Progress 11/15/09 to 11/14/10
Outputs
During this period (11/15/2009 to 11/14/2010), the project continues to employ the three students described in the previous progress report. The first student, Amanda Leister, has completed her coursework and preliminary examinations and completed her dissertation under the direction of Dr. Thomas Hertel. Her research investigated agricultural trade rules in the WTO, focusing specifically on the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM). Amanda used a combination of computable general equilibrium models and econometrics to analyze the potential implications of the SSM for world commodity markets, international trade and global poverty. A second student, Samantha Snyder, completed her core coursework and preliminary PhD examinations in 2009. Her research, under the supervision of Dr. Susan Chen and Dr. Raymond Florax, has focused on food markets and their consequences for nutrition and health, building on earlier work for which she won the department's outstanding M.S. thesis award. Samantha's dissertation research agenda is incorporating a range of other topics tied to urbanization, including housing, education, and economic development policies, paying particular attention to the less intended impacts and potential externalities arising from their implementation. The third student in our NNF program, Devin Roberson, came into the graduate program with a background in business rather than agricultural economics, and proceeded more slowly through coursework and exams. She recently shifted from Agricultural Economics to a PhD program in Political Science. PRODUCTS: During 2009-10 the product of this project has been continued preparation for PhD-level research. One PhD has been produced. OUTCOMES: One PhD. Additional outcomes will include a PhD in 2011, upon successful completion of the investment phase in 2007-10. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: Dissemination of the on-going research from Amanda Leister and Samantha Snyder has been through professional meetings and will occur through journal publications based on research. FUTURE INITIATIVES: Our principal future goal is to complete one research and training program outlined above, through Samantha Snyder's work on food markets.
Impacts
Impacts will be identified in the termination report, following the dissemination period.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 11/15/08 to 11/14/09
Outputs
During this period (11/15/2008 to 11/14/2009), the project continues to employ the three students described in the previous progress report. The first student, Amanda Leister, has completed her coursework and preliminary examinations and is progressing on a dissertation under the direction of Dr. Thomas Hertel. Her research investigates agricultural trade rules in the WTO, focusing specifically on the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM). Amanda is using a combination of computable general equilibrium models and econometrics to analyze the potential implications of the SSM for world commodity markets, international trade and global poverty. Amanda recently submitted an article on this to the World Bank Economic Review, co-authored with Dr. Thomas Hertel and a colleague. Amanda has been supplementing her coursework and research by taking advantage of other opportunities, such as teaching a course in mathematical economics for M.S. students in agricultural economics. She attended the IAAE last summer in Beijing and will travel to Brazil in January, 2010 as an instructor and facilitator for a short course given by the department's Center for Food and Agricultural Business. A second student, Samantha Snyder, also completed her core coursework and preliminary PhD examinations in 2009. Her research, under the supervision of Dr. Susan Chen and Dr. Raymond Florax, has focused on food markets and their consequences for nutrition and health, building on earlier work for which she won the department's outstanding M.S. thesis award. In 2009, Samantha and her advisors received a grant from the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan, using spatial econometrics to identify the impact of distance to various kinds of food markets. Their work on 'Obesity in Urban Food Markets: Evidence from Georeferenced Micro Data' was presented as a Selected Paper at the 2009 meetings of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association in Milwaukee. Looking forward, Samantha's dissertation research agenda is incorporating a range of other topics tied to urbanization, including housing, education, and economic development policies, paying particular attention to the less intended impacts and potential externalities arising from their implementation. In November 2009 she presented preliminary results from her research with Dr. Florax and Dr. Daniel McMillen on the effects of HUD's HOPE VI Program on private property values at the North American Regional Science Council's annual conference in San Francisco, California. The third student in our NNF program, Devin Roberson, came into the graduate program with a background in business rather than agricultural economics, and has been proceeding more slowly through coursework and exams. She has been discussing various courses for her future research with a number of Purdue faculty members. In 2009, she won a grant competition to spend the summer conducting research in Mali, but decided not to accept it so that she could take an additional course in Production Economics instead, in preparation for the core Preliminary Examination in January 2010. PRODUCTS: During 2008-09 the product of this project is continued preparation for PhD-level research; some intermediate products are listed above. OUTCOMES: Outcomes for this project are expected to begin in 2010, upon successful completion of the investment phase in 2007-08 and 2008-09. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: Dissemination of the on-going research from Amanda Leister and Samantha Snyder has begun as described above, through the professional meetings and journal publications. FUTURE INITIATIVES: Our principal future goals are to complete the three research and training programs outlined here, through Amanda Leister's dissertation and publications on how the Special Safeguard Mechanism in the WTO affects world trade and poverty; Samantha Snyder's work on food markets, nutrition and other aspects of urbanization in the United States; and Devin Roberson's research on agricultural development and trade more generally.
Impacts
Impacts will be identified as soon as outcomes are registered, following the dissemination period.
Publications
- S.E. Chen, R.J.G.M. Florax and S.D. Snyder, 2009. 'Obesity in Urban Food Markets: Evidence from Geo-referenced Micro Data'. Selected Paper presented at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, 26-28 July 2009, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Available online at http://purl.umn.edu/49512.
