The Economics Department was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of one of our former PhD students. please see the full article here.
Alumni Punarjit Roychowdhury receives prestigious award
Punarjit Roychowdhury received the prestigious “Prof. M.J. Manohar Rao Award 2021” from The Indian Econometric Society! The award is presented annually to an Indian economist under the age of 35 years for his/her outstanding contributions to quantitative economics while working in India. For more information click here.
Klaus Desmet Presents Maguire Public Scholar Lecture
The Maguire Ethics Center is proud to announce Ruth and Kenneth Altshuler Centennial Interdisciplinary Professor in Cities, Regions and Globalization Klaus Desmet, Ph.D., will give the 2024 Maguire Public Scholar Lecture. For more information and to register click here.
Opportunity for students to publish in the Student Monthly Labor Review
There is a new publishing opportunity for students with an established and respected journal, the Monthly Labor Review (MLR), which is published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The MLR publishes a wealth of research in a wide variety of fields. Subjects include the labor force, employment, inflation, productivity, occupational injuries and illnesses, wages, prices, and more. The new Student MLR department is intended to complement our current MLR offerings in which students have an opportunity to publish their work in a peer-reviewed journal.
To help introduce faculty and students to this new opportunity, there will be information sessions on September 10, 2024, at 3:00 pm eastern time and on September 11, 2024, at 6:00 pm eastern time. Registration for the events is required and is available online at the following links: session 1 and session 2.
If you are unable to attend, let us know. Respond to this email with your name and university to receive submission information. See the MLR for authors page for more information about submitting articles or email Justin Holt, Economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics at holt.justin@bls.gov. Click these links for a factsheet and video about the Student MLR.
SMU Faculty Research in the News
For business owners that don’t regularly get repeat customers, such as real estate agents, does being transparent about past business make them more or less likely to make a sale that benefits both them and the buyer? That is the question Dr. Roy and coauthor address in their recent paper “Repeated Trading: Transparency and Market Structure“. SMU Research News summarizes some of their insights here.
Santanu Roy named Robert H. and Nancy Dedman Professor in Economics
The Dean and Provost have named Santanu Roy the Robert H. and Nancy Dedman Professor in Economics. This is an endowed position given to a faculty member in recognition of their outstanding research accomplishments. Roy has firmly established himself as an international leader in microeconomic theory, and is expected to continue to make significant contributions to the discipline.
ECO Student Spotlight on Ritney Coleman
Ritney Coleman was recently featured in an article by the SMU Pathways to Business and Industry team. Ritney is a rising senior pursuing a B.S. in Economics with Financial Applications. A military veteran, he initially aimed to major in accounting and become a CPA, but decided on a different career path where he felt he could make more of a societal impact.
Ritney credits SMU’s vast resources with helping him focus on his passion for research and non-profit leadership. He’s gained practical experience by collaborating with local non-profits through community events. Ritney’s goal is to develop a non-profit that serves disadvantaged youth by providing various opportunities through field trips, seminars, sports programs, and college access support.
Ritney emphasizes the importance of networking and engaged actively with professors to uncover learning opportunities. This summer, he is a research assistant for Dr. Elizabeth Wheaton-Páramo, Research Associate Professor in Economics through the Office of Engaged Learning’s Summer Research Intensive. Ritney is using the SMU human trafficking data warehouse to gather data on organized crime groups transition between smuggling and human trafficking. Ritney noted that the knowledge obtained in his Introductory Econometrics class has helped him “feel confident analyzing data.”
When asked about his advice for incoming first-year students, Ritney said, “the opportunities are available, but students need to be active, not passive, in their networking pursuits. I was able to get an internship by simply asking my professor.” Ritney recommends first and second year undergraduate students schedule an appointment with the Hegi Family Career Development Center early for resume prep and to build their LinkedIn profile. He also credits his peers in the Economics department for providing him with useful resources.
For students interested in data analysis and practical skills development, Ritney suggests exploring the Bloomberg Terminals in the Business Library, where he is currently pursuing the Bloomberg Market Concepts Certificate.
To find out more information about the SMU Pathways to Business and Industry, please contact pbi@smu.edu. Full article can be found here.
Two Economics Alumni Receive Prestigious Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship Award
Two SMU Economics alumni have received prestigious Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship awards for the 2024-2025 academic year. The two Economics winners are Colton Fontenot, who will travel to the Slovak Republic and Victoria Romanczyk, who will go to Poland.
Colton (Cole) Fontenot graduated in May 2022 with a B.A. in economics, history, philosophy, and public policy and achieved the rare feat of completing three distinction theses during his senior year. Eager to learn more about educational systems in other countries, the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in the Slovak Republic will support Cole’s long-term goal of crafting more equitable education policy in the United States.
Victoria Romanczyk graduated in May with a B.S. in economics and statistical science and a B.A. in international studies. She will teach not just Polish students, but students from all over the EU. Victoria said that “this is a dream come true and for any upcoming seniors who are thinking about taking on a gap year or who are interested in seeing what it is like to live, work, or do research abroad I would definitely recommend looking into Fulbright programs.”
Congratulations Cole and Victoria! We wish you the best of luck!
Spring Awards Luncheon
On April 23rd, the Department hosted the spring awards luncheon. Omicron Delta Epsilon (ODE) inductees as well as departmental award winners were recognized for their accomplishments.
Enrique Martínez García, an economic policy advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, provided a talk on “Where Do Post-COVID Housing Markets Stand? A Shifting Outlook for Global Real Estate”.
Congratulations to all of our inductees and award winners! Keep up the good work!
Human Trafficking Data Conference a huge success
The SMU Human Trafficking Data Research (HTDR) Project Team and volunteers hosted the first-of-its-kind SMU Human Trafficking Data Conference! It was an amazing 2-day event of human trafficking experts working together to learn, ask questions, and network. Researchers, practitioners, law enforcement and governmental officials, nonprofit organizations, data scientists, and other stakeholders met to discuss the quality, availability, and efficacy of human trafficking data.
