Neha Nanda

Neha Nanda is a senior economist in the Workforce Program at AIR. Dr. Nanda’s work during the past 10+ years has focused on managing and conducting rigorous and mixed method evaluations of workforce development and training programs aimed at vulnerable populations, including single mothers, veterans, older adults, and low-income populations through the U.S. Department of Labor's Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) and Workforce Innovation Fund (WIF) grants, and other federally funded programs. She has also led behavioral trials to nudge women from low-income backgrounds to consider training programs in high-demand, high-growth occupations and industries.

Dr. Nanda has led the design and evaluation of multiple complex and large-scale demonstrations and evaluation studies. She has experience applying behavioral insights to test continuous program improvement efforts using experimental rapid-cycle evaluation methodologies. She has led environmental scans, random control trials and quasi-experimental analyses on self-employment training of unemployed workers, older workers’ labor market participation, employment, and training of low-income individuals in high-demand, high-growth industries, and many other labor-related topics.

Currently, she is the project director and the co-quantitative study lead of a Department of Education grant to develop and pilot test a technology tool for adult education teachers to help them better align the skills and topics they focus on in the classroom with learners’ broader needs and interests. She is also supporting the PROMISE Center, an AIR initiative to engage and address the needs of the most underserved populations and promote economic mobility.