Collaborative Research: Summer Training Program to Broaden Participation in Graduate Education in Economics

Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI

Investigators

Abstract

This award funds efforts by Michigan State University and Western Michigan University in hosting the American Economic Association Summer Training Program. The goal of the AEASTP is to help talented undergraduate students advance their technical skills and conduct research in economics in preparation for studies at the doctoral level. The program is open to all qualified students regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender. Organizers make special efforts to recruit students from groups under-represented in the economics profession. The program combines research experience with intensive coursework and career mentoring in a residential experience. Instructors in the program include both leading economists and a cohort of Summer Fellows, graduate students in economics who serve as mentors for the students. Fellows get training in inclusive teaching methods and benefit from access to the faculty instructors, who work with both students and fellows as research mentors. The award will also fund a program evaluation effort that includes both ongoing efforts and long term outcomes. The road to successful Ph.D. study in economics can be a rocky one, especially for students coming from minority-serving institutions and institutions that do not have a strong research focus. Obstacles include undergraduate economics curricula that are often oriented towards the most popular student career goal - business - than Ph.D. study, a lack of familiarity with the application process, and financial limitations. One consequence is that several important demographic groups are under-represented on economics faculties in the U.S.. Over the course of this award, hundreds of students will be able to successfully advance to become mature researchers in economics and related social sciences. Their experiences will be instrumental in their later careers in allowing them to use a strong professional network to help them foster a more inclusive environment in their own teaching and research efforts. By broadening participation in the economics profession, the program will have a positive and lasting impact on shaping professional research agendas in economics and related fields to the benefit of the United States.