PER Pre-Doctoral Mini Conference

Friday, May 29, 2026
9:00 AM – 5:00 PM — International Affairs Building, Room 1027
Hybrid Conference (in-person & Zoom Options)
RSVP HERE

Agenda 

9:00 – 10:00 AM — Registration and Breakfast (provided)
10:00 – 10:15 AM — Welcome and Opening Remarks
Chantel Hover, PER Predoctoral Program Manager
Sebastian Otero, Assistant Professor of Economics, Columbia
                                         University [Current faculty supervisor in predoc program]

Session 1: Predoc Perspectives — Skills, Research & Contributions

10:15 – 10:45 AM — “Learning by Doing”, Andrea Scalenghe (Current PER predoc; entering the
                                  PhD program in Business Economics at MIT, Fall 2027)
10:45 – 11:15 AM — “Employment Impacts of My Predoc” Maximus Saenz (Current GSB predoc;
entering industry, Fall 2027)

11:15 – 11:30 AM — Break

11:30 – 12:00 PM — “Research in International Economics: Trade, Prices, and Historical Evidence”
                                   Hriday Karnani (Current PER predoc; entering the PhD program in
Economics at Harvard University, Fall 2027)
12:00 – 12:30 PM — “On the Decreasing Resilience of the Amazon Rainforests”, Leonardo de
Campos Gomez (Current PER predoc, 2025–2027 cohort)

12:30 – 12:45 PM — Lunch (provided)

1:45 – 2:30 PM — Predoc Panel Q&A with Columbia predocs Theo Camille Burden, Arya
Gadage, Leonardo de Campos Gomes, Hriday Karnani, Francine Aoi
Montecinos, Andrea Scalenghe, and Maximas Saenz.
Moderator: Chantel Hover, PER Predoctoral Program Manager

Session 2: Academic Presentations by Predocs

2:30 – 3:10 PM — “Do Diplomas Deliver? Bureaucrat Education and Public Service
Outcomes” Arya G. Gadage (Current PER predoc, 2025–2027 cohort)
                               Discussant: Nick Baum (Current BA student, Columbia University)

3:11 – 3:50 PM — “The Gender Diversity Gap in Mathematics”  Francine Aoi
Montecinos (Current PER predoc; entering the PhD program in Economics at
Columbia University, Fall 2027)
  Discussant: Tyler Sotomayor (Current BA student, Columbia University)

3:50 – 4:05 PM — Break

4:05 – 4:45 PM — [Title Forthcoming] Theo Camille Burden (Current PER predoc; entering the Columbia University–London School of Economics Double MPA Program, Fall 2027)
Discussant: Gabriel Uceda-Sosa (Current BA student, Columbia University)

4:45 – 5:00 PM — Closing Remarks: Michael Best, Associate Professor of Economics, Columbia
                              University [current faculty supervisor in predoc program]

5:30 PM — Dinner (Invitation-Only)