Nalin Bhatt, MACSS Econ (Second Year)

During his undergraduate studies in Economics, Nalin Bhatt became fascinated with agent-based modeling and complex systems. For his MA, he sought a program that offered a solid foundation in computer science, data science, and economics, with a strong emphasis on research, and found that MACSS-Econ was the only program that met all these criteria.

Now entering his second year, he says, “It’s a challenging program, but the reward of solving a tough problem is unmatched—you’ll feel like a genius, even if just for a moment.”

Currently, his research interests are in Renewable Energy research, focusing on Grid Decarbonization through public policy and energy system modeling. His thesis explores how blockchain exchanges can be applied to Peer-to-Peer solar markets in the Transactional Energy space, as a strategy to combat climate change. His advisors are  multi-disciplinary, including professors from Economics, the Harris School of Public Policy, and Chicago Booth.

His MACSS coursework has contributed to the development of that work. The Agent-based Modeling course, taught by Jean Clipperton, gave him the opportunity to begin work on a potential thesis project as the course final project. He’s now building on those preliminary allowed his to use the thesis topic as the final project, giving preliminary results that I’m now building on. Presenting at the mandatory Macro Workshop also helped him identify and address weaknesses in his project.

So far, his biggest challenge was taking “Intro to Advanced Macroeconomics” without prior exposure to Lagrange multipliers. He says, “It was a rigorous introduction to UChicago’s mathematical approach, but it also showed me that I’m capable of more than I thought.”

During his first year in MACSS he also found the community to be supportive and inclusive. “MACSS has taught me the value of teamwork and handling uncertainty. I’ve grown more comfortable with complex assignments, an underrated skill that’s beneficial for both academic and professional projects. The instructors are also incredibly supportive.”

He adds, “UChicago’s reputation for academic rigor drew me in, but the intelligent, humble student body I met during Admitted Students Day was the deciding factor.” 

After graduation, he aims to work as a researcher in the Transactional Energy space, focusing on new mechanisms for trading energy from Decentralized Energy Resources, ideally at NREL.