Jack H
- Research Program Mentor

PhD candidate at Harvard University

Expertise

Economics and mathematics

Bio

Effective teaching is a two-way street: students must show an interest in learning, and teachers must transform that interest into passion. Jack’s passion is forming personal connections with each of his students to discover how they learn best so that he can help them realize their full potential. Jack began teaching in 2009 when the Berkeley Chess School hired him to assist with its lower school chess program. Since then, he has served as a teaching assistant for the introductory micro and macroeconomics courses at Yale, a professional tutor for several tutor agencies, and a research mentor for high school students. Jack received his BA from Yale in mathematics, and is currently pursuing an economics PhD at Harvard. Jack enjoys exploring local hiking trails, playing tennis and spending time with his dogs.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

To what extent does exposure to leadership positions affect gender differences in risk aversion?

It's well documented that women are more risk averse than men. There are a range of possible explanations, among them exposure to leadership positions. To test this conjecture, we study the gender disparity in risk aversion in matriarchal societies, which controls for access to leadership. We propose an experimental setup that results in a testable hypothesis, and discuss the range of potential outcomes.

Languages I know

Spanish, advanced

Teaching experience

I have 14 years of teaching experience. I have worked as a research mentor for high school economics students; a TA for microeconomics, macroeconomics, and game theory; a private math and economics tutor for three tutoring agencies; an independent private math and economics tutor for middle schoolers, high schoolers, and college students; a chess coach; and a teacher for students with learning differences.