I joined BSE in 2016-2017 just after a Bachelor's degree in Economics at Luiss Guido Carli in Rome and after an experience of studies in statistics at UBC, Vancouver. After my Master's at BSE, I completed a PhD in Economics at UC San Diego, with a specialization in Econometrics. I received and accepted an offer to join the Department of Economics at Harvard as an Assistant Professor, which I will join after one year of post-doc at Stanford GSB in 2022-2023.
My research combines economics and data science to develop or justify statistical methods for applications in social sciences, with a focus on policy design and causal inference. During my PhD, I have also been a short-term visiting researcher at Facebook (Core Data Science), working on the design and analysis of experiments.
Interview
The Master's in Data Science Methodology at BSE had a positive impact from an academic and personal perspective. I found the tools learned during the Master's very useful as a researcher and PhD student. The Master's prepares you for both applied and theoretical-oriented research and gives you useful tools for both industry and academic research positions.
During this Master's, I learned how to speak the different languages of statisticians, computer scientists, and social scientists; I learned how to come up with original research questions, how to pursue ideas, and also how to make out of failures useful learning experiences.
The support of the faculty and the life-long friendships with the other students made such an experience incredible. I was surrounded by very passionate people, which is one of the best things people can hope for. I realized that data science is not only a set of tools, but it is a new medium through which we can give an interpretation of the surrounding reality.