UMD Participants

Xinzhe Cheng

Xinzhe Cheng is a Research Economist in the Food Assistance Branch of the USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS). Her research is focused on using applied econometrics to study the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program and the SNAP/food stamp program. Xinzhe works with SNAP and WIC administrative data on participants, authorized vendors, and program costs to conduct multiple research projects. These include a forthcoming congressional directive report on the economic impacts of breastfeeding with a focus on USDA's WIC program, a study on the WIC program benefit redemption patterns and vendor location after great recession, and a study on dual program participation in both the SNAP and WIC programs. Xinzhe has also worked extensively with retail scanner data and the household expenditure surveys to study consumer behavior of SNAP participants, especially the food prices they pay and the nutritional value of their food purchases. Xinzhe recently graduated with a Ph.D. in applied economics from University of California, Davis.

Nancy Lozano Gracia

Nancy Lozano Gracia is a Senior Economist in the Urban, Rural and Social Global Practice within the World Bank. Within GSURR she has worked extensively on designing and using diagnostic tools to improve our understanding of the challenges of rapid urbanization and city development, and help identify priorities for action. As part of these efforts, she has led work using innovative data collection methods such as satellite imagery, new survey designs, and Big Data approaches, to build a better understanding of within city challenges. As a core member of the Global Solutions Group on Territorial Development, Nancy’s work has recently focused on using spatial analysis to identify priorities for action in lagging regions. She holds a doctorate in applied economics from University of Illinois, where she worked on models for measuring capitalization of the value of local amenities into housing prices. Her areas of work span from urban and regional economics, spatial economic analysis and spatial econometric applications.

Tom Hertz

Tom Hertz has served as an Economist in the Rural Economy Branch of the Resource and Rural Economics Division of USDA’s Economic Research Service since 2009. Prior to coming to ERS he taught at American University and the International University College in Turin, and was a visiting scholar at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome. His current research focuses on farm labor markets.

Carlos Rodríguez-Castelán

Carlos Rodríguez-Castelán is a lead economist and global lead of the data for policy analysis global solutions group in the Poverty and Equity Global Practice at the World Bank. He has led various lending operations and analytical programs on social inclusion and economic productivity in Africa and Latin America, more recently a study on Digital Sources of Growth in Senegal, a Country Diagnostic for Mexico, and a Regional Report on Aggregate Shocks and Welfare in Latin America. Between 2012 and 2014 he led the Latin America Team for Statistical Development. Prior to joining the bank he was a postdoctoral fellow at Brookings, and also worked for the IADB, UN-ECLAC and the Government of Mexico. His work has focused on growth, productivity and inequality analysis, efficiency and equity effects of market failures, impact evaluation of fiscal and social policies, and vulnerability to shocks. He holds a Masters and a PhD in Economics from Cornell University, and a MPP from ITAM, Mexico.

Render Thomas

Render Thomas is a program manager with the City of Fishers,IN and leads their Business Solutions Group. His team is responsible for leading the modernization of the City's business systems and has stood up several city-wide ERP systems over the last three years. Additionally, he is responsible for leveraging data that is generated by City systems in to meaningful insights. Render holds a Masters in Public Affairs from Indiana University - Bloomington where his coursework focused on public financial administration and urban economic development.