Our Team

Abhishek Nagaraj

Co-Director, UC Berkeley (Haas)

Abhishek Nagaraj is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and an Associate Professor in the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. His research and teaching interests are in the area of innovation, entrepreneurship and the digital economy. He earned his PhD in Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, in the Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management (TIES) group.

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Matteo Tranchero

Co-Director, University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)

Matteo Tranchero is an Assistant Professor of Management at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches the core strategy course in the full-time MBA program. His research examines how the growing availability of big data is transforming innovation processes and strategic decision-making. Matteo holds a PhD from the Haas School of Business - UC Berkeley and masters from Univesity of Pisa.

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Tim Sels

Post-Doctoral Fellow

Tim Sels is a Postdoc at the Data Innovation Lab and holds a PhD in Economics/Business Management. He is a former Fellow of the Fox Program at Yale University, where he conducted empirical analyses to uncover the effects of political polarization on individual and team performance. Tim has also worked as a Portfolio Manager for real estate investments at BVV.

Min Min Fong

Pre-Doctoral Fellow (Berkeley/NIH)

Min Min Fong is a predoctoral researcher at DIAL. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Applied Mathematics and Economics, with a minor in Education. Min Min is interested in behavioral economics, education, innovation, and the science of science. In her free time, she likes to draw, go on walks, and ride around on her moped.

Charlie Guthmann

Pre-Doctoral Fellow (Penn/NIH)

Charlie Guthmann is a pre-doctoral research assistant with a background in Mathematics and Economics from Northwestern University. He began his career in options trading before moving into software development at a social media startup. His interests include urban and economic policy, as well as artificial intelligence. In his free time, he enjoys biking, playing basketball, watching League of Legends, and spending time with friends.

Jacob Snyder

Pre-Doctoral Fellow (Boston/NBER)

Jacob Snyder is a pre-doctoral research assistant with a background in Applied and Computational Mathematics from Caltech. He previously worked in high-frequency options trading before moving into research. His interests focus on human behavior and systems from the individual to the policy level, with the aim of driving positive impacts on global economic outcomes. In his free time, Jacob enjoys playing games, soccer, exercising, and enjoying the great outdoors.

Srikanth Janjirala

PhD Candidate, UC Berkeley Haas

Srikanth Janjirala is a second-year Ph.D. candidate in Management of Organizations (Macro track) at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. His research interests include innovation management, design innovation, and science of science. He holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta and a Bachelor's in Engineering design from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras.

Kris Gulati

Economics PhD Student, UC Merced

Kris Gulati is a fifth-year Economics PhD Student at The University of California of Merced interested in the economics, politics, and science of science. He is an Emergent Ventures Fellow.

Gaveal Jiayue Fan

PhD Student, UC Berkeley Haas

Gaveal Jiayue Fan is a first-year PhD student in Management of Organizations (Macro) at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. She is broadly interested in computational social science, with a focus on using network analysis and large-scale simulations to study innovation and society. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell with majors in the College Scholar Program, Information Science, and Sociology.

Daniel Schliesmann

Doctoral Candidate, Wharton

Daniel Schliesmann is a doctoral candidate in the management department at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on organizational learning and adaptation with a particular emphasis on entrepreneurship and innovation.

Kenny Wongchamcharoen

Research Assistant

Kenny is a sophomore majoring in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research (IEOR) and Data Science at UC Berkeley. His research interests span the intersection of Data Analytics and Operations Research, with a focus on applied AI & ML models, revenue management, fintech, and optimization algorithms. Beyond his academic pursuits, Kenny enjoys teaching, traveling, playing tennis, and singing with his acapella group on campus.

Arul Murugan

Research Associate

Arul Murugan is a Research Associate at the Data Innovation Lab. His interest lies in the intersection of Technology and People. He has worked in an early-stage AI startup for two years, after completing his Bachelor's in Chemical Engineering from BITS Pilani - Goa, India. He is planning to pursue graduate studies in Information Science.

Shreyas Krishnan

Research Assistant

Shreyas' interests lie at the intersection of human intelligence and AI. He completed his master's thesis at Harvard University in the Kreiman Lab, after earning a double major in Mathematics (MSc) and Electronics and Communication Engineering (BE) from BITS Pilani, Goa, India. He is now planning to pursue graduate studies in Computer Science. In his free time, he is an avid chess enthusiast and also plays the violin.

Joey Wong

Research Assistant

Joey Wong is an undergraduate at UC Berkeley pursuing simultaneous degrees in Computer Science, Data Science, and Economics. His primary research interest lies in developing and improving AI models for real-world problem solving and autonomous decision-making. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, gaming, playing basketball, going to the gym, and working on his startup.

Shruti Vora

Research Assistant

Shruti Vora is a junior at UC Berkeley pursuing a B.S. in Data Science and Statistics with an emphasis in Economics. Her academic interests center on the mathematical foundations of statistics and economic modeling, along with data analytics and the development and evaluation of AI/ML models for fintech and economic applications. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, traveling, painting, and playing pickleball.

Freya Mao

Research Assistant

Freya Yufei Mao is a master's student in the Social Sciences-Quantitative Methods and Social Analysis program at the University of Chicago. Her research interests include innovation, sustainability, and the digital economy.