|
Suraj R Nair
I am a PhD candidate 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.
 / 
 / 
 / 
 / 
|
Research/ Publications
* indicates equal contribution
|
Welfare Impacts of Digital Credit: A Randomized Evaluation in Nigeria
Daniel Björkegren, Joshua E. Blumenstock, Omowunmi Folajimi-Senjobi, Jacqueline Mauro,
Suraj R. Nair (alphabetical order)
Revise and resubmit, Economic Development and Cultural Change
CEGA Webinar/Selected for presentation at NEUDC, November 2021
|
|
Mapping Opium Poppy Cultivation: Socioeconomic Insights from Satellite Imagery
Arogya Koirala*, Suraj R. Nair*, and Xiao Hui Tai
ACM Journal on Computing and Sustainable Societies, 2024
COMPASS (Poster Track), 2021
KDD Humanitarian Mapping Workship (Case Study), 2021
|
|
Sand Mining Watch: Leveraging Earth Observation Foundation Models to Inform Sustainable Development
Ando Shah, Suraj R. Nair, Tom Böhnel, Joshua E. Blumenstock.
NeurIPS Workshop On Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning (2023)
|
|
Mapping Construction Grade Sand: Stepping Stones Towards Sustainable Development
Ando Shah* and Suraj R. Nair*
KDD Fragile Earth Workshop 2023
ACM Compass 2023
|
|
In Progress
|
Climate Change and Migration
with Guanghua Chi, Nicholas Depsky, Joshua E. Blumenstock and Solomon Hsiang
|
|
Civil Conflict and Seasonal Labor Flows in Afghanistan
with Xiao Hui Tai, Shikhar Mehra and Joshua E. Blumenstock
In submission
|
|
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
|
|
Can Cash Transfers Create Sustained Financial Inclusion?
with Matthew Olckers and Joshua E. Blumenstock
Accepted for presentation at MeasureDev2022, and PacDev 2023
|
|
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.
|
|