Mr. Escranda has 12 years of experience in Structural Engineering. He has designed and reviewed engineering structures for residential, petrochemical, and manufacturing installations. He is proficient in analysis and design software such as STAAD Pro, STAAD Foundation, RISA, SACS, FEMAP, and drafting tools like LIMCON, AutoCAD, and MicroStation. Mark is well-versed with international structural codes such as ASCE, UBC, AISC, ACI, EUROCODE, BS, Russian Code, DNV, and NSCP.
Policy-area interest: Energy and Green Engineering, focusing on optimizing designs for carbon efficiency and sustainability.
Technical experience: Licensed Civil Engineer with a proven track record in complex projects across the U.S., Canada, Russia, Australia, and the Philippines.
Additional details: His expertise in green engineering aims to develop meaningful solutions to energy and environmental challenges.
David Shi is a policy researcher with expertise in data-driven insights, policy analysis, and sustainability. At Porsche Consulting, he strategized China’s EV business expansion in emerging economies. At the Ministry of Commerce, he analyzed Sino-German economic cooperation and automotive supply chains using STATA. David’s work at IQVIA focused on introducing innovative Alzheimer’s treatments in China with data analysis and regulatory assessments.
Education: Master of Public Policy (Harvard Kennedy School, 2024–2026), Master in Diplomacy (Beijing Foreign Studies University, 2023–2026).
Technical skills: R, Python, and STATA. David combines academic rigor with hands-on expertise to address sustainability and trade challenges.
Sean Zhou is a Master in Public Policy student at Harvard Kennedy School with a background in international relations and climate finance. His research spans Sino-U.S. relations, energy transitions, and policy analysis. Sean’s focus includes China’s decarbonization efforts and renewable energy transitions, leveraging data-driven approaches to align economic growth with sustainability goals.
Technical skills: Python, R, STATA, and natural language processing. Sean excels at qualitative and quantitative analysis for global policy development.
Taesoon Kim is an MPA-ID student with a decade of public sector experience in South Korea. As Deputy Director at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, he led policies in labor markets, real estate, and investment. His current focus is on high-tech industries, particularly semiconductors, and generative AI applications in economic policy.
Technical expertise: Skilled in data analysis, visualization, and utilizing big data tools to uncover trends. Taesoon is committed to bridging technological advancements with human-centered policies.
About DPI-691M Class : We are students of HKS Programming and Data for Policymakers class, taught by Professor Dhrumil Mehta and Professor Aarushi Sahejpal.
Key Topics
In this class, we explore topics such as programming concepts, the command-line interface, version control using Git, collaboration through GitHub, web technologies (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript), data formats and transformation (JSON and XML), and agile methodologies for project management.
Assignments
Assignments include hands-on programming exercises contextualized within government and politics, team-based software projects for analyzing and visualizing policy-related datasets, and reflections on agile practices and the implications of technology in policy.
Learning Outcomes
Students will experience core concepts in programming and data handling, gain experience with various tools and use of LLM, understand and apply agile methodologies in policy-making.