My Background

Prior to Graduate School...

I was born and raised in North Platte, Nebraska. I graduated from Hershey High School in 1999, where I played basketball and ran track and cross-country. I received my bachelor's degrees in Mathematics and Economics in 2003 from Doane College in Crete, southwest of Lincoln, Nebraska.

In Graduate School...

I specialized in Industrial Organization, Public Economics, and Econometrics. My dissertation is a compilation of three essays on Regulation in Environmental Economics. The first is an essay on the effectiveness of state renewable energy policies. The second essay explains the theory behind cost inefficiencies in the Sulfur Dioxide Trading Program resulting from long-term coal contract constraints or rigidities. The third essay runs model simulations that estimate the actual inefficiencies caused by long-term coal contracts. I have finished teaching my fourth and final semester of ECP 3302: Environmental Economics. Although I may never teach again, I have enjoyed my time as an instructor and will take away many lessons from my experiences. I will graduate in August with my PhD in Economics from the Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida.

After Graduate School...

I have accepted a position at the Office of Applied Economics (OAE) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) where I will be researching life-cycle costs and environmental impacts of products used in the construction industry for the Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability (BEES) software. Eventually I will work on aggregating this research to determine the life-cycle costs and environmental impacts of entire buildings. I am excited about my opportunities at NIST and feel I will enjoy working with my future coworkers, who seem social and energetic about their work.