Students impress at 5th Annual Economics Symposium

During Research and Engagement Day last Wednesday, sixteen seniors presented as part of the 5th Annual Bryant Economic Undergraduate Symposium. The students were all part of Dr. Ramesh Mohan’s Applied Macroeconomics Case Studies class.

The students presented their semester-long research projects on topics ranging from An Empirical Analysis on the Recipe for a Successful Congressional Bid to Offshoring and the Effects on American IT Workers.

Said Economics professor, Chris Briggs, “I thought it was a great experience. The students had a chance to present their ideas in a professional setting, and I had the chance to see what topics interested them. The issues brought up were extremely timely and had significant policy implications.”

Jack Trifts, professor of Finance said, “the symposium gave me the opportunity to see the results of some very high quality student research and also a glimpse into how other faculty design their courses. Professor Mohan is preparing his students well.”

The Symposium spanned the majority of the day and was attended by various Economics faculty as well as various students. One of the presenters, Ryan Busby said, “I thought there were a lot of interesting topics, and it was good to see ordinary students come to check out the research we had done.”

At the end of the day, Professor Mohan presented an award for the most creative presentation to Alli Afifi for her paper titled, “An Analysis of the Relationship between Environmental Quality and Economic Development.”

Three other students were also presented with awards for the high-quality of their presentations: David Fiorino for his paper titled “PIGS Debt Crisis,” Karissa Guerette for “Crime Rates in New England Cities: Has the Negative Economy Affected This?” and Joseph Cunningham for “An Empirical Analysis on the Recipe for a Successful Congressional Bid.”

Additionally, Jacquelyn Ammirato was awarded a one year subscription to the Wall Street Journal for her paper entitled “The Effect of Home Ownership on Household Savings in the United States.”