Santiago Campos Rodríguez will graduate with a PhD in Economics on June 15 in the Bren Events Center.
What is your favorite memory at UCI?
I’ve been lucky to have a lot of great memories at UCI. From presenting my work at prestigious conferences, to seeing students I worked with succeed well beyond the classroom, to even winning intramural soccer with a team of fellow economics grad students, it’s been a pretty special ride.
But the one that stands out the most is meeting my partner during the PhD program. I never expected that I would find my biggest support system in this journey, someone I admire deeply both personally and intellectually. We went through the program side by side, constantly pushing each other and growing together. Over time, that turned into not just sharing ideas, but building something meaningful together, including now working on a project focused on economic policies in my home country. We’ve now been together for five years, and we are planning a life together. Being able to grow alongside her, both in research and in life, has easily been the most meaningful part of my time at UCI.
What are your plans after graduation?
After graduation, I will be joining the research department of the Central Bank of Costa Rica as a senior economist. My work will focus on labor markets and their broader implications for economic policy, with an emphasis on producing research that can inform policy decisions. At the same time, I plan to remain closely connected to the academic community at UCI by continuing to collaborate with faculty and peers on projects related to development and production networks.
I will also continue ongoing work with Professor Nancy Rodríguez, whom I met at UCI, on research examining discrimination in the American criminal justice system, which remains an important part of my broader research agenda.
I hope to build a career that combines rigorous academic research with policy-relevant work.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
I see myself continuing to build a career that allows me to give back to my home country. Costa Rica’s welfare system made it possible for someone like me, coming from a single mother household, to access opportunities that eventually led me to one of the best graduate programs and succeed in it. Because of that, I feel a strong responsibility to give back through my work.
In five years, I hope to be doing research that contributes to better policy and meaningful improvements in people’s lives, particularly in contexts like my own. At the same time, the training I have received at UCI has given me a set of tools that are broadly applicable across many areas, which gives me the flexibility to explore different paths where I can have the greatest impact.
While my sense of purpose is clear, I remain open to where that path may lead.
Who was your biggest influence at UCI?
I have been incredibly lucky to learn from professors who are leaders in their fields and to engage with visiting scholars throughout my time at UCI. But the people who had the biggest influence on me were my dissertation committee.
Antonio Rodríguez-López not only deepened my interest in the field that first drew me to graduate school but also played a key role whenever I felt stuck, always helping me reframe problems and think more creatively.
What started as a single class with David Neumark, which I took to strengthen my background in labor economics, ended up shaping my research agenda in a lasting way. I was also fortunate to coauthor a paper with him, and every time we meet, he sharpens the way I think and how I approach research questions.
At the same time, every conversation I had with Miguel Zerecero and Priyaranjan Jhapushed my thinking further. I often left those meetings with ideas that stayed with me for weeks, improving not only my projects but also the way I perceive problems more broadly.
Collectively, they helped me refine the way I approach questions and develop my own perspective. That is something I hope to carry forward and pass on to my own mentees in the future.
What do you know now that you wish you had known before coming to UCI?
When I started graduate school, I thought the experience would be mostly limited to classes and time in the office. Over time, I realized how many resources UCI offers to support both academic and personal growth. From opportunities to connect with other researchers, to access to high quality data and research support, to resources for mental and physical well-being, there is a much broader ecosystem than I initially understood. I wish I had taken full advantage of that earlier.
I also definitely wish someone had handed me a guide of trails, beaches, and restaurants around Orange County. We are privileged to be in a place that offers so much beyond campus, and taking advantage of that makes the PhD journey even more rewarding.
What are your hobbies or interests?
Sports have always been a big part of my life. Back in the day, I was the quarterback for the national team of Costa Rica, and here at UCI I have been able to stay connected to that by playing flag football as well. During the last two years of my PhD, I also had the opportunity to play semiprofessional soccer with Irvine FC, which was an incredible experience and also helped me feel more connected to the local community. Practices and game days, along with spending time in UCI’s state of the art gym, became an important way for me to reset and manage stress, especially during moments when I felt stuck with research.
And on a lighter note, if you ever need someone to laugh at karaoke, I am definitely your guy.