Catching up with UConn MSQE Alumnus Alex Gu and the NABE

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Alex Gu picture

Launched in June 2020, the National Association of Business Economists (NABE) Scholars program expands on current NABE Foundation scholarship programs by providing scholarships to NABE conferences specifically to minority students and early-career economists to attend NABE conferences and events.

In its inaugural year, UConn’s Alex Gu was one of 20 selected scholars.

Alex recently graduated from UConn, earning his Master of Science in Quantitative Economics (MSQE) in December of 2021. We recently spoke with Alex to hear his reflections on the benefits of the program, his experience with the NABE conferences, and his advice for current (and potential) students.

We asked him: Why did you choose UConn?

“In high school, two of my most influential teachers were UConn Alumni. They encouraged me to check out UConn’s programs, and I knew I wanted to attend somewhere on the East Coast (having lived in Texas, California and China). I attended first as an undergrad, then decided to continue with MSQE program.”

Alex feels the MSQE program prepared him well, equipping him with tangible skills that he will be using regularly: Practice in coding with Python, R, and Stata; working with machine learning models; prediction models; and convex optimization. He credits Professor Oskar Harmon’s Writing and Communication for Economics and Business class, as well as UConn’s Career Center, for preparing him for the dozens of interviews he has been going on as he enters the job market. “The MSQE program prepared me well for the technical questions, and the Career Center helped prepare me for the behavioral questions.”

Through the NABE Scholarship program, Alex was able to attend conferences in Washington D.C. that allowed him attend discussions with representatives from top companies on pressing current issues such as the supply chain, and the future of transportation. He enjoyed the opportunity to meet in-person, and make connections with leaders in the industry. “I realize how important networking is, as well as the importance of constant learning.”

Alex encourages current and potential students to use the resources UConn provides and to never stop practicing to keep your skills sharp. He intends to take the CBE exam in the coming months, and looks forward to taking the next steps in his career.

Check out these scholarship opportunities and more by visiting the NABE website here, and thank you Alex Gu for your enthusiasm and insight.

The 2022 NABE Scholar application process will open in late March/early April – stay tuned for details!

UConn students who are awarded a scholarship to attend a NABE event can apply to the MSQE Scholarship Program (contact Lisa Foss for details) to partially offset travel and lodging costs.

Professor Furtado on NPR’s All Things Considered

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Nursing homes are really struggling. We all witnessed the devastating number of Covid deaths in nursing homes throughout the pandemic. Now, nursing homes are toiling with labor shortages that make it very difficult to provide adequate care for residents. While the immediate impacts of the pandemic will eventually stabilize, in the coming decades, nursing homes will need to cope with increases in the demand for their services as baby boomers age. How will an industry that has struggled to hire and keep enough workers even before the pandemic be able to address the increasing care needs of an aging population?

One potential solution: A more open immigration policy. Professor Delia Furtado’s new research shows that nursing homes in areas receiving more immigrants are able to provide better quality care for residents. She talked about why this might be on The Indicator Podcast. Part of this interview aired on All Things Considered.

In related work, PhD student Treena Goswami finds that older college-educated native-born women remain in the labor force longer when they live in areas with more immigrants. Her analysis suggests that when immigrants are available to provide inexpensive care-giving or housekeeping services, older women (who can afford these services) do not have to prematurely leave the labor force in order to provide full time care for loved ones. Further evidence that policies allowing for more immigration might help the U.S. address the care-giving needs of an aging population.

Leshui He (our own 2013 PhD) receives Tenure at Bates College

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Leshui He has received tenure at Bates College.

Leshui completed his thesis at UConn in 2013 under the supervision of Professors Richard Langlois, Robert Gibbons, Christian Zimmermann, and Vicki Knoblauch.

He started his position as an Assistant Professor at Bates College in 2015, and works primarily in the fields of organizational economics and industrial organization. He is also working on research projects on education with Professor Stephen L. Ross.

Professor Zhao’s research to be published in Journal of Monetary Economics

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Professor Zhao’s paper “Rising Wealth Inequality: Intergenerational Links, Entrepreneurship, and the Decline in Interest Rate” has been accepted for publication in Journal of Monetary Economics. In this paper, Professor Zhao and his coauthor investigate the causes of rising wealth inequality in the United States.

The working paper version of this research can be found in UConn working paper series.

Professor Ray publishes in Journal of Productivity Analysis

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Professor Ray has recently published a paper “Nonparametric measurement of potential gains from mergers: an additive decomposition and application to Indian bank mergers” coauthored with his recent PhD student Shilpa Sethia in Journal of Productivity Analysis. JPA is considered to be the top ranked journal in the field of Production Economics. As reported by William Greene, the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, the 2020 impact factor of JPA (2.61) exceeded several highly respected field journals like Journal of Econometrics (2.388) or Journal of Applied Econometrics (2.424).

