Major: Economics
Minor: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Hometown: Cumberland, RI
What makes the College of Arts and Sciences at URI unique?
The flexibility of the College of Arts and Sciences is definitely one thing that makes it unique. I felt that there was a lot of freedom in the classes I could take beyond my major and the GenEds. This allowed me to explore classes that I was interested in and helped me to find my minor.
What accomplishments and activities are you most proud of doing while at URI?
I’m most proud to graduate from URI knowing that I had involvement in the many different aspects of campus. During my sophomore year I became a part of the tour guide team. This was a great opportunity for me to interact with prospective students and their parents. This also gave me the chance to work with other URI students and faculty members who I otherwise wouldn’t have met. In addition to this I’ve had the chance to serve on the executive board of my fraternity, Sigma Chi, for the past two years. This has helped me to grow as a person socially, professionally, and academically. During my junior year, I also participated in an Alternative Spring Break trip led by the URI Service Corps. Our trip was to Northern California where we served the community in several areas affected by wildfires. This was a very eye opening experience and showed me the impact of service.
What research projects, internships, and/or study abroad programs did you participate in at URI? How did they enhance your education?
As a part of my Innovation and Entrepreneurship minor, I took a course in engineering entrepreneurship. In this course we were broken down into teams. Each team was tasked with designing a form of wearable technology and then presenting to the class how we could turn our product into a business. My team and I were able to develop a fitness tracker and app for people who are mobility-impaired. The app enabled those with impairments to participate in fitness challenges with friends who don’t have physical impairments. My team had the only two non-engineering students in the course and I was able to learn a lot about working with students of other disciplines
In the fall semester of my senior year I completed the ECN 445 course which is a senior research seminar in economics. Each senior seminar section covers a different topic, my section covered monetary policy. For this class we were also broken up into teams and each week we would research and present on different concepts and real world world events found in or involving monetary policy. We then took the information we gathered across the semester and created a presentation on the state of the economy and monetary policy. My team was chosen to represent the university at the Regional Fed Challenge in Boston. Competing in the Boston Fed Challenge allowed me to utilize everything I had learned over my time at URI and see how much knowledge I gained in economics.
What do you value about your liberal arts education?
I value that my liberal arts education has made me a more well rounded individual. I’ve gained knowledge in several disciplines and found a way to relate this back into my major even when you would not expect there to be any overlap.
What’s next for you?
I hope to pursue a career in data analytics. After establishing myself in this field, I hope to further my education by attending graduate school and working towards an MBA.