Sam D.

Predoctoral Fellow at MIT | Economics Graduate from Columbia University

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

About

Predoctoral Associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. M.A. Economics graduate from Columbia University in 2023. Received a B.A. in Financial Economics and a B.S. in Statistics from the University of Rochester in 2021. My research interest areas are urban economics, city planning, spatial equilibrium, international trade, and econometrics. Prior work experience includes being a research assistant, teaching assistant, and quantitative risk analyst. Experienced programming in Java, Python, R, Stata, SAS, SQL, and LaTex. My goal is to pursue a career in academia or the public sector.

Experience

  • Predoctoral Technical Associate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Apr 2024 - Present · 2 yrs 4 mos

    Work on a multi-institution team comprising economists at MIT, Yale, and the U.S. Census Bureau. The main project concerns macro-finance questions surrounding the structure of U.S. retirement accounts. The goal is to use micro-level data to estimate model parameters and then use these to better understand the implications for savings rates, optimal policy, and wealth inequity.

  • Research Assistant at Northwestern University
    Jun 2026 - Present · 2 mos

    Work on a project estimating trends in firm-level market power over time.

  • Columbia University ()
    • Research Assistant
      Sep 2023 - Mar 2024 · 7 mos

      Worked with a Ph. D. candidate on a project covering social networks and internal migration. Sought to better understand how attachment to local communities inhibits population mobility between cities. Tasks included literature reviews, data preparation, and econometric analysis.

    • Graduate Teaching Assistant
      Aug 2023 - Dec 2023 · 5 mos

      Head teaching assistant for an undergraduate course in money and banking. Tasks included designing problem sets, leading recitations, holding office hours, and grading.

  • Assistant Vice President (Quantitative Risk Analytics) at M&T Bank
    Jul 2021 - Jun 2022 · 1 yr

    Performed statistical analysis on indirect loan portfolio data using R, SAS, SQL, and Tableau. Built a new delinquency forecasting model using multivariate time-series analogues to ARIMA and VAR to allow for forecasts any number of months into the future. The project made use of an auto-optimization algorithm to choose the lag order every time we had to update the model. I presented both expected future values and retroactively tracked forecast accuracy to allow for post-hoc model adjustments. Other noteworthy projects included 1) implementing a Bayesian Poisson model to generate more accurate estimates of dealer loan charge-off rates and 2) using non-parametric Wilcoxon rank-sum tests to compare how COVID-19 has impacted the quality of loans received by the bank.

  • Teaching Assistant at University of Rochester
    Aug 2019 - May 2021 · 1 yr 10 mos

    Hosted regular office hours and graded assignments for a Bayesian Inference course. Supervised 3 laboratory sessions for a Newtonian Mechanics course, provided tutoring, and assisted with grading. Hosted study groups and graded homework assignments for an introductory Oceanography course.