University of Vermont: Economics Department

Congrats to Spencer Ahearn UVM Econ 2023 on his new position at Axillon Aerospace!

Congrats to Brock D. Gibian UVM Econ 2016 on his new position!

Congrats to George Bull UVM Econ 2020 on his new position!

Congrats to Harrison Creamer UVM Econ 2023 on his new position!

Congrats to Charlie Cribb UVM Econ 2024 on his new position!

Alumni spotlight - Paul Smith ℅ 1991: After graduating from UVM in 1991, Paul attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he completed his PhD in economics. During his time at UVM, Paul states that “UVM gave me the skills I needed, particularly some of the more rigorous, math-based courses, which helped prepare me for the transition to graduate school.” Paul also took advantage of the study abroad resources on campus, spending a semester in Stockholm Sweden, where he “learned so much about the political economy and how countries interact, and that breadth of experience was very transformational.” Following his completion of graduate school, Paul entered the centralized job market for PhD economists, organized by the American Economics Association (AEA). The AEA has an annual meeting every January where freshly graduated PhD economists like Paul are connected with employers, mainly in academia and government entities. Paul recalls “You’d set up interviews, and you’d go to as many as you possibly could within the three-day conference.” Through this process, Paul landed a position at the US Treasury Department, where he worked analyzing and developing tax policy proposals. Paul remembers this position very fondly, “It was a very interesting position because the US has a wildly complex tax system, where social programs are run through our tax system, and I learned so much.” After six years with the Treasury Department, Paul moved on to working in the Fed, where he has been ever since, apart from a brief stint in 2010-2011 where he was selected to serve a one-year rotation as a senior economist on the Council of Economic Advisers in the White House. During his time in the Fed Paul has enjoyed working on economic and financial analysis research, which he finds to be both fast-paced and exciting. He has also found a fantastic community of individuals within the workplace. Paul states, “It is super motivating to be in the public sector, where your job has a public service component to it, and I think my coworkers are also motivated by the same drive to make the world a better place. Many of the people I work with are both public-minded and optimistic. Additionally, the economics workplace is very global, with many coworkers bringing different backgrounds and perspectives.” To anyone interested in following a path similar to Paul's, he recommends “keep an open mind, and to always maintain a growth mindset, where you always focus on learning and developing new skills.” Paul Smith and Elizabeth Kiser will be coming to campus October 24th in Perkins 003 from 2:50pm - 4:05pm for a discussion about their work and opportunities at the Fed.

Congrats to Benjamin Silverman UVM Econ 2010 on keeping up his impressive credentials!

Congrats to Cara Girardi UVM Econ 2021 on her new position!

Congrats to Leanne Card UVM Econ 2019 on her new position as Program Manager at Collins Aerospace!

Fed Challenge Student Spotlight: Sidney Le and Moa Clementson As the presentation date for the Fed Challenge of Oct 18th approaches, competitors Sidney Le, Moa Clementson, and their eighth other teammates, are gearing up their preparations. The final product will be a 15-minute presentation where they share their analysis of the current state of the economy, forecast future trends, discuss risks the economy is facing, and ultimately, provide a monetary policy recommendation based on the information they have collected. After this, they must be prepared for a 15-minute Q&A session where judges from the Fed ask high level questions about their analysis. The group meets every Thursday with Professor Sicotte, where everyone participates in discussing the Fed’s most recent moves and the newest economic data releases. This is an environment unlike many group projects, where one or two people carry the weight, this is an all hands on deck effort. “This is different from a traditional group project, everyone is pulling their weight, everyone wants to contribute, and everyone wants to be here,” Sidney states. Moa adds “it is a very positive team environment, where everyone is both passionate and interested.” At the beginning of the challenge, all the preparation ahead seemed like a daunting task, but as everything has fallen into place, the anxiety surrounding the competition for Sidney and Moa has shifted to excitement. The group started their preparation by individually taking deep dives into the parts of the economy that interested them the most. This led to coverage on labor markets, inflation, wage growth, GDP, and other important economic indicators. Sidney described this as “a huge learning process, where I had so much to relearn,” but she added that the previous economics classes she had taken provided a very solid base for her to build her knowledge. Moa expressed that she is interested in going into public policy when she returns to Sweden, and how this process of finding and applying economic information will be an invaluable experience in her field. In addition to gaining a strong background in economic research, Sidney and Moa also felt that they were developing other essential skills. Sidney highlighted her development of presentation skills throughout the course, “every class, everyone presents their own findings to the group,” this is of course in addition to the final presentation. Moa added that “everyone is coming to their own conclusions about complicated information,” pointing to the strong development that the group is seeing with their critical thinking skills. When asked if they would recommend the Fed Challenge to others in the future, neither Moa nor Sidney hesitated, “definitely.” (Pictured from left to right: Sidney Le, Moa Clementson, Lia Haram, Olivia Hatch, Tyler Corrow, Eric Bhave, Ari Menezes, Will Oliver. Not pictured: Nava Roskes, Prosper Velazquez)