Professor Ray wins Lifetime Contribution Award

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Cooper Award 2016The International Data Envelopment Society (iDEAs) selected Professor Subhash Ray as this year’s winner of the William W. Cooper Lifetime Contribution Award in the field of Data Envelopment Analysis at the DEA2016 Conference recently held in Wuhan, China.

Professor William Cooper and his lifelong collaborator Abraham Charnes, along with their graduate student Eduardo Rhodes, developed Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in 1978 as a nonparametric method of measuring efficiency that is especially useful for evaluating performance of non-profit organizations and government departments through benchmarking.

In 1979, while still a PhD student, Professor Ray started working on DEA and applied the newly developed method in a UNDP project to measure efficiency of primary health care centers in Costa Rica and Guatemala.

Over the past decades Professor Ray’s methodological and empirical contributions to the DEA literature have been published in leading Economics and Operations Research/Management Science journals including American Economic Review and Management Science.

His book Data Envelopment Analysis: Theory and Techniques for Economics and Operations Research published by Cambridge University Press in 2004 still continues to be a popular reference book for researchers in the field. He is a Senior Editor of The DEA Journal.

Professor Baggio publishes in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

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baggioProfessor Michele Baggio’s paper “Optimal management with reversible regime shifts” with Paul Fackler has been published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization.

The paper examines the management of a natural resource, a fishery, subject to regime shifting dynamics.

2016 Economics Graduate Reunion and Forum

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On Thursday, May 5, 2016, the Department held an all-day Economics Graduate Reunion and Forum. Our Graduate Alumni gathered to reconnect with classmates and professors, and to establish new connections with current graduate students and newer members of the faculty.

Our alumni shared their current research, their thoughts about the graduate experience, and their experiences since leaving the University of Connecticut. We look forward to continuing to make this a regular event, scheduled every three or four years.  The program for this year’s event is included below.

Special thanks to Andreas Karapatakis (PhD, 1992) for his generous support of the 2016 Economics Graduate Reunion and Forum.

 

2016 Economics Graduate Reunion and Forum
8:30 AM Coffee & Greet
9:00 AM Welcome
Stephen Ross, Department Head
Subhash Ray, Director of Graduate Studies
9:30 AM Alumni Research Papers
Moderator:  Chuck Martie, Education Consultant, CT Dept. of Education
Gulgun Bayaz, New York City College of Technology
“Intertemporal Poverty Among Older Americans”
Juan-Pedro Garces-Voisenat, Siena College
“The Role of Virtue in Economic Development”
Monika Lopez-Anuarbe, Connecticut College
“Intergenerational Transfers and Caring for Families in the United States and Abroad”
10:30 AM Coffee & Chat
11:00 AM Alumni Academic Experience
Moderator:  William Pace, Anthem, University of Connecticut
Paramita Dhar, Central Connecticut State University
Monika Lopez-Anuarbe, Connecticut College
Juan-Pedro Garces-Voisenat, Siena College
Paul Kozlowski, University of Toledo
12:00 PM Lunch & Emeritus Panel (Immanuel Wexler, Steve Sacks, Arthur Wright, Dennis Heffley)
1:30 PM Alumni Research Papers
Moderator: Nandika Prakash, CT Dept. of Economic & Community Development  
Leshui He, Bates College
“Adverse Classroom Peer Effects in Students’ Achievements: Evidence from a Quasi-Random Assignment”
Parag Waknis, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
“Competitive Money Supply in a New Monetarist Model”
Stanley McMillen, CT Dept. of Economic & Community Development (retired)
“Economic and Fiscal Impacts of Connecticut’s 2015 Bill to Recoup a Portion of Its Public Assistance Costs”
2:30 PM Coffee & More Chat
1:30 PM Alumni Professional Experience
Moderator: Natalia Smirnova, American Institute of Economic Research
 Jieling Chen, Merck Research Laboratories
 Ravinder Dhawan, Merck & Co.
Nandika Prakash, Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD)
4:15 PM Closing Remarks

Professor Zhao Presents His Research at the St. Louis Fed

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Kai ZhaoProfessor Zhao presented his research on the impact of health insurance policies on aggregate labor supply as part of the 2016 Seminar Series at the St. Louis Fed, on May 4, 2016.

In his research, he investigates whether or not the different health insurance policies in the United States and Europe can explain the fact that Americans work more hours than Europeans.

For more information, see the St. Louis Fed website.

Professors Alpert, Couch and Harmon publish in the American Economic Review

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The work of University of Connecticut Professors William Alpert, Kenneth Couch, and Oskar Harmon, entitled “A Randomized Assessment of Online Learning”, appears in the May issue of the American Economic Review.  The paper was selected for inclusion in the Papers and Proceedings issue after being submitted in response to a national call for papers on economic education.

The study provides the fourth randomized examination of online versus face-to-face education ever conducted for a semester length college course.  In this case, the course studied was microeconomic principles.  The study shows that students in a face-to-face course did about half a letter grade better than students in a purely online course developed consistent with best practices for online education. The study finds that there are no meaningful differences in performance when comparing students in a course with a blended versus face-to-face format.

Professor Harmon Participates in Voting Rights Panel

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Voting Rights PanelProf. Harmon was a panelist at an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  The panel addressed voter disenfranchisement including current/past court challenges to the Voting Rights Act, and stricter voting requirements, following passage of this landmark legislation.

