Nasya Al-Saidy
"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does."
-William James
ABOUT NASYA
Nasya Al-Saidy currently acts as the Manager of Programs and Funding for the University's Humanities Institute (UCHI). She is also the owner and founder of Lunar Apotheca LLC, an environmentally-focused art business. She is the founder of the online community Angry Environmentalists, and is a 4th-year Ph.D. Candidate in the Economics department at the University of Connecticut Storrs.
Nasya obtained her Bachelor's degree in Economics with a minor in Sustainability and Clean Energy at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, where she was awarded the Joanne Phelps Stewart Award for Academic Excellence in Economics. Her Master's in Economics was obtained at the University of Connecticut, where she specialized in Environmental Economics.
While in Boston, Nasya participated in the LLOP Research Program under the guidance of the Gaston Institute, where researchers worked to apply economic theory to public policy in the Boston area. Her thesis assessed the economic costs and benefits of using phytoremediation to treat brownfields in Boston's metropolitan area. Nasya's other research projects have regarded topics such as environmental racism and the impact of immigration on U.S. PUMAs.
CURRENT WORK
Research areas (broadly defined): environmental economics, microeconomic theory, game theory, and development economics.
Nasya's current work explores the effect of market distortions on emission permit markets. In particular, her work surrounds New England's Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. In her academic role, she served as the President of the Association of Graduate Economics Students (AGES) and still serves as a senator in the Graduate Student Senate.
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At the Humanities Institute, Nasya works as the manager of Programs and Funding, and works on the Luce-funded Future of Truth Project as a Fiscal Officer. This project, launching in early 2020, investigates how the way in which we know, value and understand truth is changing in this technological and political moment.
The Humanities Institute's team has recently launched the New England Humanities Consortium, which promotes and strengthens intellectual collaboration, interdisciplinary exchange, and innovative programming among New England Humanities centers and institutes. Nasya gratefully acts as the financial officer for the NEHC as well.
PREVIOUS PROJECTS
HUMILITY AND CONVICTION IN PUBLIC LIFE
Fiscal Officer, 2016 - 2019
Funded $6 million by the John Templeton Foundation, this project explored "what may thwart the meaningful exchange of ideas and how we might overcome these barriers by investigating the role of intellectual humility in public discourse." Click here to learn more.
THE NEW ENGLAND HUMANITIES CONSORTIUM STARTUP
Fiscal Officer, 2018 - 2019
Funded generously by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, this project supported initial pilot programming for the New England Humanities Consortium and assisted in the development of administrative practices as well as future projects in fields such as history, literature and philosophy.
