Prior to joining IFPRI in 2011, he worked as a Research Assistant for Nathan Nunn studying African economic history and economic development at Harvard University’s Department of Economics; for Michael Kremer studying agricultural productivity and farming behavior in Kenya at the Kennedy School of Government’s Center for International Development; and at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, MA studying the determinants of food aid to Africa as part of the Africa Successes Project.

Sayon holds a B.S. in Bioengineering from Syracuse University and an M.A. in Economics from Boston University.