Devika H. Email & Phone Number

Passionate about creating education resources and programs that focus on equity, inclusion, and belonging to improve student outcomes, I have spent the last 10 years developing students at Cal State University, Los Angeles. I am a published researcher and Professor of Economics with experience overseeing the entire process of program development and execution, working closely with stakeholders, and partnering with faculty to ensure inclusive and engaging Economics coursework. Currently, I am a Professor of Economics where create economics curriculum incorporating case studies, simulations, and inclusive practices, impacting over 1,300 students. I earned my Ph.D. in Economics at Texas A&M University. My research interests are in the fields of urban/regional economics and public policy. I care about empowering the community to attain social justice and economic equity and have invested time and energy in driving research progress in this field. My current research focuses on housing segregation and the disparate impact of economic shocks on disadvantaged communities, crime in a socioeconomic context, homelessness, gender-based violence, crimes against minorities and other unequal impacts of various programs and policies. My expertise includes cross-sectional, panel and time series analysis using STATA, R, SPSS, Airtable, Excel, as well as geo-spatial analysis using ArcGIS. I have worked with both large and complex quantitative data as well as survey and qualitative data. I was a recipient of the 2022-23 Haynes Foundation Faculty Fellowship as well as Research Fellowship at the Centre for California Studies (Cal State Sacramento), partially funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Additionally, I am a Lead Faculty for the Los Angeles Economic Equity Accelerator and Fellowship (LEEAF) housed at Cal State LA. Besides research, I have created and directed programs in partnership with community stakeholders and student organizations. I have developed a program called Gateway to Employment, sponsored by the Bank of America Philanthropic grant, for the students of Cal State LA and neighboring Community Colleges to assist first generation students in preparing for the job market. In addition to that, I serve as the research coordinator for the College of Business and Economics to organize seminars, brown-bags, coordinate grant-writing resources as well as build research partnerships with stakeholders in the community.