Alum Miki Khanh Doan is an economist in the Poverty and Equity Global Unit at the World Bank, where her research focuses on understanding the distributional welfare impacts of climate change and climate policies.

“Currently, I lead analytical efforts to assess how policies aimed at building resilient, low-carbon, and environmentally sustainable agricultural systems impact farmers and rural communities,” she said. Doan said this work is important because the poor in low-income countries disproportionately bear the brunt of climate change.

“Many of these households lack the resources to cope with and recover from climate-related shocks, trapping them in cycles of poverty that can persist across generations.”

When Doan, a Class of 2014 graduate, began taking classes at the University, she admittedly knew little about economics.

“I wasn’t sure which field to pursue. I signed up for the Introduction to Microeconomics class because it was a core requirement,” Doan said. “Once I took this first economics class with Professor David Dean, I found it very intellectual and logical. I enjoyed thinking critically about different aspects of things that we otherwise take for granted.”

Doan liked it so much that she decided to make economics her major.

While taking an elective in economics she had a lightbulb moment. “It was eye-opening to see some of the development issues that I grew up observing in a different light,” she said.

“Growing up in Vietnam, I often saw poverty and wondered why it existed. But it wasn’t until I moved to the United States at age sixteen that I learned that Vietnam was a developing country. It was in my economic development class, that I was introduced to the term 'development' and to other developing countries in different parts of the world.”

Doan originally chose the University of Richmond because the school allowed students to study both liberal arts and business, allowing her to keep her choices open.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I applied to college, so it was nice to have options,” she said.

Once she visited campus, Doan recalled the decision to make UR her college of choice as easy. “It’s such a beautiful campus, and the University did an amazing job of informing potential students on everything about the school, from class size to the caliber of professors to different activities on campus.”

While she set her sights on economics as her main focus, Doan took a variety of classes — literature and history, piano and sculpture. “I had a lot of fun with my classes even if they weren’t a part of the requirement.”

After graduation, Doan worked as a research associate with the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. “My time there allowed me to appreciate and acquire the essential elements of research fully. While the work exposed me to different fields of economics, which were fascinating, it left me with a desire to go back to development economics,” she said.

Doan said that while UR nurtured her love for research and provided her with a platform to ask questions and seek answers to existing social problems, working in the field added a new awareness.

"I recognized the complexity of these issues and that I still had a lot more to learn. This realization encouraged me to choose economic development as my area of specialization for my Ph.D. at the University of California-Davis.”

When Doan reflects on her career trajectory, she admits it’s something she never would have expected. “All the pieces of the puzzle just seemed to fit together, and it seems like everything was aligned and led up to this moment,” she said.

And it all began at UR. “I learned a lot, made great friends, and I was able to take a variety of classes and find my path. To this day, I do consider it to be four of the best years of my life.”