Nikita Benson

Nikita Benson, who graduated in 2015 with Honors and a BA in Economics, is a consultant with Steer, a transportation consulting firm, in New York City.  She also earned a BS in Applied Mathematics and the Economics Department chose Nikita as the Outstanding Economics Major in 2015.  Nikita came to Chico State from Muscat, Oman, where she lived with her family, all citizens of India.

Between her freshman and sophomore year interned at OMPT(opens in new window), a non-profit technology firm where she worked on the collaboration with Digital Study Hall, an Indian non-profit and helped scale the process. During the summer before her junior  year she worked as a data analysis intern for Chabin Concepts(opens in new window) and during the summer before her senior year, Nikita interned at the Center for Advanced Hindsight(opens in new window), a research laboratory at Duke University that conducts experiments in behavioral economics with Dr. Dan Ariely. (opens in new window)

In her senior year, Nikita was a research assistant for Dr. Anita Chaudhry(opens in new window), “analyzing farmers’ decisions to fallow crop, sell their water or pump groundwater in the North State using econometric modeling,” according to her  Nikita's LinkedIn page(opens in new window).  Nikita also found time to tutor, helping students with introductory and intermediate courses. 

After her graduation from Chico State, Nikita worked for 6 months in Chico as an intern for DataFox collecting and analyzing health care data in California.  Later in 2015, Nikita moved to San Francisco, California to work for Kiva.org(opens in new window) assisting the firm with strategic and operational processes. 

In 2016 Nikita enrolled in the Economics graduate program at New York University(opens in new window) and began a strategy and business operations internship at charity:water(opens in new window) in New York City, where she completed an academic report on areas of currency risk within the organization’s financial processes. In 2018 and she completed her MA in Economics.  

"My economics degree at Chico State was enriched by the variety of disciplines the department's professors were interested in, the practical and academic learning opportunities that were available in the area and most importantly, the encouragement and engagement my professors offered, Nikita said in a recent email. “I don't think I would've received the same level of guidance from my professors if I were at a different University. They helped mold my experience and understanding of 'Economics'.  Also, the academic rigor of the economics program at Chico State, especially the econometrics classes, set me up really well for my graduate program." (Last Updated 12/7/18)