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Ian Cutler, MPP 2020
Co-Lead
ian_cutler@student.hks.harvard.edu
Ian Cutler first developed a passion for behavioral science as an undergraduate at Yale University, where he majored in Cognitive Science with a focus in Decision Making. After college, Ian spent a brief stint as a high school math teacher before spending 7 years at Google, where he worked to improve the efficacy and efficiency of Google’s internal processes (first in Human Resources, then in Physical Security). After 7 years in the private sector, Ian decided to turn his attention to public policy. His studies at HKS focus on how to improve the efficacy of government programs, relying heavily on behavioral insights to make such programs more accessible and useful for the people who rely on them.
Goal for BISG: Introduce new Harvard students to the exciting discipline of behavioural insights and welcome them into the BISG community.
Ana Larrea-Albert, MCMPA 2020
Co-Lead
ana_larrea_albert@hks.harvard.edu
A behavioral science enthusiast, Ana Larrea-Albert has spent the past 20 years in the private sector in finance, operations and the last decade as an executive in Marketing & Customer Experience for a European multinational. Ana holds a BS in Marketing and an MBA in International Business from Florida Atlantic University. She is the Founder and President of a Latina leadership platform, an Executive Leadership Coach and mentor to high-potential leaders and students, a public speaker, and author of bilingual children’s books. Her areas of interest for research, public policy and service are Leadership and Development, with especial focus on the Latinx community, as well as Bipartisan initiatives.
Goal for BISG: To incorporate insights from my experience in the private sector as a practicioner and help create stronger connections between behavioral insights research and applications both in the private and public arenas.
Hadley Johnson
Career & Skills
hadleyjohnson@fas.harvard.edu
Hadley Johnson is a research assistant in the Langer Lab at Harvard University. She holds a B.S. in Early Childhood Education, B.A. in Visual Art, and M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies, all from Lesley University. Her teaching expertise includes the visual arts, non-traditional learning in museums, preschool, and toddlers. Areas of interest and current research involve Langerian mindfulness, decision making, health messaging, emotion, self-efficacy, and applying resulting insights to issues in industry and policy.
Goal for BISG: This year, I am looking forward to working with the rest of the committee to develop new opportunities for BISG members to get involved with behavioral science.
Manuela Collis
Career & Skills
mjaggi@hbs.edu
Manuela Collis is the career, research, and skills co-chair at BISG. She is a research associate at Harvard Business School and a Women in Public Policy Program (WAPPP) fellow at Harvard Kennedy School. Using tools from experimental economics, Manuela research explores how gender influences decisions and outcomes in education and in the labor market. Manuela worked for 10 years at a commercial bank and holds an MA in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, USA, and a BSc in Business Administration with Specialization in Banking and Finance from Bern University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland.
Goal for BISG: One of my goals for this year is to create opportunities to learn about behavioral science, cutting-edge research, jobs, and (importantly: employers) within the space of Behavioral Insights/Science.
Diksha Bijlani, MPP 2020
Social & Outreach
diksha_bijlani@student.hks.harvard.edu
Diksha Bijlani is an MPP from India where she worked with the Indian Parliament before coming to HKS. She is very interested in the application of behavioral science to health and environment, and she spent this summer working with the World Bank Mind Behavior and Development Unit (eMBeD) on applying behavioral insights to maternal and infant health and nutrition in India and Bangladesh.
Goal for BISG: Career expo, which will give students the opportunity to collaborate with the professional work happening in BI.
Jyoti Gupta, MPP 2020
Social & Outreach
jyoti_gupta@student.hks.harvard.edu
Jyoti Gupta is a second year Master in Public Policy candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to HKS, she was a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group in their New Delhi and San Francisco offices for 5 years, where a large part of her work was in the social impact and public sector practices, particularly in education. Through her work across over a dozen projects, the importance of influencing people’s behaviors to make change “stick” came out as a recurring theme. She is passionate about returning to the K-12 education space after HKS, and working at the intersection of technology, public education and behavior change. Jyoti holds an engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, where she graduated as department gold medalist and institute silver medalist.
Goal for BISG: Bringing together behavior science enthusiasts from across the Harvard schools to create a thriving community.
Ander Caballero, MCMPA 2019
Communications & Engagement
ander_caballero@student.hks.harvard.edu
Born in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain, Ander Caballero has a Harvard MPA with degrees in law and economics and post-graduate studies in International Trade. With over 15 years-experience across several sectors in business and government, Ander worked and lived in Europe, Middle East and North America. Ander is fluent in Basque, Spanish and English, also speak some French and Arabic. His interests are soccer and politics, and he is a travel enthusiast.
