Smirnova

UConn Stamford Team Competes in the 2025 College Fed Challenge

Posted on December 17, 2025 by McConnel, Mark

UConn Stamford Fed Challenge Team outside of the New York Fed after the Orientation, September 2025. From left to right: Dr. Smirnova (faculty adviser), Alexys Williams, Dmitrii Tuzov (graduate student adviser), Angel Bravo, Anthony Brunetto, Kothan Nieves-Orama, Jagger Ferrajina, Constantine Lampronikos.

In the Fall 2025, the UConn Stamford team participated again in the national College Fed Challenge competition, where teams analyze economic and financial conditions and formulate a monetary policy recommendation, modeling the Federal Open Market Committee. This year, 139 teams participated in the Challenge, so the competition was fierce. The video of the UConn Stamford team is here.

Here is UConn Stamford’s 2025 College Fed Challenge Team:

Angel Bravo is a B.S. Economics major with minors in Accounting & Mathematics at the University of Connecticut, where he focuses on financial markets, economic research, and quantitative analysis. His coursework in econometrics, financial accounting, and programming has equipped him with a strong analytical foundation that supports his long-term goal of becoming a quantitative analyst in the banking industry.

During his time as a team member of the Fall 2025 College Fed Challenge, Angel contributed research on tariffs and monetary policy implementation. Beyond the classroom, he is also conducting research on global economic development and income inequality among countries, which he will present at an undergraduate research conference in New York. Additionally, he is an active member of the Economics Research & Policy Club and participates in UConn’s Honors Program, where he served as a student facilitator to promote academic curiosity, leadership, and student-led initiatives.

With his combined experience in research and student leadership, Angel also hopes to one day pursue college-level teaching in the further future. He is deeply committed to his academic and professional development and looks forward to advancing his studies through future master’s work and a career in quantitative finance.

Anthony Brunetto is a senior majoring in economics. His interest in the Fed Challenge started when he saw the 2024 team take a picture with the current Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome Powell, posted in the hallway, and from that point, he was determined to join the team. His main contribution to the team was researching inflation and how the Fed’s policy impacted bond and stock markets. Anthony, while studying economics, has an interest in wealth management, which is directly affected by the Fed’s monetary policy, so he took Money and Banking and Practicum to expand his knowledge of how the Federal Reserve operates and how money works. Anthony plans to use his knowledge he gained in the Fed challenge, as well as his undergrad studies, to become a wealth advisor post-grad.

Jagger Ferrajina is a senior Economics major at the University of Connecticut with a strong interest in monetary policy, global markets, and international trade. He works in vessel operations at John F. Dillon & Co., where he has gained hands-on experience in dry bulk shipping, charter parties, and global logistics.

He is actively involved in UConn’s Fed Challenge and serves as Vice President of the Economics Research & Policy Club, helping create opportunities for students to engage with economic policy and current events on the Stamford campus. Through both academic and professional experience, Jagger has developed a strong interest in the intersection of economics, finance, and global trade, and he plans to pursue a career in these fields following graduation.

Constantine Lampronikos is a senior Economics Major at the University of Connecticut with strong interest in Finance and relationship-driven business. He has developed hands-on industry experience through internships in both the tanker and dry-bulk sectors of the shipping industry, where he worked on voyage calculations, freight rate analysis, and operational logistics. He is fascinated by the way business systems interconnect across markets, industries, and economic environments.

Throughout his undergraduate schooling, he has balanced full-time coursework with professional commitments. Recently, he maintained an internship at John F. Dillon & Co as well as his job as a server at Columbus Park Trattoria in Stamford, both while actively participating in the Fed Challenge and being enrolled full-time in school. Constantine prides himself on his work ethic, adaptability, and ability to cooperate with others. He is highly motivated and continually searching to meet people, gain fresh insight, and build new skills. Outside of academics, he enjoys fitness, travel, trying new things, all while spending time with friends and family.

