Dana is a Ph.D. student in Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Before that, Dana worked as a Research Professional at the Becker Center at the University of Chicago. He also received a BA in Economics from the University of Chicago in 2006. Between graduation and his role at the Becker Center, Dana gained private sector experience working as a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group and as a private equity analyst at the Colombian office of Aureos Capital.

At the Becker Center, Dana worked with Professor Steven Levitt on projects related to the determinants of crime, the use of prediction models for public policy and law enforcement, and designing experiments within companies. He also gained research experience as an undergraduate while working for Professor Levitt for two years as a research assistant.

Dana's research focuses on understanding digital labor markets and crowdsourcing. He is particularly interested in researching economic development and ways that the private sector can help alleviate poverty such as through job creation and works in an advisory role with Samasource. His other research interests include program evaluation, labor economics, and conducting experiments within firms.