Garima Siwach
Garima Siwach is an economic researcher at AIR, where she specializes in econometrics and labor economics research. She leads impact evaluation and cost-effectiveness analyses on various projects across domestic and international fields focusing on employment programs, vocational rehabilitation, youth safety, and women's economic empowerment.
At AIR, Dr. Siwach is currently the evaluation task lead on a “Work Based Learning” model for employment of youth with disabilities in Maine, and the “Unified Champion Schools” model of Special Olympics for schooling outcomes of students with disabilities. She also serves as the lead economist on the evaluation of “Safe and Successful Youth Initiative” a community-based strategy to reduce violence among at-risk youth in Massachusetts.
In addition to her domestic work, Dr. Siwach serves as the project director and cost-effectiveness task lead on a four-year research project supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that focuses on synthesizing and strengthening research on women’s empowerment collectives in India and East-Africa.
Prior to joining AIR, Dr. Siwach was completing her doctoral research on a comprehensive evaluation of criminal background checks used for employment in New York State. Her work from this research was the recipient of multiple awards, including the 2017 University at Albany Distinguished Dissertation Award and the 2018 APPAM award for best dissertation in public policy analysis.