Goal for BISG: Expanding awareness around this amazing discipline and helping create behavioral science related ventures.
Ece Hakim, Harvard College 2021
Communications & Engagement and College Rep
ehakim@college.harvard.edu
Ece Hakim is studying Psychology with a secondary in Art, Film and Visual Studies. She has been working at Prof. Mahzarin Banaji’s Lab as a research assistant for two years. Last year, Ece published a paper titled “Conceptual Priming vs. Gender Bias in the “Surgeon Riddle” in THURJ and won the Best Manuscript Award. The intersection of psychology and media is a particular interest of hers that drew her into Behavioral Insights.
Goal for BISG: This year, I want to make sure that all the Harvard College undergraduates with an interest in Behavioral Insights is aware of the presence of BISG at Harvard.
Kiyeon Lee, Harvard College 2021
Communications & Engagement and College Rep
kiyeonlee@college.harvard.edu
Kiyeon Lee is concentrating in Psychology and interested in applying social psychology to help people live happier and more productive lives. He has researched at the business school and in a social psychology lab. He hopes to contribute behavioral insights to organizations in the fields of technology, arts, and education.
Goal for BISG: I’m looking forward to helping students discover the great opportunities in behavioral insights!
Nirit Gadasi, MCMPA 2020
Communications & Engagement
nirit_gadasi@fas.harvard.edu
Nirit Gadasi is a financial services and financial education expert from Israel. She worked as a regulator of pension and insurance plans and led a project to build a data and funds clearinghouse for the long term savings market in Israel. Nirit has founded and managed the national initiative for financial education where she launched a national website and promoted cross-sector partnerships with government agencies, private companies and NGOs in various FE programs. In recent years she worked as an independent consultant in the field of financial services.
Goal of BISG: I think one goal we should have for the BISG should be to get a higher engagement of students and faculty with behavioral science. This may be achieved by more hands-on workshops or by trying to promote use cases of behavioral science as a possible toolkit for some of the classes that work with various organizations off-campus on real issues and real policies.
Barbara Oedayrajsingh Varma, Harvard College 2021
College Rep
barbara_oedayrajsinghvarma@college.harvard.edu
Barbara Oedayrajsingh Varma is a third-year student from the Netherlands, studying Psychology and Government at the College. She is especially interested in how behavioural insights can be used to improve public policy, and hopes to work in this field in the future. At the moment, Barbara does research in behavioural insights at HBS, is very involved in the international student community at the College and is excited to get more involved with the BISG community this year.
Goal for BISG: BISG is currently a community mostly used by graduate students, but I believe that many College students would also be interested in getting more involved, so I hope to help make BISG better known throughout the University!
Laura Zatz, HSPH ScD 2020
HSPH/BISG Chan Rep
laz491@mail.harvard.edu
Laura Zatz, MPH is a 5th-year doctoral student in the departments of Nutrition and Social & Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her research focuses on applying behavioral sciences to develop policies that promote healthy eating. Laura has cross-sector experience designing, implementing, and evaluating public health programs and policies at USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, the Bipartisan Policy Center, and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). She is a past co-chair of Harvard’s Behavioral Insights Student Group.
Goal for BISG: I’m excited to host events about using behavioral science to promote public health.
Nicole Abi-Esber, second-year doctoral student at Harvard Business School
Doctoral Student Rep
abiesber@g.harvard.edu
Nicole Abi-Esber is a doctoral student in Organizational Behavior (Psychology Track) at Harvard Business School. She received a B.A. from Tufts University in 2012 and an A.M. from Harvard University in 2014. She has previously worked as a product manager in tech startups across the Middle East, including Dubai and Tehran, and as a happiness researcher with the Government of Dubai. Most recently she was a research associate at the Behavioral Lab at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. She speaks Arabic, Spanish, and Persian (Farsi). Nicole researches conversations: what do we get right and wrong when having conversations? Are we good at achieving conversational goals, such as appearing competent and likeable, and communicating clearly? How can we have better conversations?
Goal for BISG: I’m excited to build connections between graduate students across different schools at Harvard!
Maria Duque, Harvard Extension School 2020
Member at Large
mad6919@g.harvard.edu
By training, Maria Duque is a clinical psychologist (licensed abroad) and a public health practitioner with experience in research and the development of cross-sector educational initiatives in collaboration with academic institutions, the private sector, the government, United Nations agencies in Colombia, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She is also a former NIH Fogarty fellow and a U.S. Navy veteran.
Goal for BISG: Very excited about contributing to growing the BI community in any way I can!