His coauthor, Shilpa Sethia, who is a 2019 Econ PhD from UCONN, is currently employed as a Senior Economic Analyst at National Grid in Waltham, MA.

The online version of the paper can be accessed at: https://rdcu.be/cEXL2

Research of Prof. Couch on COVID and Gender Inequality published in Economic Inquiry

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Research of Professor Ken Couch and his co-authors, Robert Fairlie and Huanan Xu exploring women’s labor market experiences relative to men’s during the COVID-19 pandemic has been published in Economic Inquiry.

The paper, “The Evolving Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Gender Inequality in the US Labor Market:  The COVID Motherhood Penalty” can be found on the journal web site and is available under open access at this link:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ecin.13054

Abstract

We explore whether COVID-19 disproportionately affected women in the labor market using Current Population Survey data through the end of 2020. We find that male–female gaps in the employment-to-population ratio and hours worked for women with school-age children have widened but not for those with younger children. Triple-difference estimates are consistent with most of the reductions observed for women with school-age children being attributable to additional childcare responsibilities (the “COVID motherhood penalty”). Conducting decompositions, we find women had a greater likelihood to telework, higher education levels and a less-impacted occupational distribution, which all contributed to lessening negative impacts relative to men.

UConn Faculty Member is AEA 5K Award Winner

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Professor Delia Furtado participated in the AEA 5K for the first time this year and won the 75th percentile prize. She ran faster than 25 percent of the other runners! Yes, also slower than 75 percent but never mind that.

The AEA 5K started three years ago when a couple of economists organized a race at the ASSA meetings and made t-shirts commemorating the occasion. Since the meetings this year are again virtual, the race and awards ceremony were also virtual. The full awards ceremony is available online.

Professor Furtado says she is aiming for the Caplin and Nalebuff Award next year. This prestigious award, named for the 1988 Econometrica paper, “On 64%-Majority Rule,” is given to the runner at the 64th percentile. Guido Imbens won the prize in last year’s AEA 5K. A few months later, he was a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Professor Smirnova Nominated for the University Teaching Innovation Award

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Dr. Natalia Smirnova has been nominated for the CETL Teaching Innovation Award 2022. According to the award website, the individuals considered for this recognition show a demonstrated commitment to continuously improving teaching through innovation and reflective practice. They are dedicated to teaching effectiveness and support enhanced levels of student engagement and learning.

The purpose of the CETL Teaching Innovation Award is to recognize imaginative and promising innovation in teaching and learning strategies and assessment methods. This award is designed to honor teaching practices and strategies that improve student learning outcomes in online, blended, or face-to-face courses.

This year, one Teaching Innovation Award will be honored. The winner will be presented at the CETL Reception in April. The recipient will present at a Teaching Innovation Showcase in the academic year, contribute to faculty outreach, and work with CETL staff to support faculty innovation across the University.

Congratulations to Dr. Smirnova for her nomination!

Economics Undergraduate Student Selected as 2022 University Scholar

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Congratulations to Economics student Elisa Shaholli, who is among the seventeen University of Connecticut undergraduates who have been selected as the 2022 University Scholars:

Elisa Shaholli

Major: Economics
Project Title: Religious Identity and Diabetes: A Muslim American Perspective
Committee: Brenda Brueggemann, English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Metin Cosgel, Economics; and Kelly Newlin Lew, Nursing.

“Open to undergraduate students from all of the University’s schools and colleges, the University Scholar Program allows students to design and pursue an in-depth research or creative project and to craft a learning plan that supports their interests and academic goals during their final three semesters. Each student is mentored by an advisory committee of three faculty.

Admission is based on an application submitted during the first semester of a student’s junior year. Applications are reviewed by an interdisciplinary committee of faculty members who may select up to 30 University Scholars in any given year. The strongest proposals will show exceptional breadth and/or depth and will bring together multiple fields of study, methodologies, and/or points of view. Graduation as a University Scholar recognizes a student’s extraordinary engagement with self-reflective learning and research or creative endeavors.”

universityscholars.uconn.edu

Professor Baggio Awarded ‘Research Funding in Academic Themes’

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Professor Michele Baggio (Economics) and Professor Mark Urban (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) have received a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences grant for ‘Research Funding in Academic Themes’

This funding, to “help to build new connections among CLAS scholars across units” in support of the goals of the CLAS Strategic Plan, has been awarded for their collaborative proposal On Infectious diseases and Climate Change: Evidence from the Lyme Disease.