Aaron Scherf

(they/them)

PhD Student

I am a PhD student in Sustainable Development at Columbia University and a former USAID Foreign Service Officer. In Ukraine, I led the monitoring and evaluation team for over 50 development projects during the war. Previously, I worked on program design and social inclusion in Colombia, as well as budget analysis and knowledge management in Washington. Those experiences taught me how to ensure evidence is trustworthy and actionable, especially in conditions of rapidly changing and incomplete information. I now bring that perspective to research, data analysis, and practical software tools. I am available part-time for consulting and applied research collaborations.

Download CV

How I Can Help

I am available for consulting and applied research projects that require advanced technical analysis and practical experience in international development. I can help with:

Program design and evaluation: Turn problem statements into actionable plans for implementing programs and measuring results in rapidly changing conditions.
Geospatial data analysis: Combine satellite, survey, and administrative data to answer questions about places where information is incomplete.
Research and decision tools: Build reproducible workflows that fuse diverse data sources to create actionable insights and intuitive visualizations.
Literature reviews and gap analysis: Conduct comprehensive reviews of existing development knowledge sources to identify gaps and inform projects.
Development proposal writing: Help organizations develop compelling proposals that propose novel solutions to international development challenges.
Training & Skills Workshops: Share my experience and expertise via in-person or online workshops, as well as personalized skills development coaching.

If I can help with a problem you are working on, email me to discuss it. You can also download my CV and explore my past projects.

Selected Projects

My past projects cover diverse topics, from applied development research to tools that organize and explore information in novel formats.

Python

Predicting Wheat Yields in New Environments

Compare satellite data, field records, and prediction models to investigate which wheat varieties may perform well where trials are limited.

Python

Academic Hub

A study workspace connecting handwritten notes, textbooks, source-linked answers, and reviewed study materials.

Python

AI Research Assistant

Find relevant papers, make their contents searchable, and look across them alongside personal research notes.

Statistics

Novel Omnibus Normality Test

Detect patterns in how data depart from a bell-shaped distribution, and compare the proposed test with Shapiro–Wilk in small-sample simulations.

Python

Resume Manager

Tailor a resume from a maintained record of experience, preserving fixed details and saving checks alongside each application.

LLM / RAG

Multi-Agent Development Workflow

Coordinate AI-assisted work through explicit task handoffs, isolated working copies, and human-controlled integration.

My Research

My current research focuses on how communities prepare for and recover from overlapping climate disasters, armed conflict, and economic shocks. I am especially interested in whether social protection and disaster financing, such as index insurance and pre-crisis cash assistance, can protect livelihoods, reduce displacement, and improve long-term recovery. I want to examine how lessons from natural disaster response and resilience can be adapted for conflict settings, and how interventions impact communities differently in distinct contexts.

This agenda builds on my experience combining satellite observations and experimental data to compare crop-yield prediction models, applying advanced quantitative analysis and machine learning, and building reproducible tools for processing and organizing diverse datasets. I aim to combine methods from economics, climate science, machine learning and software development with my personal experience implementing development programs to better plan and evaluate humanitarian and social protection programs in rapidly changing and information scarce environments.

Experience

Foreign Service Officer - Monitoring and Evaluation Team Lead

USAID/Ukraine

January 2024 – July 2025

Led results tracking, evaluation and accountability for over 50 development projects in wartime Ukraine.

Foreign Service Officer- Program Design Officer

USAID/Colombia

February 2022 – January 2024

Led design and evaluation of development projects, including integration of gender and social inclusion efforts throughout 30 active programs.

Foreign Service Officer - Program Officer

USAID/Washington

May 2020 – February 2022

Supported data analysis at global budget office, helped launch knowledge management office, served as Desk Officer for Sri Lanka and Honduras, and led LGBTQIA+ inclusion initiative.

Visiting Fellow / Fulbright Scholar

Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW)

August 2017 – July 2018

Supported research on integration of asylum seekers through data analysis, presentation and report drafting. Culminated in presentation of independent research project.