Students

Prospective students

I am looking to recruit a highly motivated student to pursue a MSc in Agricultural and Resource Economics starting in Fall 2026 to contribute to quantifying the impact of ONA (‘seeing’ in Swahili), a smartphone-based computer vision application developed by CIAT’s Project Artemis that uses AI to make plant phenotyping faster, cheaper, and more accurate. As the project transitions from research and development to productization and scaling, there is a need for robust economic evidence to quantify ONA’s value—including cost savings, genetic gains, faster breeding cycles, improved selection decisions across more representative environments, and ultimately higher adoption rates through better alignment with farmer preferences. The MSc student will lead simulation-based economic modeling to quantify how digital phenotyping accelerates breeding programs by shortening cycle length and improving selection quality. This role is ideal for a student with strong mathematical modeling skills, an interest in coding and simulations, economics and plant or agricultural sciences. This is a unique opportunity to work at the intersection of economics, data science, and plant breeding on a project with clear implications for agricultural innovation and food security.

I like to work with students passionate about their work who are dedicated to producing high-quality research. Interested students should have a background and interest in economics. When contacting me, please provide me with a short description of your research interests, a copy of your CV, academic transcripts, and funding source.

Thank you for your interest!

Current students

Rahima Rahima started her M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics at McGill University in 2024. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA Karachi), Pakistan. She is a McCall MacBain Finalist Awardee. Her research interests include food production, development economics, feminist economics, and political economics. For her thesis, she is looking at the effects of climate shocks on childhood nutrition, and ways of adapting and building resiliency.

Shuang Peng started her PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics at McGill University in 2024. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Statistics from McGill. Her research interests lie in sustainable agriculture, food safety, climate change adaptation, policy and natural resource management. Peng is passionate about exploring the intersection of economic development and environmental sustainability and aims to contribute to global efforts in agricultural development and poverty reduction.

Milto Mekonen started pursing a Master’s degree in Agricultural Economics at McGill University in Fall 2025. She completed a Bachelor’s in Economics (Honours) along with a Certificate in International Relations at the University of Regina. Her research interests include economic development, sustainable agriculture, political economics, and international trade.

Alicia Bermejo Gago is a master’s student in Agricultural Economics at McGill University since Fall 2025, with academic interests at the intersection of development economics, food security, agriculture, and sustainability. She has been working on a research project with the CGIAR’s Standing Panel on Impact Assessment (SPIA), focusing on agricultural innovations over the past 25 years in Senegal and examining their adoption and impacts on rural livelihoods. Her master’s thesis will build on this work, with a focus on agricultural technologies. Alicia holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics with minors in Political Science and Psychology from McGill University

Alumni

I am so proud and honoured to work and have worked with amazing students who continue to do extraordinary things! The list below shows my former students’ first job after obtaining their graduate degree at McGill University and year of graduation.

Graduate

  • Wendy Song, Ph.D. student University California Davis: 2024
  • Charlotte Aubrac, STATLOG: 2023
  • MingDa Li, Ph.D. student Michigan State University: 2023
  • Tinusha Ghimire, Statistics Canada: 2021
  • Violet Lasdun, Ph.D. student London School of Economics: 2021
  • Abdulrazzak Tamim, Ph.D. student University California Berkeley, Department of Economics: 2020
  • Nicoletta Giulivi, Mott MacDonald, International Development Consultant: 2019

Undergraduate

  • Enkhzul (Enki) Enkhsaikhan, B.Sc. Agri-Environmental Science, Honours Global Food Security: 2025
  • Louise-Marie Sur, B.Sc. Agricultural Economics: 2025
  • Othmane Oukrid, B.Sc. Mathematics and Economics: 2023
  • Baylee Sessler, B.Sc. Agricultural Economics: 2024
  • Jasmin Liu, B.Sc. Economics and Finance: 2023
  • Matthew Morvan, B.Sc. Cognitive Science: 2022
  • Breanna Pevec, B.Sc.Environmental Biology: 2021