Maria is a Senior Research Associate for IPA's SME Program studying the gendered impacts of COVID-19. She is an Economics PhD candidate at Georgetown University, focusing on applied microeconomics and development economics, with an emphasis on gender. She has conducted research on the effects of violent crime on household expenditures and women's bargaining power, women's land rights in Tanzania, and the effects of having girls on family structure across sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to her thesis, Maria worked in economic consulting.