The paths our alumni take after graduation are as varied as the interests and ambitions that first bring them to Resource Economics. This year's featured alumni are applying their education in fields ranging from energy systems and environmental conservation to real estate, technology, finance, and digital infrastructure.
Their stories reflect the versatility of a Resource Economics degree and the many ways analytical thinking, communication, collaboration, and curiosity can shape a career. They also share a common willingness to take on new challenges, pursue opportunities beyond the classroom, and continue learning long after graduation.
Meet five young alumni who are building meaningful careers and carrying the lessons of their UMass Amherst experience into the world.
Ajay Dawani ’22: From Resource Economics to Director of Finance
For Ajay Dawani ’22, the ability to analyze complex problems and make data-driven decisions has been central to every stage of his career.
Born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan, Ajay moved to the United States to begin college and graduated summa cum laude from UMass Amherst with a Bachelor of Science in Resource Economics, concentrating in Managerial Economics, along with a minor in Information Technology.
Immediately after graduation, Ajay joined Deloitte's Mergers & Acquisitions practice in New York, where he worked in M&A strategy for two years. He now serves as Director of Finance at TDC (Tillman Digital Cities), an investor and operator of digital infrastructure assets based in New York City.
In his current role, Ajay oversees financial planning and analysis, capital allocation, and investment analysis. He helps screen acquisition opportunities, develops financial models, conducts valuation and return analyses, and supports transactions involving long-term digital infrastructure assets. The work also requires close collaboration with operations and executive leadership to guide investment decisions, manage liquidity, and optimize how capital is deployed.
Ajay recently reached an important career milestone when he was promoted from Finance Manager to Director of Finance.
Another meaningful accomplishment has brought his professional journey full circle to his undergraduate experience at UMass Amherst. Research Ajay conducted with Professor Marta Vicarelli on Community Choice Energy Aggregation programs was later cited as supporting evidence in testimony related to legislation in Maine. The legislation was signed into law in April 2026, demonstrating how research that began during his undergraduate years can contribute to real-world policy discussions and outcomes.
Ajay says the analytical foundation of the Resource Economics program prepared him well for the fast-paced and complex environments of consulting and finance. He points to Computing Foundations to Frontiers (RES-ECON 112), Managerial Economics (428), and Time Series and Forecasting (497T), the last taught by Professor Emeritus Bernie Morzuch, who Ajay described as the most memorable professor of his time at UMass. “The opportunity to develop problem-solving skills and make data-driven decisions has played a key role in my ability to perform and execute under complex environments,” he said.
Looking ahead, Ajay hopes to expand his exposure to investing across different asset classes and is also considering pursuing an MBA. Outside of work, he follows Formula 1, soccer, and tennis closely.
His advice to current students focuses on one of the most valuable resources available on campus: the people around them! “While it is important to network ‘up’ with professors, faculty, and executives, don't forget to network laterally with your peers,” he suggests.
The relationships students build with classmates, he believes, can become one of their strongest professional and personal support systems after graduation. He also encourages students to explore beyond their required coursework. Some of the electives Ajay took purely out of curiosity, and the initiatives he pursued outside the classroom, ultimately became among his greatest professional assets.
“Technical skills will help you meet the requirements and get you through the door,” he said, “but having a broad view and unique perspective is what makes you memorable.”
Ajay has offered to connect with current students and fellow alumni.
Amy Flynn ’24: Making Complex Systems Work Better
When Amy Flynn arrived at UMass Amherst from her hometown in Rhode Island, she didn't have a perfectly mapped-out career path. What she did have was curiosity.
“I came to UMass without any real direction, just wanting to study anything and everything and know a little more about how the world works,” she said. “Turns out economics is pretty much that!”
Amy graduated in 2024 with a degree in Managerial Economics, along with a minor in Information Technology and a certificate in Professional Writing and Technical Communication. Today, she brings those interests together as a Power System Modeling Analyst at ISO New England, where she works with the systems that support the operation of New England's power grid.
