Bio

I am a research scientist and economist, currently Associate Professor & Chair of the University of San Francisco's Department of Economics. You can find my most recent CV here.

My research asks economic, health, and social questions about our relationship with the physical environment, using methods and techniques from statistics and the natural sciences. Much of my work combines causal inference research designs from econometrics with machine learning and/or remote sensing data to better understand how the climate affects child health and well-being around the world.

Recent Press Coverage

Official Bio

Jesse Anttila-Hughes is an Associate Professor and the current Chair of Economics at the University of San Francisco. His research combines physical and statistical approaches to economic, health, and social problems, illuminating the dynamics of coupled human-environmental systems ranging from climate change to planetary public health. His research has been published in leading journals such as Nature Communications, Scientific Reports, and the European Physical Review, and his work has appeared in news outlets such as The New York Times, Physics Today, Scientific American, and the Wall Street Journal. He is a recipient of USF's Mentor of the Year Award in recognition for his work advising graduate students, as well as the USF Innovation in Teaching with Technology Award for his work on introducing students to AI and LLM methods in econometrics. He has served as a research advisor for institutions such as the World Bank, DFID, World Food Programme, and SFMTA, and previously worked in the private sector as a quantitative analyst in investment banking. He received his A.B. in Physics from Harvard in 2002, and his Ph.D. in Sustainable Development from Columbia in 2012. He speaks conversational French, Spanish, Japanese, and Mandarin Chinese, and holds the ranks of 3rd dan in Aikido and 4th dan in Kendo.

Contact

Email: jkanttilahughes@usfca.edu

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