Huy Nguyen

Huy is a front-end web developer and led the front-end development of the Atlas of Economic Complexity. He designed the Atlas’ front-end architecture, implemented the user interface and visualizations, and created a sophisticated build pipeline to bundle assets in the most efficient manner for delivery to the browser. He’s passionate about making beautiful, engaging and high-performance web applications using the latest web technologies.

Before coming to CID, he was a front-end developer at the data visualization firm Periscopic where he worked on projects for major clients like the US Patent & Trademark Office and the Gates Foundation.

Huy graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Reed College where he studied physics and operated a nuclear reactor. His thesis in computational quantum physics was recognized by the American Physical Society as one of the best undergraduate physics research work in America in 2014. He co-authored a peer-reviewed journal paper before graduating from high school and was the lead author of another peer-reviewed journal paper before graduating from college.

Follow him on Twitter or at his blog.

José Ignacio Hernandez

José Ignacio Hernández G. (Caracas, 1974), has a Law Degree from the Universidad Central de Venezuela, with a summa cum laude diploma (1997); an Advanced Study Certificate from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2001) and a Juris Doctor from the Universidad Complutense with a summa cum laude diploma (2002). He is Professor of Administrative Law at the Universidad Central de Venezuela and the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, both in Venezuela. He also teaches Economic Constitutional Law in the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello. He has been professor of regulatory framework at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración (IESA), also in Venezuela.

He is the Director of the Law Review of the Law Faculty of the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello.

He has written more than 100 academic articles published in Venezuela, Colombia, Argentine, Chile, Mexico, U.S.A., Italy, Poland and Spain. He also has written 14 books.

His research field encompasses Administrative Law, Constitutional Law and Economic Regulation.

Bruno Zuccolo

Bruno Zuccolo was a Research Assistant at Center for International Development’s Growth Lab.

He graduated from Brown University in 2016 with a Bachelor’s in International Relations and Economics. While at Brown, Bruno was a board member at the Brown International Organization, and studied abroad for a semester at the Università di Bologna in Italy.

His previous work experience includes interning at the Brazilian Foreign Ministry and in the Department of Management at the United Nations.

Semiray Kasoolu

Semiray joined the Center for International Development’s Growth Lab as a Research Fellow in 2017.

Prior to joining CID, she worked with the World SME Forum in the Republic of Georgia to diagnose constraints to the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises and to design solutions to facilitate their integration into global value chains. She also worked as an Analyst at Goldman Sachs, focusing on portfolio monitoring and analysis.

Semiray holds a B.S. in Economics and Accounting from Saint Peter’s University and a Master in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID, 2017) from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Her research interests include private sector development and competitiveness and she is passionate about using data science techniques to formulate policy recommendations to contribute to these areas.

Ana Grisanti

Ana Grisanti recently graduated magna cum lade from Boston College, with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Sociology. She is member of The Phi Beta Kappa Society, the oldest honor society for the liberal arts and sciences in the United States, and of Omicron Delta Epsilon, the international economics honor society. She interned for two summers at Baron Funds, in the Research and Risk Analytics teams. For another summer, she worked as a research assistant at the firm Ecoanalítica, based in Venezuela. For two years, she was Editor of The Stylus of Boston College literary and arts magazine, filling positions such as Treasurer and Art Editor. She wrote an Honor’s Thesis in which she compared the impact of various oil savings and stabilization funds on the fiscal climate of Venezuela, and assessed which one would best serve as a future instrument for the country’s stabilization. This project stemmed partly from a summer she spent in Kuwait, taking a class on politics and the economics of oil in the Gulf. She speaks fluently English, Spanish and French. In her free time, she enjoys going to art museums, hiking and playing the piano.

Dario Diodato

Dario Diodato is an economic analyst for the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission and a Growth Lab research associate. Formerly, Dario Diodato was at the Growth Lab as a Research Fellow between 2017 and 2019.

He holds a Bachelor degree in Economics of International Markets and New Technologies (2007) from Bocconi University of Milan, a Master in Economics and Geography (2009) and a PhD in Economic Geography (2017) from Utrecht University.

Before the start of his PhD, he worked for three years at the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency in The Hague (2009-2012), where he conducted research aimed at shaping regional policies. His research interests include structural transformation, technological diffusion, agglomeration externalities, migration, economic resilience, national and regional development.

Frank Muci

Frank Muci is a Policy Fellow at LSE. He is an international economic development practitioner with experience advising governments in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe on growth policy, economic diversification and public financial management. 

In the five years prior to his appointment at LSE, Frank was at the Growth Lab at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he engaged on a number of applied research country projects. After working on Albania (from Tirana), he took part in applied research projects for Venezuela, Jordan, El Salvador, Loreto (state in Perú), Namibia, and Honduras. In 2019 and 2020, he was the teaching fellow for ‘Why are Countries Poor, Volatile and Unequal?’, a capstone economics and policy course at the Harvard Kennedy School by Prof. Ricardo Hausmann.

Frank holds a M.A. in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) from the Harvard Kennedy School and a B.A. in Physics and Philosophy from Brown University. 

Sid Ravinutala

Sid Ravinutala joined the Center for International Development’s Growth Lab as a Research Fellow in 2016.

Prior to joining CID, Sid worked at Accenture and more recently at the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) based in Uganda and the US. At CHAI, Sid worked on increasing access to HIV diagnosis and treatment by working with governments to design better programs and negotiating reduced pricing of commodities with manufacturers. Sid also worked as the summer and winter intern for the Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India where he worked on redesigning fertilizer policy and contributed to the chapter on financial inclusion in the 2016 Economic Survey of India. 

Sid has a keen interest in machine learning and data visualization, and leveraging these techniques to design better targeted government programs and policies that promote inclusive growth. 

Sid holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and a Bachelor of Computer Science from University of Melbourne, and a Master in Public Administration/International Development from Harvard University. He was born in New Delhi, grew up in Melbourne, and loves playing squash, canoeing, and hiking.

Daniel Stock

Daniel was a part of the Center for International Development’s Growth Lab as a Research Fellow from 2015-2019. He also held this position from 2011-2013.

He studied how countries apply proactive strategies to promote structural transformation. His research focuses on using network models to uncover new opportunities for diversifying exports and attracting new sources of investment.

Prior to joining CID, Daniel was a Junior Professional Associate at the World Bank, working with governments to improve the investment climate for local businesses and FDI. Daniel has also worked as a researcher at the MIT Media Lab’s Macro Connections group, and a Research Intern at the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Santiago, Chile.

Daniel earned a B.S. in Quantitative Economics and International Relations from Tufts University. 

Rihab Babiker

Rihab Babiker is the Former Associate Director of Finance and Operations for the Growth Lab at Harvard’s Center for International Development. She led the program’s financial, operational and contractual activities, oversaw the Center’s financial health, and was involved in strategic planning.

Prior to joining the Growth Lab, Rihab spent a decade at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in different countries including Afghanistan, Algeria, Italy, Jordan, Pakistan, and Tanzania. She held a series of financial positions of increasing responsibilities in financial reporting and management and was heavily involved with mapping business process to financial policies. Her last position was the financial advisor to the Country Director of WFP’s Yemen office, where she was responsible for monitoring four projects with a combined budget of $250 million. There she developed tools to analyze and report on financial and supply chain data that were used by senior management for daily operational planning and for long-term strategic setting.

Rihab holds a Masters in Managerial Finance from The Arab Academy for Management, Banking and Financial Studies and a BA in Finance and Banking from Al alBayt University.