and the price impacts of low-carbon fuel standards. This research agenda has allowed him to incorporate into his teaching first-hand knowledge about a variety of topics and techniques of analysis, which in turn has enhanced his students’ curiosity and learning.

Ariel D. Kalil is the Daniel Levin Professor of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago. She is a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a research associate at the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan. She is also a faculty member in the Harris School of Public Policy Studies and in the College at the University of Chicago. Kalil's research lies at the intersection of child development and public policy. She is particularly interested in the effect of early childhood interventions on health and economic outcomes in adulthood. Her work has been published in leading social science journals, including the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and the Journal of Political Economy. Kalil earned her PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor in 1996, her MA in Social Psychology from the University of Colorado System in 1993, and her BA in Psychology and French Literature from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1991.