Kothan Nieves-Orama is a Junior Economics student accelerating his academic career through the 4+1 Fast-Track program for a master’s in public policy. His academic pursuits are deeply informed by his professional experience as a Relationship Banker, where he gained firsthand insight into the complexities and impacts of the banking sector.

As the Editor-In-Chief for the Economic Research & Policy Club, Kothan merges his passion for economic theory with his avid interest in History and Philosophy. This role, along with his dedication to synthesizing complex information, has catalyzed his interest in teaching and mentorship. He actively cultivates these skills as a Path Mentor for incoming Freshmen and as an Honors Ube-Facilitator, a key leadership position overseeing Honors First-Year Seminar Courses across regional campuses. This extensive background in leadership positions will help Kothan to seamlessly transition into a career dedicated to educating future generations.

Calebe Velozo is a Brazilian student majoring in economics with a minor in information technology. His interest in the Fed Challenge grew through studying how monetary policy influences the broader economy and financial conditions. Calebe also works at Apple, where he acquired skills to understand the financial aspect of our monetary policy presentation. For the Fed Challenge, Calebe focused on understanding key economic indicators and how they guide policy decisions. He plans to use the knowledge gained from this experience, along with his coursework, to continue developing in the fields of economics, technology, and data driven decision making.

Alexys Williams is a junior honors student at UConn majoring in Economics. She developed an interest in economics through her love of geography and a fascination with how countries and markets are interconnected. She enjoys exploring the world’s complexity and understanding how economic systems influence global outcomes.

She has applied her interests through internships in asset management and private equity, gaining experience in market monitoring and macro-financial analysis. Her coursework in Money and Banking and Quantitative Analysis has provided a strong foundation in both theory and practice. She contributed to the Fed Challenge team by researching labor markets, which deepened her understanding of macroeconomic dynamics. Alexys also serves as Secretary of the Economics Research and Policy Council, a club dedicated to promoting economic literacy and engagement on the UConn Stamford campus. Outside of academics, she enjoys photography, cooking, baking, and aviation. She makes it a goal to constantly learn, embrace new challenges, and grow from every experience.

The Graduate Student Adviser to the team was Dmitrii Tuzov.

Dmitrii Tuzov is a graduate student in the MS in Business Analytics & Project Management program, where he is pursuing advanced studies in data science, machine learning, and AI-driven decision-making. Before joining UConn, Dmitrii worked as a financial and investment analyst and later advanced into roles spanning the full data analytics vertical: business analytics, data science and engineering, where he delivered predictive models, cost-control systems, and data pipelines that informed both operational and strategic decisions.

He served as an advisor for the Stamford Fed Challenge team, supporting students in economic analysis, forecasting, and policy communication. In this role, he advised students on collecting, analyzing, and interpreting macroeconomic data; showed forecasting and econometric techniques; and guided the team’s analytical argumentation and preparation of evidence-based economic presentations. Beyond academics, Dmitrii is actively involved in AI/ML research and business initiatives and is passionate about helping younger students grow both technically and professionally.

The value of participation in the College Fed Challenge competition can not be overestimated. In addition to a deep academic leaning about the conduct of monetary policy in the U.S., students develop many career competencies that will be helpful in their various pursuits after graduation.

ECE Economics Workshop 2025

Posted on October 29, 2025October 30, 2025 by McConnel, Mark

Ralph Russo, ECE Economics instructor at Guilford High School, explains the Vertical Wall activity at the ECE workshop on October 22, 2025, at the Stamford campus

The Early College Experience (ECE) Economics program is one of the largest at UConn. This academic year, we have 36 schools participating, with 50 teachers running 72 sections of introductory Economics courses. Through the ECE, we offer ECON 1000- Essentials of Economics, ECON 1202 – Principles of Microeconomics, and ECON 1202 – Principles of Macroeconomics.

Instructors are certified to teach those courses through a rigorous process of professional development events. The 2025 annual professional development workshop was held on October 22, 2025, at the Stamford campus. We had 31 teachers in attendance.

