MACRM Mentors Set Students Up for Success in Research and Academic Careers

The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy’s MA in Public Policy with Certificate in Research Methods (MACRM) sends graduates in many directions. Some cross into Ph.D. programs. Others head into industry. Some return to policy leadership.

Paths diverge, but what unites MACRM alumni is their similar intense experience. Their degree pairs doctoral-level rigor with Harris faculty mentorships that alumni—including Luke Chen, MACRM’20, Yunsong Yu, MACRM’23, and Renge Zou, MACRM’25—say reshaped how they think, work, and lead.

With some alumni describing it as a “mini-Ph.D.,” the two-year MACRM provides clarity for students uncertain about committing to a five-to-seven-year doctoral program or considering careers in research. With research central to the degree, students are paired with a faculty mentor for five quarters. 

The faculty mentors help students design independent research projects, provide candid career advice, write recommendation letters, coach, and encourage. Feedback is thoughtful and tailored. Mentorships go well beyond the usual research apprenticeship model.    

For example, Zou—now finalizing her Ph.D. decision while working for The  United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Beijing —arrived at Harris as a TC Young Foundation Scholar thinking she’d be assisting a professor with their research. 

She did not yet have a MACRM mentor when she took a winter quarter class with Harris Associate Professor Austin Wright. She wanted to let him know about the aid work she had done for Afghan refugees through the Red Cross of China.

“I just walked into his office and gave a three-minute self-introduction,” she said, “and then he asked, ‘Do you have a mentor yet?’ and when I said ‘no,’ he invited me to think about him.”

Her “yes” became transformational, as Wright pushed her to do independent research, eventually settling on examining how the Taliban’s 2021 takeover affected Afghanistan’s economy, using nighttime lights as a proxy for economic activity. “I wasn’t responsible for a small piece of something or waiting for Professor Wright to tell me what I was supposed to do: I was the boss of myself,” Zou said. “It really changed how I thought about the MACRM program and about my life.”

Later, when she showed Wright her list of 50 Ph.D. target schools, he urged her to add top programs she had not considered. She received a number of Ph.D. interviews and an offer from a highly selective school.  When she was worried about having enough letters of recommendation, and unsure whether a more senior professor would agree to write one, Wright encouraged her to ask.  and if necessary, he said, he would ask that professor. “I met Professor Wright’s family at Harris,” Zou said, “and they said, ‘Oh, we know you! You're the student that he's super proud of.’” Zou too was proud.

For Chen, now a senior economist at The Burning Glass Institute in New York, support came in myriad ways from mentor Steven Durlauf, Harris’ Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor.  

Durlauf’s mentorship was holistic, said Chen, whose current firm is among the partners producing the American Opportunity Index, which evaluates employers on real-world worker outcomes. 

“Rather than assigning us tasks to help with his own research, he encouraged us to come up with our own research,” Chen said. “Then we had weekly seminars where four or five people from my cohort and I would have group discussions with him, talking through all of these topics before we branched off into specific areas.”

As this cohort branched off, COVID-19 arrived, disrupting not just coursework, but life. Seminars moved to Zoom. Health fears and the broader political environment added uncertainty. Durlauf’s mentorship expanded, Chen said.

“I will always have a special place in my heart for him, because he stepped up, way above and beyond,” Chen said. “He was there, obviously, for the professional stuff, helping us in any way he could. But he was also super empathetic and always there on a personal level. He gave us his personal phone number and email, and sometimes during our seminars, he would check-in, to make sure everyone was doing OK. He’s one of the nicest people I've ever met.”

COVID also framed Chen’s independent research project: How effective were repeated pandemic stay-at-home mandates? Using cell phone mobility data (from SafeGraph), he attempted to quantify compliance. The work, he said, taught him how to move through the full research lifecycle and provided him with invaluable experience that applies in his work at Burning Glass.

Durlauf also mentored Yu, who noted, “my apprenticeship was a special one.”

“After spring break, I realized that I wanted to be a business Ph.D. student in the end,” said Yu, who is in fact now pursuing a Ph.D. at Washington University’s Olin Business School in St. Louis. “So, I needed to prepare.”

She and Professor Durlauf, whose research focuses on intergenerational mobility and matters of public policy rather than business and finance, spoke and he provided the flexibility that she needed to do a full-time research assistant job at the UChicago Booth School of Business. 

“Professor Durlauf helped me to strategically make the best use of my remaining time at UChicago,” she said.

Yu showed him a syllabus from a Booth Ph.D. seminar course and asked how to prepare, even though the material was outside his field. He reviewed it and offered suggestions. When she applied to Ph.D. programs, he submitted recommendation letters immediately and helped her prepare for interviews. “I felt valued,” she said. “I hope that if I become a professor someday I will—like Professor Durlauf—care for each student as a whole person.”

Like others, Yu arrived at Harris determined to pursue a doctoral program but wondering if that rigor suited her.

The answer, she said, came four weeks into her first quarter, after earning full credit on the midterm  in Professor Durlauf’s doctoral-level course. “That moment,” she said, “gave me the confidence to continue exploring this path.”

Now as a second-year Ph.D. student, she’s realized something striking: She already did much initial Ph.D. coursework during MACRM. Peers in her Ph.D. cohort were encountering advanced econometrics for the first time, she said. 

“My first two years at Washington University have been easier than I expected,” she said, adding, “once you graduate from UChicago you will be prepared to face any other academic training with confidence.”

MACRM’s impact on confidence comes up frequently in interviews with alumni.

Zou, for example, said she immediately used post-MACRM confidence in her UNHCR role. She had to persuade stakeholders  to approve fundraising for Afghan refugee assistance, she said, convincing them that cash assistance was essential. Because of her independent research experience, she said she could speak confidently and explain the “story behind the figures.” She convinced them.

Another faculty influence shaped her as well: Harris Senior Lecturer Rebecca Wolfe, whose field experience drew Zou to Harris. In Wolfe’s “Conflict and Humanitarian Intervention” course, Zou revisited her Red Cross career, untangling puzzles during office-hours discussions with Wolfe. She has since connected Wolfe with her former Red Cross colleagues in Beijing, helping build institutional relationships that aim to improve training and embrace data.

While Zou builds bridges in international humanitarian policy, Chen is immersed in applied labor research, and Yu explores the intersection of finance and emerging markets. All are on different paths but all point to their MACRM experience as a singularly defining factor fueling their futures.

Learn more about the MACRM apprenticeship program in our recent interview with Steven Durlauf.