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Winter 2023 Newsletter
Letter from the chair
I write to you in my role as Chair of the Economics Department. I succeeded Joe Ferrie in September. The pandemic began six months into Joe’s term, and he capably shepherded the department through three stressful years.
Northwestern has just completed the fall quarter, and we in the Department look forward to an exciting winter and spring. As many of you know, this is the time of year when we actively recruit both new faculty and the next cohort of Ph.D. students.
Ryan Family Gift
Funds from the historic $480 million Patrick and Shirley Ryan Family gift will establish the Morton Schapiro Center for Applied Economics at the Weinberg College. Announced in September 2021, this center will sponsor research powered by advanced computing and big data and facilitate intellectual debate, as well as giving students the skills to interpret and utilize large and complex data sets.
Alumni Spotlight
Emily Engel ’04 has been working at the Chicago Federal Reserve since 2004 and recently published a children’s book on the life and career of Janet Yellen, Janet Yellen: Challenge Accepted. She presented to our Womxn in Economics undergraduate group on her experiences, career trajectory, and current work.
PhD Spotlight
Awards for Distinguished Teaching Assistants and the Susan Bies Research Prizes were given out at our annual start-of-year department reception. See the full list of award winners and descriptions of the awards.
Undergraduate Spotlight
NU student Irena Petryk was recently awarded the 2023 Rhodes Scholarship! Irene is a senior at WCAS who is double majoring in Economics and International Studies. With her Rhodes Scholarship, Irena plans on pursuing a M.Sc. in Economics for Development at the University of Oxford. Learn more about Irena and the Rhodes Scholarship program.
Our Undergraduate Economics Society and Womxn in Economics student groups have been busy this year planning events and initiatives for their fellow economics students.
Faculty Updates
Our faculty have been busy this year advancing the bounds of economic scholarship, engaging the world and setting high standards for our students.
Podcast Recommendations
Podcasts are a great way to learn about an array of new and exciting topics as well as stay up to date with new developments in the field of economics. We are excited to offer some insightful podcast suggestions from our faculty members. Book recommendations will be back this summer, but in the meantime, please enjoy these podcasts!
Keep in Touch
This upcoming March, the Department will be hosting two conferences: the New Economic History of China Conference, organized by Joel Mokyr and Nancy Qian, and the Conference of Former Northwestern Econometrics Students, organized by Ivan Canay.
We would love to hear from you! Please stay in touch and informed of department news by adding us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Please nominate someone or fill out this form to be highlighted on our Alumni Spotlights page.
Finally, if you are interested in speaking to our students about your career (any field) or being featured in our newsletter, please reach out to James Harrington.