Sean McKenna
“The Chang Prize fast-tracked me to becoming a subject matter expert while also catalyzing immense professional development and personal growth. It has had a direct positive impact on my contributions to policy research at RAND and has convinced me to devote my career to housing solutions.”
PROJECT
Exploring Ways to Tackle California’s Housing Crisis
Sean McKenna became interested in exploring the housing crisis through his work as a research assistant at the Rand Corporation. The Chang Prize allowed him to spend a year connecting with residents, housing developers, homeless shelters, technology innovators, and policymakers in California and Washington, DC to learn more about the roots of the housing crisis.
McKenna says that he is grateful for the “incredible amount of freedom” the Chang Prize gave him “to figure out how the skills and passions I developed at Caltech might translate into making a difference in the housing crisis, a problem that is very real for me, other Techers, and all residents of California.”
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Tackling California’s Housing Crisis: The Initial Blitz
It’s been two months since I started my project “Exploring Ways to Tackle California’s Housing Cr...
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Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire: My Transition from SoCal to NorCal
In the most recent two months of my project, some noteworthy events have occurred. I spent March ...
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May Gray and June Gloom: a Front-Row Seat for Legislative Challenges and Disappointment
In May and June, I got a taste for the state legislative process. I’m more convinced that state p...
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Think Regionally / Statewide / Globally, Act Locally
It’s strange to think about how much one can learn and grow, but how comparatively little one can...
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View A Conversation with the 2018 Chang Prize Recipients Webinar
Enjoy a conversation with the 2018 Chang Prize recipients, Sean McKenna (BS ’17, Economics and Ap...