Max Dunsker

About

I grew up around Albany, New York and moved out to Los Angeles to attend UCLA. During my time at UCLA, I studied economics, international development, and geospatial information systems and worked on several research projects. In my post-baccalaureate career, I had the privilege of working as an intern with NASA, a research assistant with StudyLA at Loyola Marymount University, and research analyst for the Institute for Applied Economics at Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation; in these roles, I employed economic, demographic, survey, and spatial research methods to provide insights to policymakers around policy design, implementation, and impact in policy areas ranging from digital equity to voter engagement. Immediately before coming to Berkeley, I served as Peace Corps Response Volunteer in The Gambia, assisting the Department of Agriculture staff with designing and implementing a monitoring and evaluation system for horticultural production.

I am interested in using quantitative and qualitative research to inform and evaluate policy at the state and local scales, with a focus on poverty and inequality, community development, housing issues, and social welfare. In my free time, I enjoy cooking meals for my friends and family, trying to make the perfect cup of drip coffee, volunteering around food access issues, doing crossword puzzles, and getting into nature.

Policy Interests

• Economic and Community Development
• Food Policy
• Housing & Urban Policy
• Poverty & Inequality
• Quantitative Methods
• Racial Inequality
• Social Welfare
• Spatial Research Methods
• Survey Research Methods
• Community-Engaged Research Methods