Ilina Logani

Biography

Ilina Logani graduated summa cum laude from Columbia University in May 2022, where she majored in Economics and was the recipient of the David Estabrook Romine Prize for best senior thesis. Originally from Spokane, Washington, Ilina is deeply concerned with issues of racial inequity in education and housing, especially in underfunded and under-resourced communities in America. Dedicated to alleviating such issues through a combination of quantitative analysis and local organizing, Ilina founded the Spokane Youth of Color Coalition, an initiative that provides both a long-needed affinity space for youth of color in Spokane as well as a resource center to help BIPOC youth develop skills and receive support in a diverse array of areas, from financial literacy to educational resources and more. Ilina also served as a Research Fellow in the office of Washington State’s Lieutenant Governor, Denny Heck, where she was first-author on two white papers examining the state’s affordable housing crisis and the economic implications of racial discrimination in housing. At Columbia, Ilina was co-founder and Teaching Assistant for Frontiers of Justice, a student-developed seminar that seeks to bridge the gap between Columbia students and surrounding neighborhoods through jointly-authored, multidisciplinary policy proposals between community leaders and students. Currently, Ilina is a Menard Pre-doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy, where she conducts research on income inequality and poverty. As a Rhodes Scholar, Ilina seeks to pursue advanced study in comparative economic policy analysis, with the ultimate goal of pursuing a career in policy design and legislation that will allow her to work more effectively towards economic and educational justice. To that end, she seeks to earn an MPhil in Economic and Social History at Oxford.