The speakers included national-level economic educators from Federal Reserve Banks of New York and St. Louis, Marginal Revolution University (MRU), a non-profit provider of economic education materials, and MoneyLing, financial literacy non-profit provider.

The agenda was packed with presentations of innovative pedagogies in the engaging environment:

At the Local Level: Classroom Activities for Microeconomics
The Big Picture: Basics for Teaching Macroeconomics
Global Trade: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why It Matters
The One Where No One Has a Job: Teaching Unemployment and Labor Force Participation Rates
Teaching and Learning Economics with FRED Data in the High School Classroom
Moneyling – Financial Literacy Program for Schools

Participants explored various techniques that would get their students interested in the economic way of thinking, economic analysis, and contemporary economic issues. Instructors came away with the materials that could be immediately used in their classrooms.

Teachers working on the Vertical Wall assignment

A new feature this year was the sharing of “working well in the classroom” technique by the Guilford High School teacher, Ralph Russo, who demonstrated the “Vertical Wall” activity from the “Building Thinking Classrooms” methodology. The photos show how enthusiastic workshop participants were to engage in this activity. Learning from their colleague and trying out how it feels to be a student in this classroom were the highlights of this demonstration.

Overall, the workshop participants shared their satisfaction with the content of the training. The new location in Stamford was advantageous to the instructors located in Fairfield County.

The Economics Department would like to thank the Stamford Events team for helping with the logistics of this workshop.

Stamford Public Economics Students Learn About Public Service

Posted on October 17, 2025 by McConnel, Mark

The curriculum of the Public Economics class includes discussions about government finance. It was then appropriate for students at the Stamford campus in Dr. Smirnova’s class to meet a public official from Stamford. Mr. Gerald R. Bosak Jr. has served Stamford as a member of the Board of Finance, the Board of Education, and currently as a Zoning Board Commissioner. He is aspiring to become Town Clerk of the City of Stamford.

Mr. Bosak shared with students how the City’s finance plans are deliberated and how the University negotiated with the City for the new dormitories’ construction. The most heated discussion evolved around the affordable housing issue as well as the overdevelopment of the City’s beach front. Students had a lot of questions for Mr. Bosak regarding cost-benefit analysis’s role in the policy decisions by the Stamford government. All of these public policy issues connect closely with the course curriculum and with the project students are working on in this class.

Mr. Bosak encouraged students to participate in the local government by attending meetings, voicing their concerns and ideas, and volunteering. In the end, the visit not only related the economic concepts of costs and benefits, budgets, deficits and debt to the actual local government functioning. The visit also inspired students to be active citizens in their communities.

Mr. Jerry Bosak with several students from Dr. Smirnova’s Public Economics class on October 16, 2025, at the Stamford campus — Mr. Jerry Bosak, center, with several students from Dr. Smirnova’s Public Economics class on October 16, 2025, at the Stamford campus.

Frontiers in Undergraduate Research 2025 at Stamford

Posted on April 24, 2025 by McConnel, Mark

Two Economics students, Madina Mamedli and Cole Sembrot presented their research at the Frontiers in Undergraduate Research Exhibition in Stamford on April 22, 2025. Their academic adviser is Professor Smirnova.

Madina’s paper was entitled “From Chalk to Checkbooks: The Real Price of Educational Inequality”. Madina compared the investment in and the outcomes of public and private secondary education institutions in the U.S. Her literature review and regression analysis revealed inadequate funding for public schools, which leads to lower SAT scores, lower college counselor / student ratio, and other disadvantages for students attending public schools. Madina concluded that educational inequality transforms early life privileged into long-term economic advantage. Disparities in school resources, academic support, and access to college counseling directly shape earning potential.