Much of Amy's work centers on administering an asset database that tracks equipment throughout the regional power system. She helps ensure that data complies with federal and regional regulations, coordinates system updates and testing, implements changes tied to real-time grid operations, and supports the users who submit and maintain information in the system. She also contributes to digital models of the grid, which she calls one of the more interesting parts of the job.
What she enjoys most is finding ways to make complicated systems easier for people to understand and use. That strength has already led to meaningful accomplishments early in her career. Amy was given ownership of an annual compliance effort involving hundreds of companies. It is a demanding process requiring extensive preparation and communication with users. She streamlined internal documentation, refined how outcomes are reported and tracked, and helped make the overall process run more smoothly. The work has also led to a new project: overhauling and modernizing resources for external users.
Amy credits Resource Economics with helping her develop both analytical and creative ways of thinking. “Resource Economics is unique in that it gives you the breadth to think abstractly and conceptually but then apply the ideas floating around in your head to the real world,” she said. “My degree helped me become both more critical and more creative.”
Her next challenge is a major one: guiding her database through a significant transition to meet new federal regulations. It is her first project of this scale and scope, and she is excited to see it through every stage.
Her advice for current students is simple: speak up in class. “It's good practice for when you're in more critical spaces,” she said. And for students worried about making the perfect decision after graduation, Amy offers another reminder. “There's no right decisions,” she said. “So far I've found you just have to listen to yourself, make a decision, and make it the right one.”
Kerla Sylvestre ’24: Building at the Intersection of Technology, Creativity, and Access
Kerla Sylvestre ’24 has always been drawn to ambitious ideas and to finding ways to turn those ideas into something real.
Born in Haiti and raised in Massachusetts, Kerla studied economics and information technology at UMass Amherst, developing an interest in the intersection of technology, business, creativity, and problem-solving. She is drawn in particular to work that feels culturally relevant and that creates access and possibility “for people who haven't always seen themselves centered in those spaces.”
Today, she works as an Associate Product Manager at Google on YouTube, managing software lifecycles and launching products and features for viewers and creators.
Kerla spent a year working on YouTube's Home page, focusing on AI and machine-learning improvements to the recommendation models that determine the relevance of video suggestions. She now works on products that help creators market themselves and expand their advertising and brand partnership capabilities, including media kits and technology that allow creators to dynamically swap out previously embedded promotional segments.
One of Kerla's proudest projects since graduation was an AI literacy and adoption tool she coded to proactively recommend the right AI tools at the right moment, based on what a person was trying to accomplish.
As AI fluency becomes increasingly important across work, creativity, and everyday life, Kerla wanted to lower the barrier to entry, particularly for people disproportionately affected by gaps in access, training, and education. The project addressed a growing problem: with new tools emerging constantly, simply knowing which ones exist and when to use them can feel overwhelming. Her work was recognized by product vice presidents as something worth surfacing more broadly.
Kerla credits her Resource Economics education with strengthening skills that are essential in product management. “My degree helped me strengthen the core skills I use every day in product management: communication, organization, and collaboration,” she said.
While technical expertise matters, she believes the ability to align teams, manage competing priorities, and create clarity around product roadmaps has become one of her greatest professional assets. Looking ahead, Kerla plans to continue building at the intersection of technology, creativity, and access whether through product management, entrepreneurship, or eventually an MBA.
Her advice to current students is to pursue experiences beyond the classroom. “Prioritize real-world experiences, internships, projects, and anything that helps you apply what you're learning,” she said. She also encourages students to stay focused on their goals even when others doubt them, and to remember that ambitious attempts pay off either way: “You will either get what you wanted or grow into someone better prepared for the next opportunity.”
And while building a career matters, Kerla has one more reminder. Work hard, but make time to enjoy college with your friends and if you can, consider an exchange semester, domestic or international. Those experiences, she says, expanded her horizons and shaped much of who she became.
Kaleigh Hill ’23: Applying Economics to Environmental Conservation
For Kaleigh Hill ’23, Resource Economics provided a path to combine quantitative analysis with something she has always cared deeply about: the environment.
