Education has always been an important motivator in my life. I have always pushed myself to learn and grow whether it was achieving a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University, becoming proficient in various military aircraft, or taking classes at Southern New Hampshire University while fulfilling my obligations as a Captain in the United States Marine Corps. Now at the Harvard Kennedy School, I am working towards a Masters in Public Administration in International Development; I am given the opportunity to develop my analytical skills, better my understanding of economics, and develop different methods to improve impoverished nations and economies. Throughout my time here at the Kennedy School I have learned …show more content…
As with any practitioner there has to be a balance between knowledge and experience. To help develop my experience I will be working at Education Resource Strategies (ERS). This company is a non-profit consulting firm, focused on domestic education that specializes in using data to analyze budget, staffing, schedule, and student performance data to understand how resources currently align with district goals. It’s an exciting opportunity and one that will help expand my experience in the field of data science. However, there are certainly more skills I need and want to develop and the MIDS program would give me the flexibility to work in the field while also immersing me in a rigorous academic program. The MIDS program’s strength lies in the fact that it does not just focus on computing skills but allows students to work with real world tools and data sets to derive, analyze, and communicate findings to make an …show more content…
While working for the The Bassiouni Group, an international development firm focused on providing sustainable solutions to public and private sector organizations, I provided detailed research analysis on the African agribusiness sector in Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia while conducting in-depth research on current and future projects. I have also taken part in the Harvard Law and International Development Society (LIDS). LIDS is an organization at Harvard University that focuses on the intersection of law, business, and international development. I was a part of a team that consulted with a client that had been a successful micro-finance institution, but was considering whether to transform into a commercial bank. I performed detailed analysis by analyzing annual reports of the client and of its competitors, financial reports from the Central Bank, and third party documents so as to compile discrete information, formulate reasonable assumptions, and provide an extensive analysis of the market opportunities for our client. My work helped identify some of the strategic and business challenges they would face if they made the