Cole Sembrot discerned fiscal and monetary policies’ impacts on the economy during the pandemic. His paper was entitled “Was COVID Inflation Worse Because of Combined Fiscal and Monetary Expansion?” Cole has built the regression model that examines how much post-COVID inflation is due to the actions of the Federal Reserve: near zero interest rates, QE, balance sheet expansion, and money supply growth, while controlling for supply-side shock. Cole concluded that the post-pandemic inflationary episode is due to a complex interplay between policy and external economic shocks.

Madina Mamedli (’25), Dr. Smirnova, Cole Sembrot (’25)

The event was attended by more than 50 people: students, faculty, and staff. There were guests from the Office of Undergraduate Research and UConn Enrichment Programs as well as Stamford campus administration. The atmosphere of the event was academic in nature, but friendly and supportive. 20 students from various fields of study presented their research results. Experiences like this help students gain confidence and prepare for careers upon graduation.

Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration within “Money and Banking” Course at Stamford

Posted on March 11, 2025March 11, 2025 by McConnel, Mark

Chains that Bind Us Bookcover — Photo: Bradford, Phillip G. 2023. “Chains that Bind Us”. Amazon Publishing, book cover. Used with permission of the author.

Students in Professor Smirnova’s “Money and Banking” course were exposed to a discussion about the block-chain technology from a viewpoint of the computer science as Dr. Phillip Bradford, Computer Science Professor at Stamford, delivered an engaging lecture “Chains that Bind Us” on February 27, 2025.

Professor Bradford connected the history of blockchains to the history of payment systems and functioning of Central Banks in an economy. He helped students understand the appeal of anonymous but verified ledgers of transactions, and linked such economic concepts as money supply, inflation, and economic growth to the development of various blockchain technology based “coins” and their fluctuating value in the market.

Professor Bradford demonstrated his Python codes and showed the “Raspberry Pis”, which he used in his experiment of mining bitcoins.

Dr. Bradford intrigued students with a basic ledger such as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Basic Ledger (Bradford, 2023, p. 21)

This ledger is itself coded. For example, the first account “CAFEBABE” is a keyword in Java program files. See for example: Java class file – Wikipedia sometimes called a magic number to start Java machine files. Do you see any code for #3 account “FED”?

Such ledgers are in each block of a block chain such as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Blockchain (Bradford, 2023, p. 116)

The curriculum of the “Money and Banking” course focuses on the Federal Reserve System, the central bank of the United States, its policy tools, goals, strategy and tactics, and on the banking system as a participant in the country’s financial system. An exposition of new and emerging technologies that provide alternatives to central banking is an exciting addition to the course. Students are using Dr. Bradford’s book “Chains that Bind Us” (Bradford, 2023) as a supplemental reading material to the required textbook (Mishkin, 2022).

Such multi-disciplinary collaborations among faculty strengthen our learning community at the Stamford campus. Co-authoring papers and presentations, monthly multi-disciplinary colloquia, and visits to classes support diverse interests of our students that will be joining the workforce with career-transferable knowledge and skills.

Bibliography:

Bradford, Phillip G. 2023. Chains that Bind Us. Amazon Publishing.

Mishkin, Frederic S. 2022. Economics of Money and Banking Economics of Money, Banking, and Financial Markets, 13th edition, Pearson.

Storrs and Stamford Fed Challenge Teams at the Open House in Washington, DC

Posted on February 17, 2025 by McConnel, Mark

Storrs Fed Challenge Team at the Open House in Washington, DC — UConn Storrs 2024 Team: from left to right: back row: Professor Derek Johnson (faculty adviser), Spencer Thompson, Viren Chainani, Lilla Korniss, Claire Dobbins, Katrina Melnik, Professor Owen Svalestad (faculty adviser). Front row: Nameeda Elmi, William Infante, Evelyn Zhou and Rai Kumar

The Economics Department students participate in the College Fed Challenge national competition every year. The Storrs team competes in the Boston district of the Federal Reserve System, and the Stamford team competes in New York. In 2024, the Storrs team was a National Finalist, which is an exceptional achievement. In February 2025, both teams travelled to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, DC, for an Open House for all participants.

