2015 Summer Institute

Eddie Nik-Khah is Associate Professor of Economics at Roanoke College.  He received his BA in Economics, Philosophy, and Political Science from Rockhurst University and his MA and PhD in Economics from the University of Notre Dame.  For his research on the political economy of market design, the European Association of Evolutionary Political Economy awarded him the K. William Kapp Prize.  He has completed research on interactions between the Chicago School of Economics, the pharmaceutical industry, and phamaceutical science, the neoliberal origins of economic imperialism, the distinctive role of George Stigler as architect of the Chicago School, and the tensions emerging from economists' assumption of a professional identity as designers of markets.  He is currently writing a book with Philip Mirowski on the history of knowledge and information in twentieth century economics.

Amal Ahmad I graduated from Amherst College (BA) and the University of London (MS), and will be starting my PhD in Economics at UMass Amherst this fall. Originally from Palestine, I am interested in economic development particularly in conflict zones. My research so far has focused on the fiscal and monetary aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an area I hope to pursue further in my doctoral studies. Although my work is not primarily historical, it employs a critical and comparative approach toward economic theory and draws on both mainstream and heterodox traditions. I like to read and travel around sunny states in my free time.

Pedro E. Cadenas is a PhD candidate in economics at The New School for Social Research in New York city, currently working on economics and cognitive science with applications into health economics. Pedro's main academic interests also include philosophy of economics, history of economic thought and Bayesian reasoning/statistics. Before coming to the New School for Social Research, he worked for some time at the private and public sector while completing a M.Sc. in Philosophy and Human Sciences and obtaining an M.B.A. in Finance.

Abigail DeHart is a recent graduate of Grand Valley State University, and is starting the MPhil in Political Thought and Intellectual History programme at the University of Cambridge this fall. My research interest lies in early modern political thought and the growing commercialization of society in Europe. After completing a yearlong research project in India on economic issues of education, my interest was piqued in economic history. I aim to further pursue a PhD with a historical focus on economic issues of education. At the Institute this summer, I hope to better familiarize myself with more recent work in economic history. In my free time you can find me playing music, reading, or running. 

Nicolas Mäder Having received my B.A. from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, I am currently a first-year Ph.D. student in Economics at Vanderbilt University. Before joining Vanderbilt, I worked for the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs at the Consulate General in Atlanta and the Embassy in Washington, DC. My primary fields of interests are financial stability and monetary economics. At the Summer Institute, I hope to gain insights on how the great depression has shaped the way we approach and teach economics today.  My hobbies include traveling, playing tennis and watching American football.

Melati Nungsari I recently defended my dissertation in pricing and matching on two-sided platforms with the Department of Economics at UNC-Chapel Hill. I will be joining Davidson College this fall as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics. I attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois as an undergrad, where I graduated as an economics and mathematics double major, with honors in mathematics. My research interests include applied microeconomics (industrial organization, search, matching) and economic education. This summer, I am hoping to learn about the history of economics in order to inform my teaching practices. Outside of economics, I enjoy cooking, spending time with my family (and two cats), trying out new restaurants, and running.

James Abordo Ong received an MLitt. in Philosophy at the University of St. Andrews and has recently completed his Ph.D. in Philosophy at Duke University under the supervision of David B. Wong.  He is currently working on a book manuscript that reframes ‘difference’ as the singularity of each individual’s lived experiences, and demonstrates how inhabiting such difference engenders empowering modes of cooperation and meaningful social change.  He received his bachelor’s degree in Business Management and Accountancy from the University of the Philippines.  Before returning to academia, he was Head of Financial Management in the South Korean subsidiary of one of the world's largest financial institutions, Allianz.  He plans to integrate what he will learn from the summer institute into his future research and teaching.

 Alex Oprea I am originally from the town of Ploiesti in Romania. I first came to the US in 2007 and have stayed in Durham, NC ever since. I was a Duke undergraduate studying economics and political science, then a statistician employed by the Sanford Public Policy Institute and now I'm a third year PhD student in political theory. My research interests include conversations at the intersection of economics, history and philosophy, political education, political socialization and the distinctions different societies draw between childhood and adulthood. I also help coordinate a working group on "Humor and Politics" that keeps me smiling, winking, smirking and occasionally laughing out loud.

Onur Özgöde received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Columbia University in February, and he will be joining the Institute for Global Law and Policy at the Harvard Law School this summer as a Post-Doctoral Fellow. Originally from Turkey, he studied operations research and economics at the undergraduate level at Columbia. Onur’s research traces the transformation of liberal forms of economic governance as experts problematize and subsequently solve emergent techno-political and -economic problems. He is currently working on a book manuscript, Governing the Economy at the Limits of Neo-Liberalism: The Genealogy of Systemic Risk Regulation in the United States, 1922-2010. This work examines how systemic (financial) risk was assembled as a monetary pathology of the economy between the 1970s and the 1980s, and how the new systemic risk regulation regime, instituted under the Dodd-Frank Act, rearticulates monetary government with the systemic tools developed for resource and mobilization planning during the New Deal and the Cold War.