Each year, graduate students from the Department of Economics select representatives to serve as their voice in the department through the Graduate Economics Society (GES) and the Masters of Applied Economics (MAE) Student Leadership. Together, these envoys plan events, distribute information, and promote various opportunities on and off campus, as well as serve as point persons for other graduate students who have questions or concerns about graduate life and work.

The GES Co-Presidents for this year are fourth-year PhD students Mos Laoprapassorn, Jennifer Mayo, and Samuel Stern.

Mos Laoprapassorn initially began learning about economics in high school and found it provided her a critical optique and methodology to think about many issues she is interested in, noting how economics can be observed in almost every aspect of our lives and it also plays a very important role in public policy. Recognizing the important role GES plays in graduate students’ lives, Mos hopes to use her position to make a meaningful contribution to  encourage a closer communication between the department and students.

As a high school student Jennifer Mayo was first exposed to the field of economics and became captivated by its relevancy to current affairs—supplying tools and frameworks to understand how individuals, households, firms, governments, and societies make decisions. Jennifer chose to become involved with GES as a way to give back to the department and learn about a different side of life at Lorch Hall, and hopes in her role as GES co-president she can help ensure their agenda runs smoothly over this next year.

Samuel Stern discovered economics by reading pop economics books in high school. His interest deepened when he joined his high school Fed Challenge team. Sam appreciates how the discipline offers a lens with which to understand decision-making, the emergent characteristics of markets, and consequences of public policy, and believes it is important that we understand these topics to implement evidence-based policy. Acknowledging the work previous student leadership put in to supportung the graduate programs, Sam joined GES to do his part to help enrich the student experience. 

The Fall 2019 MAE Student Leadership are second-year masters students Xingyu Bai and Yenibel Cuevas Mendez. 

When Xingyu Bai graduated from high school, The Wealth of the Nations was a very popular book in China. Reading this, Xingyu found economics presented a reasonable framework to describe and explain economic development and wealth accumulation. Deeply intrigued, Xingyu’s exploration in economics—particularly that of the relationship of economics and capital market—began. Knowing firsthand how stressful and fast-paced graduate life can be, Xingyu realizes it will also soon just be a fond memory and aims to contribute to making it a more special and wonderful time for other students through his service with the MAE Student Leadership.

While attending a bachelors program for accounting, after taking a principles of economics course Yenibel Cuevas Mendez realized pursuing economics was a better path for her; attracted to the many useful tools provided to tackle various social problems. Beliving that having the support of a community is an important aspect of a healthy life, especially considering the workload of a masters program, Yenibel hopes participating in the MAE Student Leadership will help foster connections and promote collaboration within the department.