Stamford Fed Challenge Team at the Open House in Washington, DC — UConn Stamford 2024 Team: from left to right: back row: Matthew Dalzell, Thomas Surette, Angelina Solodka, Professor Smirnova (faculty adviser), Paul Juszczyk, Liz Maia, Madina Mamedli, Brenda Leon, Mallory Albrecht, front row: Cole Sembrot and Micthell Velasco.

In addition to summarizing results from the 2024 competition, the agenda of the Open House focused on showcasing various segments of the Fed’s functions and sharing career opportunities available at the Board for graduates with bachelor’s degrees. Participants heard from Brian Bonis, Assistant Secretary of the FOMC, Matt Eichner, Director of the Division of Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems, and a panel of former Fed Challenge participants, who are now employed as Research Assistants (RAs) at the Board.

The students of both teams were excited to participate in the Open House and are appreciative of the Economics Department as well as other entities that provided funding for this trip. The sponsors are the Business School, CLAS Dean’s Office, UConn Center for Career Readiness and Life Skills, and Stamford campus administration. Thank you!

Stamford Students Meet with UConn Alum in Washington, DC

Posted on February 11, 2025 by McConnel, Mark

During the trip to the Open House at the Federal Reserve Board, UConn-Stamford 2024 Team of the College Fed Challenge competition had an opportunity to meet with UConn alum, Misbah Seyal. Mr. Seyal is a real estate professional with a substantive career including various positions at Moody’s, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and other financial services firms.

Natalia Smirnova, faculty, (left) and Misbah Seyal, UConn alum (BA’97, MBA’04), at dinner with students on February 6, 2025, in Washington, DC.

During the meeting with students, Misbah talked about career opportunities after graduation from UConn. He emphasized the importance of developing skills that could be transferred to the workplace and of being adaptable to labor market conditions as they change.

Students were interested in learning about the real estate sector as well as about the financial sector. They were curious about navigating the competitive market environment and about balancing career expectations and family. Misbah shared his wisdom and encouraged students to pursue their passions and dreams.

The students, as well as Dr. Smirnova, faculty adviser to the College Fed Challenge team, are grateful to Mr. Seyal for his time with us. We are also appreciative of Ms. Siobhan Lidington, Director of Development, School of Business, University of Connecticut Foundation, for her efforts to make this meeting possible.

Public Economics Students Propose Policy Solutions for Connecticut Waste Management Problem

Posted on November 22, 2024 by McConnel, Mark

During the Fall 2024, the students in the ECON 3431- “Public Economics” course at the Stamford campus worked with the industry professional to research, analyze, and propose policy solutions to the imminent State of Connecticut problem of Solid Waste Management.

The applied nature of the course allowed students to experience every aspect of public policy development from problem identification, ideation, research of the literature, data gathering, analysis, and policy recommendation formulation.

In addition to Professor Smirnova, who is the instructor of this course, the students worked under the mentorship of Mr. Brian Bartram (CLAS’ 94), who has been the manager of the Salisbury/Sharon (CT) Transfer Station in Connecticut since 2007. At that time Salisbury & Sharon were seeking design ideas to be used in the construction of a new transfer station. Since then, Brian has been active in the Northeast Resource Recovery Association, CT Department of Energy & Environmental Protection’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee, and CT Product Stewardship Council. In 2012 he was appointed by Gov. Malloy to be a member of the Modernizing Recycling Working Group. Brian completed the UConn Master Composter Program in 2015.

Students were assigned to groups to imitate the economic think-tank work environment. Each group selected their topic through the process of ideation based on Brian’s presentation about the acute waste management problem in Connecticut. The following research questions were formulated and answered during the semester:

Cost Benefit Analysis of Installing a Methane Capture System at the Manchester, Connecticut Landfill.
Government Policies Promoting Recycling and Landfill Use Reduction.
Where Did Your Old TV Go?
What is the Most Cost-Effective Waste Conversion Technology for Connecticut Municipalities?
How does Connecticut Dispose of Waste Tires?