The panel was moderated by Professor Beth Ginsberg (UConn Political Science).  The panelists were US Congressman Jim Hines; Scot X. Esdaile – CT NAACP State Chair; Professor Harmon; Khalilah L. Brown – Dean Quinnipiac University; Rev. Tommie Jackson – Faith Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church; Michael Pollard – Chief of Staff for Stamford Mayor David Martin; Jasmine Pierre – Future 5 of NAACP; and Peggy Reeves – CT Secretary of State Election Affairs.

The event (April 11) was attended by approximately 75 students and community members.  It was held in the main concourse of the Stamford Campus.  It was organized by the staff of Congressman Jim Hines; Terrence Cheng, Director of the Stamford Campus; Jack Bryant, President NAACP Stamford Chapter; and Professors Ginsberg and Harmon as part of their Spring 2016 Service Learning Courses.

Kenneth Couch Presents Research at Michigan, Northeastern, and SUNY-Albany

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couchDuring the spring semester, Professor Kenneth Couch has made research presentations at the University of Michigan, Northeastern University, and SUNY-Albany.

Professor Couch has published a number of recent articles on the topic of Life Course Events and summarized that research in his presentations at Northeastern and SUNY-Albany.  At Michigan, Professor Couch and his co-author presented their research regarding the impact of Social Security earnings statements on individual retirement timing as part of the Michigan Retirement Research Consortium (MRRC) annual meeting.   The MRRC annual meeting is an invitation only conference for leading and emerging scholars working on issues related to the Social Security retirement benefit system.

Professor Shor Presents to Corporate Presidents

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shorProfessor Shor spoke to an audience of 100 CEOs and corporate presidents last week as part of the YPO-WPO Passion For Learning Day in Princeton, NJ.

The Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) – World Presidents’ Organization (WPO) is an international organization for heads of large corporations to network and learn.

The event featured three speakers – Professor Shor joined two professors from the Harvard Business School – who each led a two-hour educational session.

Professor Shor spoke about the practical uses of game theory in business.

Stamford Economics Faculty (Profs. Naknoi, Lanza, Harmon and Alpert) Host an Economics Alumni Networking Event

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Economics Alumni Four UConn Economics Alumni participated in a panel on the topic ‘Jobs and Careers’ at the UConn Stamford Campus, March 30, 2016.

The event was attended by 35 economics majors.

The participating alumni: Vitalie Alexandru ’13 (CLAS), currently Financial Analyst – Stress Testing, People’s United Bank; Michael Alpert ’90 (CLAS) Portfolio Manager, Stralem & Company; Pedro DeAbreu ’15 (CLAS) Gartner , Inc.; and Marketing Specialist; and Charles Triano ’87 (CLAS) Senior Vice President, Investor Relations, Pfizer, Inc.

All panelists graduated with a major in Economics, two from the Storrs Campus, and two from the Stamford Campus. All were generous with their time, advice regarding courses and participation in college life, and praise for the quality of the UConn undergraduate experience.

Matt Fraulino, CLAS Assistant Director of Alumni Relations Alumni Relations, provided invaluable assistance in organizing the event. The event was co sponsored by: UConn CLAS Alumni Relations, UConn Foundation, and the UConn Stamford Economics Club.

2016 Spring Awards Banquet

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Uconn sealOn April 14, the department convened for an awards banquet that recognized the best among undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty. This year’s award recipients are:

Omicron Delta Epsilon inductees:

Odrine Belot
Isaac Blyakher
Justin Chan
Sadie Colcord
Cathleen Cormier
Raychel Decker
Geoffrey Donovan
Kelsey Duran
Peter Jiang
Kayla Joyce
Steven Joyce
Patrick Meucci
Kimberley Pepper
Kristina Petruff
Corrin Powell
Fariha Rashid
Matthew Regan
John Shea
Ryan Sherman
Chifan Shi
Josh Spadaro
Leo Villari
Makayla Wall


Undergraduate Awards

Louis D. Traurig Scholarship

Patrick Adams
Brendan Costello
Kayla Joyce
Kimberly Roland

Paul N. Taylor Memorial Prize

Katherine Harrington

Rockwood Q. P. Chin Scholarship

Chris Cunningham
William Johnston
Blazej Pulawski
Claudia Rodriguez

Ross Mayer Scholarship

Kimberley Pepper

Economics Department General Scholarship

Caitlin Delaney
Matthew DeLeon

Julia & Harold Fenton and Yolanda & Augustine Sineti Scholarship

Tasneem Ahmed

Kathryn A. Cassidy Economics Scholarship

Andrew Carroll
Fariha Rashid
Joseph Roessler

Charles Triano Scholarship

Di Wu

Albert E. Waugh Scholarship

Ehi Osagie
Hao Ying

Economics Research Award Program

Professor Jorge Aguero & Juan Campanario


Graduate Awards

W. Harrison Carter Award

Tao Song

Abraham Ribicoff Graduate Fellowship

Aaron Cooke
Mike Dinardi

Economics Department Graduate Scholarship

Samantha Minieri

Timothy A. and Beverly C. Holt Economics Fellowship

Wensu Li
Xizi Li
Tian Lou
Shilpa Sethia
Tao Song

Best 3rd-year Paper Award

Andrew Ju
Sungoh Kwon


Faculty Awards

Grillo Family Research Award

David Simon

Grillo Family Teaching Award

Nishith Prakash

Employee Appreciation Awards

Derek Johnson   10 years
Kenneth Couch   20 years
Susan Randolph   30 years
Francis Ahking   35 years

 
Congratulations to everyone!