Sophomore Juan Barbecho, a mathematics and economics and finance double major at the University of Delaware, recently had the opportunity to participate in the University of Chicago’s Expanding Diversity in Economics (EDE) Summer Institute, a program hosted by the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI).

The EDE Summer Institute is specifically designed for first- and second-year undergraduates from diverse backgrounds, offering them a chance to develop their skills and expertise in economics.

At UD, the finance major is part of the curriculum in UD’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, while the mathematics and economics major is part of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Barbecho was alerted to the program when he received a mass email from Elizabeth Bayley, an assistant professor of economics in Lerner College. Bayley highlighted opportunities like being introduced to Stata and intermediate microeconomics, as well as the potential for networking with professors from the University of Chicago, with whom Barbecho hopes to work with in the future.

“I love that economics is an area where there is huge potential to make positive change in the world,” Barbecho said. “Being able to contribute to bettering people's lives and inform policy makers on issues they may have never thought of is very inspiring.”

Jens Schubert, an associate professor of economics, also helped Barbecho with his application to the highly competitive program, which chose 45 undergraduate students from more than 650 applicants.

"This was a terrific opportunity for Juan,” Schubert said. “The program is highly competitive, and it provided Juan with opportunities to practice and expand his quantitative skills early in his academic career by learning from the University of Chicago and Becker Friedman Institute faculty."

The EDE program, which was launched by the institute in 2021, took place from June 8-30 on the University of Chicago campus. The students came from 31 universities across 16 states, with 96% of them first- or second-year undergraduate students holding an average GPA of 3.8. There is little diversity among economics majors compared to other fields, according to the institute’s website, which cited an unnamed study that reported women account for 28.4% of the nation’s economics majors, while just 14.7% of economics majors are Black, Hispanic or Native American. The institute says on its website that diversity is important because it can inform research questions and lead to unanticipated answers, while a broader range of perspectives will enhance the field’s contributions to public policy and society.

During the application process, Barbecho had to provide his academic background, coursework, extracurricular activities and a letter of recommendation. He was required to write a candidate statement, in which he expressed his interest in addressing issues related to car-centric infrastructure and its effects on the economies of low-income communities.

“I hope to build my research toolkit,” Barbecho said. “Since I knew I wanted to do research at some point in my college years, I thought this program would be a great first step. I hope it prepares me well for future research projects I may do with UD’s economics faculty.”

Barbecho said the month-long program exceeded his expectations.

"I was surprised at how close I got with my peers at the program," Barbecho said.

The program began with three days of intense quantitative skill-building, including training in Stata programming. The students then received two weeks of coursework led by University of Chicago faculty, including instruction in microeconomic analysis and introductory econometrics. A data project for small groups allowed participants to select a topic of their choice and hone their data analysis skills in Stata, presenting their findings to the cohort, staff and scholars.

The program reinforced Barbecho’s interest in financial mathematics and he said he envisions pursuing graduate studies in this field.

“I've gained a lot of invaluable connections with peers from schools across the country,” Barbecho said. “It is gratifying to think that someday I might work with them or study with them as we all have a shared passion for economics and going to grad school.”