The ECON LAB @ Roanoke College
Economic research for the greater good
On April 29th, The ECON LAB @ RC hosted its first fully in-person Mini-Conference where the six researchers showcased their research in front of a full house. Roanoke College wrote a nice article on the event highlighting Katherine Vaughan’s work: https://www.roanoke.edu/about/news/econ_lab_spring_2022
You can see the full agenda for the Mini-Conference below.
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.
Roanoke College penned an article about The ECON LAB and shared it on the College webpage. Check out what we are all about! https://www.roanoke.edu/about/news/econ_lab_student_research
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:
Jake Beardsley is an Economics and Math double major from Bakersfield, CA. He is researching access to and use of telemedicine during the pandemic.
Quinn Keatley of Richmond, VA is an Actuarial Science and Spanish double major at Roanoke College. She is exploring the relationship between small businesses and insurance. In particular, she is interested in protections small businesses have against disaster, including the COVID pandemic.
Theo is a senior economics major and math minor from Lexington, SC. He is researching the environmental impact of COVID-19, including the change in air pollution levels. Did air quality improve as fewer people drove to work? That is one of the questions Theo is investigating.
Want to watch the ~5:00 (each) presentations from each of The ECON LAB @ RC student researchers? They presented their work virtually today, but we recorded the event, so you can watch too. So, grab a coffee and watch their excellent work.
The eight researchers in The ECON LAB @ RC will present their research to an online audience on Wednesday November 18. For a look at their topics, check out the conference program.
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
The ECON LAB @ Roanoke College