At the completion of the course, student teams presented their findings to the class with Mr. Bartram visiting the class virtually, asking questions, and commenting on issues. Brian reflected that he “really enjoyed how different student teams were looking at the issue from different angles. Solid waste is a national, regional, state, and local issue. All different views and situations need to be considered and assessed.”

Through this exercise, students learned to collaborate with and present and defend their findings to the industry expert. Collaborative experiences such as this, between UConn students and the State of Connecticut professionals, are invaluable in preparing our students for careers in industries and the public sector. By integrating the workplace analytical approaches into the curriculum of applied courses, we are teaching students career competencies that are demanded of them upon graduation.

ECE Economics Workshop 2024

Posted on October 28, 2024October 29, 2024 by McConnel, Mark

ECE Economics workshop participants in Storrs on October 23, 2024

The Early College Experience – Economics program is the largest at UConn. In the Economics program, we have 34 partner high schools with 66 certified economics instructors. Last academic year, 1,102 students were enrolled in 68 economics courses, with a total enrollment of 1,607 students. Our program is making a meaningful impact on Connecticut students introducing them to economic concepts and way of thinking as well as preparing them for college attendance.

Every year, Dr. Smirnova, who is ECE Economics coordinator, conducts the professional development workshop for participating teachers. The workshop is aimed at providing comparability of instruction and at sharing pedagogical innovations.

This year, 23 teachers from partner schools attended the workshop on October 23. The room was buzzing with commotion as guest speakers engaged the audience with hands-on activities.

Our guest speakers were Ariel Slonim, Curriculum Designer at Marginal Revolution University (MRU) and Mary Clare Peate, Senior Economic Education Specialist at Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

The micro- and macroeconomics concepts were showcased in interactive ways, that would encourage high school students to engage in the classroom. Here are the topics:

Learning about Economic Decision Making with Pretzels
Cowbells and M&Ms: Creative Classroom Exercises for Teaching Externalities and Public Goods
The Inflation Rate is Falling, but Prices are Not!
Fact vs. Fiction: Interactive Tools to Teach the Truth About Fiscal Policy

This year, the teachers also heard from their peer, Ms. Lynn Taillon from Cheshire High School. Ms. Taillon shared her “Valentine’s Day” and “Model Decorations for Christmas” activities. Such sharing stimulated the discussion of other ideas and stories of attending teachers.

Participants went away with a lot of pedagogical materials that could be used immediately in their classrooms. All materials are stored on HuskyCT in the ECE Economics organization section.

Career Competency Innovation Award goes to Professor Smirnova

Posted on May 15, 2024 by McConnel, Mark

Jim Lowe, Associate Vice Provost and Executive Director of Career Center, presents the Award to Professor Smirnova — Jim Lowe, Associate Vice Provost and Executive Director of Career Center, presented the Award.

UConn Center for Career Development hosted the 2024 Career Everywhere Recognition & Celebration Event on May 1, 2024. The event was filled with enthusiasm and camaraderie, fostering meaningful connections among Career Champions in attendance. There are nearly 1,000 dedicated UConn Career Champions (faculty, staff, and employers) who tirelessly support our students in their journey toward post-graduation success.

The nominations for several awards given by the Career Center were solicited from students, faculty, and staff. Professor Smirnova received the inaugural Career Competency Innovation Award.

Nancy Bilmes, Director of the Career Center, described Professor Smirnova’s innovations as aligning course syllabi with NACE career competencies, integrating career readiness modules across their courses on HuskyCT, designing assignments focused on career competencies, presenting at national and regional conferences, and conducting impactful research on the impact of career-focused assignments on students’ knowledge acquisition within their chosen fields. Natalia’s approach to embedding career development into her teaching not only equips students with essential skills but also demonstrates a commitment to fostering holistic growth and success beyond the classroom.

Professor Smirnova’s work on students’ career competencies’ development is documented in her teaching portfolio.