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PhD in Sustainable Development Student Profiles

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Gordon McCord
www.earth.columbia.edu/people/gmccord

Gordon McCord is a fifth-year student in the PhD program in Sustainable Development. Gordon has varied interests, including economic growth and poverty reduction, the role of geography in economic dynamics, and the interaction of epidemiology and poverty (particularly in the case of malaria). Before beginning the program, he worked as a special assistant to Jeffrey Sachs at the Columbia Earth Institute and at the UN Millennium Project. During those years, Gordon had the opportunity to travel all over the world supporting Prof. Sachs both in research and in working with country governments and international organizations. Gordon grew up in Latin America and received his B.A. in Economics from Harvard University, where he focused on economic development and Latin American studies, and wrote an undergraduate thesis on the effects of rural road improvement on family incomes in rural Peru.