The Linde Institute Welcomes New SISL Postdoctoral Scholar

Caltech's Social and Information Sciences Laboratory (SISL) is funded by The Ronald and Maxine Linde Institute of Economic and Management Sciences. SISL research explores algorithmic mechanism design, social networks, equilibrium computation, and privacy. At a time when so many economic activities are conducted through computers (electronic commerce, electronic marketplaces, and social networks), these fields are essential for research in economics and business practices.

Each year, the SISL team welcomes postdoctoral scholars to collaborate with faculty and students in both the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Division of Engineering and Applied Science. Teddy Mekonnen recently arrived as the newest SISL postdoc.

Mekonnen received his PhD in economics from Northwestern University in 2017. His research interests include microeconomic theory, political economics, and industrial organization. He also plans to work game theory during his Caltech postdoc, as well as on principal-agent models.

Mekonnen joins Shai Vardi, who started as a SISL postdoctoral scholar in 2016. Vardi is interested in solving problems arising from the rapid growth in the size of networks, and in resource allocation in dynamic systems. While at Caltech, he is working on topics ranging from traditional problems in theoretical computer science, to fairness in economics, and even in political science. He received his PhD in computer science from Tel Aviv University in 2015.