Application Deadline: March 22, 2024
The Department of Economics, University of Maryland, College Park is inviting applications for two trainees for a new predoctoral program. This program will bring students to campus for one year of research experience under faculty supervision and for advanced course work. Trainees who successfully complete the pre-doctoral year will be invited to enroll in the UMD PhD program (with full funding) without further application.
The program seeks to prepare students from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in the economics profession for graduate work by providing relevant research experience and the opportunity to take additional courses, such as upper-level math and statistics, and to promote long-term investment in mentoring that extends from the pre-doctoral year through completion of the PhD.
Trainees will receive a salary of $45,000 for the 12- month pre- doctoral appointment. The trainees will be eligible for UMD benefits, including medical, prescription, and dental plans. Tuition for one course per semester is included in the compensation package, and trainees may attend class and complete some coursework obligations during the workday. Trainees will also participate in seminars with faculty and graduate students.
Roles/Responsibilities
During the pre-doctoral year, trainees will provide research assistance to one or two faculty in their fields of interest. Potential projects include
- Working with Dr. Boragan Aruoba on empirical macroeconomics
- With Dr. Jessica Goldberg on the design, implementation, and analysis of a randomized evaluation of a women’s economic empowerment initiative in Tanzania
- With Dr. Guido Kuersteiner on new methods in econometrics
- With Dr. Daniel Reck on either tax compliance or an experiment to learn about reference dependent preferences
- With Dr. Chenyu Yang on modeling government procurement efficiency.
Eligibility
- A Bachelors’ degree
- Solid performance in relevant coursework including intermediate microeconomics, intermediate macroeconomics, calculus 2, and econometrics
- A strong interest in pursuing a PhD in economics
- Some prior exposure to research in economics or the social sciences and some statistical programming experience in Stata, R, Matlab, Python, or other packages, or experience with other programming and research methods for the social sciences are desirable. Additional training will be provided
Application Details
- Two-page statement of purpose that describes applicant’s current course work preparation for graduate school in economics
- Any relevant research experience, including knowledge of statistical analysis packages and other programming tools; and research interests, whether specific research questions or more general topic areas
- Copies of transcripts
- Letter of recommendation that addresses suitability for pre-doctoral training and a subsequent PhD at the University of Maryland
The complete application should be sent by by email to ja****@um*.edu, with the subject line “PADE Pre Doctoral Recommendation — ApplicantLastname.”
