UC Berkeley Haas welcomes four new professors

Four new professors joined the academic faculty at the Haas School of Business this fall, bringing expertise in urban economics, digital marketplaces and online platforms, behavioral economics, and real estate.

“We are continuing to attract the best-of-the-best to UC Berkeley and Haas, and this year is no exception,” said Dean Jenny Chatman. “These four top-tier academics will each add unique research and teaching strengths to our growing faculty.”

Since 2020, Haas has expanded its academic faculty from 77 to 97 professors, with plans to reach 100 by next academic year. It’s the largest expansion in the school’s history, Chatman said.

In addition to the new academic faculty members, nine new lecturers will begin teaching on the professional faculty.

Assistant Professor Olivia Bordeu

Academic group: Real Estate

Hometown: Santiago, Chile

Education:

• PhD, Economics, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business 
• MA, Economics, The University of Chicago
• BS, Civil Engineering of Industry, Diploma in Transportation and Logistics Engineering, Universidad Catolica de Chile

What are your research interests and current projects? 

I’m an urban economist interested in trade and political economy. I am interested in how local institutions and markets shape the allocation of economic activity in space. I am currently working on a new project studying the political economy of congestion pricing in NYC.

Previous academic or industry experience?

I just finished my postdoc at Princeton University. Before my PhD, I was a research assistant at J-PAL and Princeton University.

What course will you teach? 

Real Estate Finance

Why did you decide to join Berkeley Haas, and what are you most excited about?

I was drawn to Berkeley Haas because of the community of academics working on topics related to my interests, but from a variety of perspectives and using diverse tools. I also really appreciated the sense of collegiality among faculty.

Fun fact, interests, or hobbies?

Interests: Reading sci-fi books and hiking 

Fun fact: I once worked at the Brisbane (Australia) Ferris wheel, taking green screen photos of tourists and photoshopping them into dramatic cityscapes—and occasional shark attacks.

What’s your favorite Berkeley/Bay Area discovery so far?

The Temescal Farmers Market.

Assistant Professor Ilan Morgenstern

Academic Group: Operations & IT Management

Hometown: Mexico City, Mexico 

Education: 

• PhD, Operations, Information & Technology, Stanford Graduate School of Business
• BA, Economics & BSc, Applied Mathematics, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM)

What are your research interests and current projects? 

My main research focuses on digital marketplaces and online platforms. Specifically, I study how to design and optimize these markets using tools from game theory, operations research, and empirical analysis. One recent project analyzes “resale platforms,” which are marketplaces designed for their users to find products to sell to others, which have been gaining traction in emerging economies where most shopping still occurs offline. More broadly, I’m also interested in topics related to information design and privacy issues in platforms and digital markets. 

Previous academic or industry experience?

Before starting my PhD, I worked at McKinsey for a couple years, which was a good experience to get exposure to different industries. I also worked for Mexico’s National Electoral Institute, developing statistical models to track federal elections. During my PhD, I interned at Etsy for a summer, which allowed me to learn how leading platforms operate and the type of challenges they face, which has also shaped my research interests. And after my PhD, I was a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University.

What course will you teach? 

Introduction to Business Analytics

Why did you decide to join Berkeley Haas, and what are you most excited about?

Even before my official start, I’ve already had very interesting conversations with my colleagues in Operations and also across the other academic groups at Haas. I’m also excited to engage with the broader research ecosystem at Berkeley, especially since my field overlaps with work conducted at other departments, such as Industrial Engineering & Operations Research (IEOR), economics, and computer science. Having such first-class expertise right next door is a huge plus. 

Fun fact, interests, or hobbies?

I like to play squash and tennis, though I could use some polishing to regain my game. I’m also a fan of long road trips; after a coast-to-coast drive last year, I’m looking forward to exploring more of California and the West Coast.

Favorite Berkeley/Bay Area discovery so far?

Luckily, the Bay Area has a good number of Mexican food spots that make me feel very close to home.

Professor Ryan Oprea

Academic Group: Economic Analysis & Policy

Hometown: Clawson, Michigan

Education: 

• PhD, Economics, George Mason University
• BS, Economics & Philosophy, Hillsdale College

What are your research interests and current projects? 

I am joining Haas from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where I was a professor in the Department of Economics. Prior to that, I was an associate professor at the University of British Columbia, and before, that an assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

I am a behavioral economist, which means I study how insights from psychology can make economic theory more predictive and realistic. I am also an experimental economist, which means most of my work uses experiments to simulate economic decisions and compares people’s decisions in these experiments to the predictions of economic and psychological theories. Over the course of my career, I have studied a number of topics including how prices are formed in markets, how people strategically interact with one another in continuous time, and how people make decisions in dynamic settings with continuously evolving uncertainty. My current research is focused on understanding how complexity and cognitive limitations influence human behavior and shape institutions like markets and organizations. 

Previous academic or industry experience?

I was a professor at UC Santa Cruz (2006-2011), University of British Columbia (2011-2013) and UC Santa Barbara (2013-2025).

Why did you decide to join Berkeley Haas, and what are you most excited about?  

Berkeley Haas has both an outstanding faculty and fantastic students! Haas is a top center of research in a number of fields, including behavioral economics. What’s more, as an interdisciplinary researcher, I am also very excited about interacting with and learning from the wider academic community at Berkeley.

What course will you teach? 

Economics for Business Decision Making

Fun fact, interests, or hobbies?

I really like goats. Each of my dogs is named after a pet goat I had when I was a kid. 

Assistant Professor Laura Weiwu

Academic Group: Real Estate

Hometown: Houston, Texas

Education:

• PhD, Economics, MIT 
• BA, Economics & BS, Applied Mathematics, Stanford University

What are your research interests and current projects? 

My current research interests center on policies that have shaped spatial inequality in the U.S. both historically and in the modern day. Some of my ongoing projects study the impacts of transportation infrastructure on different socioeconomic groups and how zoning regulations affect housing supply and affordability. I am also interested in measuring the long-run consequences of these interventions and have been constructing new panel linkages using administrative tax data for these questions.

Previous academic or industry experience? 

Throughout my PhD, I worked part-time at the U.S. Census Bureau to build novel estimates of intergenerational mobility for the 20th century.

What course will you teach? 

Introduction to Real Estate and Urban Land Economics

Why did you decide to join Berkeley Haas, and what are you most excited about? 

The wonderful and insightful people at Haas, and that Berkeley is a beautiful place to live and work.

Fun fact, interests, or hobbies?

I am taking ukulele classes, raising many houseplants, and training for a half-marathon in Monterey in the fall.

Favorite Berkeley/Bay Area discovery so far? 

I adore the UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley.

New Professional Faculty

Shivani Garg Patel, BS/BA 03 (EECS & Cognitive Science)

• Course: Social Entrepreneurship

Matt Rappaport

• Course: Deep Tech Commercialization Strategies

Bowman Heiden

• Course: Deep Tech Commercialization Strategies

Chris Bush

• Course: Solving Family Business Growth Challenges

Apoorva Ruparel

• Course: Lean Transfer

Matt Price, MBA 07

• Course: Climate Solutions Fund

Gregory Shove

• Course: AI for Personal Productivity and Performance

Noga Abraham

• Course: Financial Accounting

Steve Nagai-Ma

• Course: Large-Scale Social Change: Social Movements