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Suraj R Nair

I am a fourth year PhD student at the UC Berkeley School of Information. I am advised by Joshua Blumenstock, and a fellow at the Global Policy Lab. I am supported by a Berkeley Fellowship, and a Digital Transformation of Development Fellowship (2022-23).

My research interests lie at the intersection of development economics and machine learning, with a focus on the use of novel data and methods to study pressing issues in global development.

Before coming to UC Berkeley, I was a research manager at IFMR LEAD and a research assistant for Profs. Rohini Pande and Erica Field. I completed my MA in Development Studies from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, where I was advised by Prof. Mathangi Krishnamurthy.

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Research/ Publications
Welfare Impacts of Digital Credit: A Randomized Evaluation in Nigeria
Daniel Björkegren, Joshua E. Blumenstock, Omowunmi Folajimi-Senjobi, Jacqueline Mauro, Suraj R. Nair

CEGA Webinar/Selected for presentation at NEUDC, November 2021

PontTuset
Mapping Opium Poppy Cultivation in Afghanistan Using Satellite Imagery.
Xiao Hui Tai, Suraj R. Nair, Shikhar Mehra
COMPASS (Poster Track), 2021
KDD Humanitarian Mapping Workship (Case Study), 2021
PontTuset
In Progress
Welfare Sensitive Machine Learning
with Simón Ramirez Amaya, Daniel Björkegren and Joshua E. Blumenstock
Presentation at Lab for Inclusive Financial Technology (LIFT)
Workshop paper accepted at PML4DC @ ICLR 2023
PontTuset
Can Cash Transfers Create Sustained Financial Inclusion?
with Matthew Olckers and Joshua E. Blumenstock
Accepted for presentation at MeasureDev2022, and PacDev 2023
PontTuset
Civil Conflict and Seasonal Labor Flows in Afghanistan
with Xiao Hui Tai, Shikhar Mehra and Joshua E. Blumenstock
Accepted for presentation at ESOC Latin America conference 2023
PontTuset
Climate Change and Migration
with Guanghua Chi, Nicholas Depsky, Joshua E. Blumenstock and Solomon Hsiang
PontTuset
Service/ Mentoring

COMPASS 2022: Program Committee
I School Applicant Feedback Program
PhD Student Representative: UC Berkeley School of Information, 2020 - 2021
Berkeley Undergraduate Research Assistant Program: 2020-present

Code

CoefPlot: Visualize regression results in coefficient plots with tables.

design based on Jon Barron's website || last updated: Feb 19, 2023