IUP was well-represented at the thirty-eighth annual Pennsylvania Economic Association Conference held in Slippery Rock, PA, from May 30 to June 1, 2024.
Current IUP undergraduate economics/finance double majors Caleb Johnson and Shagufta Haque won first place in the PEA Best Undergraduate Paper Contest and were presented with plaques and a monetary award for their paper, “Female Labor Force Participation Rates in South Asia.” Johnson attended the PEA conference to formally present an overview of their econometric model and data regression analysis. Johnson received a travel grant award through the IUP School of Graduate Studies and Research to attend the conference and present this research, which is an extension of work completed across two undergraduate econometrics courses.
Two IUP graduate students also attended this year’s PEA conference. “Determinants of Economic Growth in Alliance of Sahel States (ASS) Countries: An Empirical Investigation” was presented by IUP MBA student Martin Kimani, whose research is co-authored with Brian Sloboda and IUP faculty member Yaya Sissoko. Current IUP MS—Applied Mathematics student Angel Alcantara (BA—Economics, ’23) presented “Rural-Urban Differences in SNAP Participation: A Panel Data Analysis of Pennsylvania Counties,” which was co-authored with Kaleb Kolesar (BA—Economics, ’23) and IUP faculty member James Jozefowicz.
IUP alumni Lucas Mafrica (BA—Economics, ‘17), who recently completed a PhD—Economics program at another university, and Jennifer Roy (PhD—Business, ‘22) delivered research presentations during concurrent sessions. As part of conference activities, IUP faculty members Todd Potts, Yaya Sissoko, James Jozefowicz, and Stephanie Brewer Jozefowicz, presented research projects and/or participated in the PEA board of directors’ meeting. Stephanie Brewer Jozefowicz continues to serve as the organization’s secretary.
Caleb Johnson
Jennifer Roy, Stephanie Brewer Jozefowicz, James Jozefowicz, Nikki Chase, Caleb Johnson, Todd Potts, Angel Alcantara, Lucas Mafrica, Martin Kimani, and Yaya Sissoko