Biruk Haregu serves as Graduate Research Assistant at the Institute for a Sustainable Earth. He is also a Ph.D. student in the Schar School of Policy and Government, where he studies international development policy and the political economy of development in Africa. His research interests include structural transformation in Africa, agricultural and manufacturing policy in Ethiopia, food security, and the impact of climate change in developing countries.
Prior to joining Mason, Biruk spent five years in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he worked on economic and environmental policy with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. In this role, he supported the implementation of the System of National Accounts and the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting in Africa, both of which are the international standard for economic and environmental accounting. In addition, he supported the UN’s efforts to monitor and report the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa. He earned an MPP from the University of Maryland and a B.A. from James Madison University.