Olga Aristova is a second-year PhD student in the Economics Department, with an interest in health and development economics. Drawing inspiration from her Eastern European family background and fueled by her undergraduate courses in development economics, she is hoping to explore mechanisms through which economic well-being can be improved in both developing and developed countries. She is particularly interested in how gender roles, childhood experiences, and ethnic backgrounds impact economic outcomes.
Before entering the world of academia, Olga worked in Citigroup’s Global Strategy and Macro Group as a quantitative analyst. This role gave her significant experience working with datasets large and small and strong knowledge of statistical programming languages including Python and R. This professional experience strengthened her passion for using research to better understand the society we live in and design channels through which we can improve economic outcomes.
Beyond the academic sphere, Olga is a competitive ballroom dancer and an avid runner. She is hoping to run the Detroit Marathon before her time in Michigan is up.