Urban Doctoral Fellows 2022-2023

The Urban Doctoral Fellows program provides a yearlong writing and professionalization experience for up to 10 University of Chicago doctoral students whose research focuses on urban issues. Students may come from any department or School at the University of Chicago; they may also be in any year of their PhD. Learn more.

Chase Abram

Chase Abram

Economics

Chase Abram is a doctoral student in the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics. His research is broadly concerned with understanding the mechanisms generating inequality, and how policy can address related issues. Currently, he is developing tools for modeling dynamics in quantitative spatial models, with an eye towards better understanding gentrifying forces in urban settings. In a similar vein, he has a project investigating how investment in road networks affects efficiency and equity within a city. Additionally, he is working on a project concerning the dynamics of production networks, and how the dynamics of macroeconomic shock propagation depend on the network structure. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Indiana University. 

 

Carlos Angeles

Carlos Angeles

Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice

Carlos Angeles is a doctoral student in The Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. His research interests broadly include social and racial inequality within urban education, PreK-12 education reform, and the politics of the teaching profession. Using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, Carlos is investigating policies and practices that address educational inequality for students of color, immigrant, and Latinx students. He is currently conducting research on the role of professionalization in education and teacher led social movements. He received his Master’s of Arts from New York University in education and received his Bachelor of Arts from Marquette University in English Literature and Political Science. Carlos served as an educator and administrator in Chicago and New York City schools and has extensive teaching experience.   

Rubina Hundal

Rubina Hundal

Harris School of Public Policy

Rubina Hundal is a doctoral student at the Harris School of Public Policy as well as a researcher at the World Bank Group, and is specializing in Development and Behavioral Economics. Rubina is passionate about gaining a deeper understanding of gender gaps in finance, education, and health. Through this fellowship, she is planning to explore commuting challenges as deterrents to female labor force participation. Utilizing her prior education in data science and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University, she hopes to work at the confluence of machine learning and economics. Previously, she worked on research projects in gender and transport at the Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) team. 

Betsy Priem

Betsy Priem

Sociology

Betsy Priem is a sociology PhD student at the University of Chicago who specializes in environmental and urban sociology. Her research focuses on climate governance, with an emphasis on processes of adaptation policy and environmental justice. Combining ethnographic and computational techniques, her dissertation leverages cases of managed retreat to investigate how and why local communities and governments select certain climate adaptation strategies over others. Priem holds a BA in sociology and psychology from the University of Minnesota, an MS in education and special education from Touro College, and an MA in sociology and social science from the University of Chicago.   

Anne Ruelle

Anne Ruelle

Crown Family School of Social Work, Social Policy, and Practice

Anne Ruelle is a doctoral student at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Social Policy, and Practice. Her research seeks to better understand the process of social integration for former gang members in El Salvador. This includes the role of structural violence, family gender dynamics, tertiary violence prevention programming, and other social services, or the lack thereof. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Providence College in Global Studies and Spanish and obtained a Masters in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago. She spent five years living and working in El Salvador prior to graduate school.  

Hera Shakil

Hera Shakil

Comparative Human Development

Hera Shakil is a doctoral student in the Department of Comparative Human Development working at the intersection of political sociology and social psychology. She is currently studying how young urban professionals, engaged in developmental projects with the state are forming their political and ideological identities and how their relationship with nationalism, nationhood and geographical identity is shaped over time in the context of New Delhi, India. She is interested in how these professionals rely on narratives of good urban development and governance as a response to the larger context of democratic backsliding and identity politics of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. She holds a Master’s of Education in Human Development from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Bachelor’s of Arts in English Literature and Psychology from Christ University, Bengaluru. Prior to starting her doctoral studies, she spent four years in New Delhi working in education related non-profits.   

Brianna Suslovic

Brianna Suslovic

Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice

Brianna Suslovic is a doctoral student at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. Her work focuses on intersections of healthcare and criminal-legal systems in urban settings. Utilizing historical and qualitative methods, her research is centered on the lived experiences of individuals with serious mental illnesses who are system-involved. She is also interested in what she calls citizen social work, or the phenomenon by which non-social workers are able to initiate and sustain systems of social care on hyper-local levels. Prior to starting her PhD, she worked in New York City as a forensic and clinical social worker. She holds a Master’s in Social Work from Smith College School of Social Work and a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology/studies of women, gender, and sexuality from Harvard College. 

Angela Wyse

Angela Wyse

Harris School of Public Policy

Angela Wyse is a doctoral student at the Harris School of Public Policy. Her research uses linked survey and administrative data to provide new insights into the causes and consequences of homelessness in the United States. Prior work has analyzed the size of the U.S. homeless population and its coverage in the U.S. Census and household surveys. In an ongoing project, she documents using longitudinal administrative data like income, earnings, and safety net engagement of a Census of the U.S. homeless population to learn about the nature and magnitude of material shocks that coincide with the onset of homelessness. Angela holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy from the University of Michigan.

Simon Yamawaki Shachter

Simon Yamawaki Shachter

Sociology

Simon Yamawaki Shachter is a doctoral Candidate in Sociology at the University of Chicago. His dissertation compares the early historical development of West Coast cities, particularly the role immigrant organizations played in creating the political institutions of these cities effects that continue to shape cities today. He conducts mixed-methods research that analyzes and reconsiders the relationship between nonprofit organizations and political institutions. In research projects on international grantmaking, biomedical research funding, and funding of public agencies, he seeks to expose the problematic power dynamics inherent in private philanthropy. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Stanford University and is the co-founder and Board Chair of YCore, a nonprofit focused on civic engagement for young professionals based in San Francisco.