Congratulations to all the folks that participated in the Winchell Symposium of the Minnesota Academy of Science. Although our Economics session was rather small, it was great to see the other things that undergraduate economists are up to. I didn’t get the chance to check out the sessions in the hard sciences, but I can only assume, based on the large number of titles containing big words that I didn’t understand, that these were excellent as well.

I’m proud to report that my presentation, based on my senior thesis work, won Best of Session for Economics and Business. It’s heartening to know that not only are other people listening to what I have to say, but that they appreciate the work that went into my research.

When I was a younger economist (I know, that was like two years ago, but somehow it feels a lot longer than that), I thought I would hate research. Research is isolated, closed-off from the rest of the world, even irrelevant. It’s much more interesting to spread knowledge to others, I reasoned. I’ve certainly changed my opinion on that.

Perhaps nothing is more satisfying than feeling as if you’ve made a real contribution to the body of knowledge on a subject.

As the end of my college days draws nearer, it’s really interesting to look back on the past four years. It’s interesting not merely to be nostalgic, but to think about how I’ve gotten where I am today. Carleton has (single-handedly) turned me into an economist. Not an “I dabble in economic thought but don’t-quit-my-day-job” economist. I’m a proud economics nerd of the first degree. I drool over advanced statistical methods. I sit around and talk my my friends about international finance. I get up at 6AM on Saturday mornings to present my research!

How the hell did that happen? Whatever happened to that choir geek/computer geek/a cappella geek/swimmer geek that used to live here? How did I become this whole new class of geek?

College does weird things do you.

Posted on April 30th, 2006 by Lee
Filed under: Uncategorized