Fall 2021 Mini-Conference

Watch the video of our student researchers presenting at our Fall 2021 Mini-Conference to get you ready for the Spring 2022 edition. Last semester seven students presented their research to a hybrid audience. Several Roanoke College faculty and staff listened to the presentations live in West Hall, while a large group of alumni and friends watched via Zoom. The students got several great questions from the live audience and the Zoom audience (through the chat feature.)

You can watch the presentations from the fall edition here.

You can read an excellent article on the conference and what the audience had to say here.

The Spring 2022 Mini-Conference will be in-person on April 29 in West Hall at Roanoke College. The visuals from each presentation will be posted here soon after that.

Comment submitted via Zoom chat from alumna Michelle Austen.

Students and faculty from The ECON LAB present at a national conference

Student researchers Theo Bookheimer and Eric Lee along with Professors Alice Kassens and Michael Enz shared their experiences, challenges, and adaptations made during the move from in person to online courses over the pandemic as a panel at the 32nd Annual Teaching Economics Conference hosted by Robert Morris University. Watch and hear what they shared. The format was a prepared Q and A between the faculty and students so each perspective is explored.

You can watch it here:

Researcher: George Gilbert

George Gilbert is a senior Economics major who is also getting concentrations in finance and accounting and is a member of the Men’s Lacrosse Team. After working at a car dealership, he became curious about the economic impact of COVID on that industry. In his own words:

“I will be examining the impact with which the pandemic has had on the automotive industry as a whole. The pandemic has brought the US economy back into its first recession since 2008. During the 2008 recession, the automotive industry was crushed. But, in 2020 the response to this recession has been quite different. Car sales have surpassed recent years and many car dealerships are on pace to break company records, even with many of them being shut down for some period of time. Not only will I be looking at the cause of this, but I will also be looking at the change in the market for cars, and determining whether or not prices have changed due to this increase in demand. Lastly, I will look at the downstream effect of the shutdown on automotive manufacturing and if this has also impacted the price and market for cars in 2020.”
-George Gilbert