About

Present Your Undergraduate Research

What: Economic Scholars Program (ESP)

Where: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

The Economics Scholars Program (ESP) is a collaborative effort between Austin College and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas to foster the involvement of undergraduate economics students in all facets of research. The cornerstone of the ESP is the annual ESP Conference. Since 2007, student scholars and faculty from institutions across the U.S. and Canada have come together to share undergraduate student-initiated research.  UMW students have participated for the past 5 years, presenting research from their Econ 300, 361, 462, or 499 classes.

There are a variety of ways to participate:

Presenters
Current undergraduates who are conducting independent or coauthored original research in all fields of economics and finance are encouraged to submit a paper for consideration. Papers can be empirical, theoretical or analytical in nature. All papers submitted will be reviewed by the ESP Peer Review Board. Papers will be accepted based on the selection criteria detailed on the ESP website.

Poster Session Presenters
Current undergraduates who are conducting independent or coauthored original research in all fields of economics and finance are encouraged to submit a proposal for a poster session. Proposals can be research that is either completed or currently being conducted but with results to present. The poster session is a 45-minute session where presenters will interact directly with attendees, answering questions informally about their research.

Session Chairs
Current undergraduate students classified as a sophomore or higher who are interested in conducting research are encouraged to apply to be session chairs.

Discussants
Current undergraduate students who have completed coursework through intermediate microeconomics and macroeconomics and one course in statistics are welcome to apply. A background in econometrics is particularly useful.