- S.E. Chen, R.J.G.M. Florax and S.D. Snyder, 2009. 'Does Where You Live Make You Fat Obesity and Access to Chain Grocers'. Purdue University, Department of Agricultural Economics Working Paper No. 09-11. Available online at http://purl.umn.edu/53838.
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Progress 11/15/07 to 11/14/08
Outputs
During this progress report period (11/15/2007 to 11/14/2008), the project continues to employ the three students recruited on schedule last year, two of whom started in August 2007 (Amanda Leister and Devin Roberson), and the third who began in January 2008 (Samantha Snyder). Their wide diversity of backgrounds is reflected in their coursework and research activities. Amanda Leister came to us with a farm background and previous work at University of Arizona (B.A. in Spanish and B.S. in Ag Econ) and Texas A&M (M.S. in Ag Econ), plus fieldwork in Latin America. In 2007-08 she performed very well over a full load of courses, and passed her microeconomics PhD preliminary exam in microeconomics in June 2008. Amanda is beginning to explore dissertation research topics under the supervision of Prof. Thomas Hertel. The second National Needs Fellow in this project is Devin Roberson from New York City, who came to us after an undergraduate degree at City College of New York in 1995, then a first career in business and a Master's degree from Brooklyn College. As expected, due to her less advanced preparation Devin is proceeding relativey slowly through coursework and exams, to ensure the high quality of eventual doctoral research. The third National Needs Fellow is Samantha Snyder, who came to us from Massachusetts with a B.A. from UNC-Chapel Hill in Economics and in Sociology, work experience in Portland, Oregon. Prior to entering the NNF program she had earned an M.S. in Agricultural Economics from Purdue. This gave her a head start on the PhD program, so was able to pass microeconomics prelim exam in June 2008, only six months after starting the NNF. She has already undertaken a promising research project on food markets, in collaboration with Prof. Susan Chen and Prof. Raymond Florax. PRODUCTS: During 2007-08 the products of this project is the preparation for PhD-level research obtained through coursework and related projects, as described in the progress report above. OUTCOMES: Outcomes for this project are expected to begin in 2010, upon successful completion of the investment phase in 2007-08 and 2008-09. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: Dissemination will begin to occur in 2009 and 2010, as the project nears completion. FUTURE INITIATIVES: Our principal future initiative will be to produce research results for presentation at national conferences, circulation in Working Paper form and eventual publication, as a foundation for the career contributions of our three fellowship recipients after completion of their PhD degrees.
Impacts
Impacts will be identified as soon as outcomes are registered, following the dissemination period.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 11/15/06 to 11/14/07
Outputs
The project has successfully recruited three dynamic and highly qualified students to work in this field. They were recruited on schedule: two started in August 2007 (Amanda Leister and Devin Roberson), and the third will begin in January 2008 (Samantha Snyder). They have a wide diversity of backgrounds, and were brought into our PhD program following the outreach plan described in our NNF proposal. The first fellowship recipient is Amanda Leister, who grew up on a farm in Arizona, was a Spanish and Ag Econ major at University of Arizona, and came to us after a M.S. in Ag Econ at Texas A&M with fieldwork in Latin America. The second is Devin Roberson of New York, who completed her undergraduate degree at City College of New York in 1995, then had a first career in business and earned a Master's degree from Brooklyn College before coming to Purdue with the NNF. Finally, we have Samantha Snyder of Massachusetts, who came to Purdue for a M.S. degree in 2005 to work in
spatial economics and community development, and was recruited into this NNF PhD program to start January 2008. This is a very promising group of fellowship recipients. The first semester's work for Amanda and Devin was challenging but had a very successful outcome as shown in the individual progress reports, and we expect equally strong coursework results from Samantha in the coming year. We expect research results and then publications from this work in 2010, based on their coursework over the coming two years. Beyond their academic strengths, these NNF students have already contributed significant diversity to the field thanks to their personal backgrounds described above (one rural, two urban; one with business experience, another with overseas experience and the third with spatial-economics skills), as well as diversity in terms of gender (three women) and ethnicity (one African-American). We believe that the launch of this project has been extremely successful, thanks to the
overall quality of Purdue's program and the specific recruitment efforts of department leadership and staff, including notably the head our graduate program, Prof. Kenneth Foster, and graduate coordinator, Ms. Lou Ann Baugh. In that context, the NNFs significantly enhanced Purdue's ability to attract strong students, launch their doctoral careers, and contribute to U.S. research and policy in this important field.
PRODUCTS: The products of this project to date have been to attract and support students in their first semester of coursework (for Amanda Leister and Devin Roberson) and to attract a third student (Samantha Snyder) to start project-related coursework in January 2008. Details of this coursework and results are provided in their individual progress reports.
OUTCOMES: Outcomes are not expected to begin until 2010. For 2007-08 and 2008-09 we will remain in the investment phase of the project.
DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: Dissemination activities are not expected to begin until 2010. For 2007-08 and 2008-09 we will remain in the investment phase of the project.
FUTURE INITIATIVES: Future initiatives are, as described in the project proposal, to produce research results for presentation at national conferences, circulation in Working Paper form and eventual publication, as a foundation for the career contributions of our three fellowship recipients after completion of their PhD degrees.
Impacts
Long-term impacts are not expected to be indentified until 2011 at the earliest.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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