I am originally from Washington State, where I received my undergraduate degree at the University of Puget Sound. In 2008, I entered the Krannert Economics Ph.D. Program. I am currently a 5th year Ph.D. student and am on the job market this year.

My primary research interests are in Labor Economics. My job market paper investigates the effect of peers on high school sports teams on a student athlete’s academic performance. Using unique data from several large high schools that matches detailed academic transcripts with student level sports participation data, I find that varsity teammate peers are a relevant group of peers for high school athletes and have a significant effect on a student athlete’s academic performance. I additionally find substantial nonlinearities in peer effects and that the variance or heterogeneity of a team’s academic composition has a significant effect on the strength of peer effects. I was awarded the Purdue Research Foundation Grant in 2010-2011 for this research paper.

At Purdue University, I have taught Labor Economics twice and additionally have taught Principles of Microeconomics. I earned the Krannert Award for Distinguished Teaching in all three of the courses I taught.