A lifelong nature enthusiast, Kaleigh graduated summa cum laude from UMass Amherst's Commonwealth Honors College with a degree in Resource Economics and a minor in Environmental Science. Today, she works as an Environmental Specialist with Azura Consulting LLC, supporting NOAA Fisheries' Protected Resources Division, where she conducts economic analysis related to the conservation of North Atlantic right whales.
Her work supports federal rulemaking under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, with a focus on reducing serious injuries and deaths of right whales caused by interactions with commercial fishing gear. Kaleigh analyzes large fisheries and socioeconomic datasets to support management decisions and regulatory development, while also contributing to research projects that develop new economic tools for conservation.
One of her proudest career experiences involved helping develop a profit-maximization model examining the economic impacts of on-demand fishing gear in American lobster fisheries in the Northeast. Kaleigh presented her team's findings at the 2024 Ropeless Consortium, speaking to an audience that included academics, fishing gear manufacturers, resource managers, and fishermen. She also served as a panelist for the consortium's “Moving Ropeless Forward” segment, answering audience questions in real time. “It was incredibly rewarding to participate in conversations bringing together research, policy, industry, and conservation perspectives around a complex real-world issue,” she said.
Kaleigh's path has also included public policy work. Between graduation and her current role, she served as an Interim Environmental Policy Advisor in the office of Massachusetts State Senator Jamie Eldridge.
She credits her Resource Economics education with providing the analytical and problem-solving foundation she uses today, naming Econometrics (ECON 452), Cost Benefit Analysis (RES-ECON 471), and Advanced Topics in Environmental and Resource Economics (RES-ECON 472) as especially influential. Her experiences as a research assistant and completing her honors thesis with Professors Christine Crago and Rong Rong were equally formative. “I'm so appreciative of everything I had the opportunity to learn,” she said.
This fall, Kaleigh is taking the next step in her academic journey: beginning a PhD in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics at the University of Rhode Island.
Her advice to current students is to seek out opportunities even when they feel unprepared. “Don't be afraid to ask for the chance to be a part of something that sounds interesting,” she said. “You don't need to already know how to do everything before pursuing an opportunity.” Some of the most meaningful experiences in her career, she says, began with stepping into unfamiliar situations, asking questions, and trusting that she could build the skills she needed along the way.
An Nguyen ’23: Building a Career Through Relationships and Initiative
An Nguyen ’23 works in a field defined by numbers: rent rolls, profit and loss statements, property valuations. The path that carried her into it was built largely on relationships.
An grew up in Boston, the daughter of parents who immigrated from Vietnam after the war. Her Catholic faith is central to her life, and she credits her involvement with the Newman Center on campus with changing the trajectory of it. She graduated with a degree in Managerial Economics and now works as a Multifamily Capital Markets Analyst, specializing in apartment valuations across New England.
Her work involves analyzing rent rolls, historical profit and loss statements, and market conditions to estimate the value of multifamily properties. Those valuations help apartment owners understand what their buildings could sell for, and they support the brokerage relationship when properties eventually come to market.
The work is analytically demanding, but An is quick to point out that the relationship-building side of her education has been just as valuable to her career as the technical side.
“It taught me to build relationships with my classmates and be resourceful,” she said of her degree.
That same approach launched her professional career. During the summer before her senior year, An networked with more than 20 people while pursuing opportunities in real estate. She ultimately secured an internship and spent her entire senior year gaining hands-on experience and building relationships with her colleagues.
Her persistence paid off when she was accepted into a highly competitive associate brokerage program, an accomplishment she is particularly proud of. She was the only woman selected for her cohort that year.
Her advice to current students reflects her own experience: alongside their coursework, she encourages them to invest in relationships, seek out internships, and get involved beyond the classroom.
She believes networking and campus involvement are worth the time and effort they require. Taking on leadership roles in student organizations not only helped her build lasting friendships but also became an important part of her personal and professional growth. She encourages students to reflect on their strengths and interests and to consider what kind of work genuinely energizes them, alongside more conventional measures of success such as salary and title. Understanding what you want your days to look like, she says, is something worth figuring out sooner rather than later.