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Director
College of Business Bldg 261
(307) 766-4931 | aadland@uwyo.edu
Website
Dr. David Aadland is the Director of the Center for Business and Economic Analysis (CBEA). He is an associate professor and the chair of the Department of Economics. He teaches Macroeconomics and Econometrics. His research interests have been wide and varied over the years. He has written papers in the areas of macroeconomics, non-market valuation, applied econometrics, behavioral economics, agricultural economics, and statistics. His recent research has focused on interdisciplinary natural resource questions and the intersection of ecology, epidemiology, entomology, and economics. In particular, he has been working on projects related to pine beetle epidemics, ecological impacts of energy development, and the economics of chronic wasting disease. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Oregon.
Director of Outreach and Engagement
College of Business Bldg 362
aalex@uwyo.edu
Website
Anne Alexander served as Interim Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of Wyoming. She earned her Ph.D. in Economics at UW, and her Master’s and BBA in Economics from New Mexico State University. Dr. Alexander’s research and teaching focuses on the history of American capitalism, international economics, and health economics. She regularly speaks to statewide audiences and state and national media about the status of the Wyoming, US, and global economies. She produces an annual economic and statewide engagement report on the impacts of the University on the state, and she has authored several publications on the political and economic impacts of transboundary pandemics and the productivity effects of various diseases. Prior to her position in Academic Affairs, she was the Director of International Programs and Associate Dean of Outreach at UW. She has also served as a Resources Economist in the U.S. Department of State, Assistant Dean of the UW College of Business, and Director of the interdisciplinary Health Economics Policy Center at UW. She is an alumni of Leadership Wyoming, Class of 2013.
Energy Economist
College of Business Bldg 366
agebben@uwyo.edu
Alex Gebben is an Energy Economist conducting research with the Center for Business and Economic Analysis. He holds a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering and graduate degrees in Mineral and Energy Economics from the Colorado School of Mines. This background has led him to diverse research topics in the areas of ground water management, oil industry incentives, and unconventional methods of lithium recovery. He is particularly interested in how the industries of oil and gas, wind, geothermal, and nuclear power embody the responsive relationships between policy, natural resources, and economic outcomes. Before joining the CBEA he conducted research projects in conjunction with the Critical Materials Institute, as well as the USDA. Alex is an avid fly fisherman with a love for the outdoors, as well as a self-taught programmer.
Director of Energy Policy
College of Business Bldg 276
(307) 766-3843 | rgodby@uwyo.edu
Website
Dr. Rob Godby is an associate professor in the Economics Department at UW, and Acting Associate Dean of the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources. He also serves as the Deputy Director of the University of Wyoming’s Center for Energy Regulation and Policy (CERP). Additionally, he serves as a Daniel’s Fund Ethics Initiative Faculty Fellow and is an adjunct faculty member with the MBA program at Pforzheim University in Germany. Outside his academic duties, Rob was appointed to serve on the State of Wyoming’s Consensus Revenue Estimating Group in 2019. His research areas include natural resource, energy and environmental economics, industrial organization, and macroeconomic policy. He is often interviewed by national and international news media on energy and macroeconomic issues. Outside of work, Rob enjoys spending time being walked by his dogs. His other passions include sports-car and bicycle racing, both of which he has participated in rather unsuccessfully.
Senior Research Economist
College of Business Bldg 367
mhollan9@uwyo.edu
Morgan graduated with a PhD in economics from Florida State University in 2022 with research interests in the economics of automation, corporate finance, human capital, and the economics of disability. In addition, Morgan worked as an economic consultant for the FSU Center for Economic Forecasting and Analysis, pursuing applied research projects in a wide variety of fields. Today, Morgan focuses on economic research in the tourism and hospitality sectors in Wyoming. He is especially interested in researching and promoting policies that will help Wyoming take full advantage of its outdoor recreation resources while preserving them for future generations. Morgan also provides support services to stakeholders in the tourism and hospitality sector through economic research and analysis.
Interim Vice Provost; Digital, Distance, and Online Education
College of Business Bldg 380W
(307) 766-2858 | bencook@uwyo.edu
Website
Dr. Benjamin Cook serves as the Interim Associate Vice Provost for Online, Distance and Digital Education as well as the Director of MBA and Online Graduate Programs in the College of Business. Dr. Cook received his PhD and Bachelor’s in Economics from the University of Wyoming and spent eight years as the Sr. Energy Economist for the Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute (EORI) prior to his administrative roles at UW. Dr. Cook specializes in applied energy economics and finance with subject matter work in oil & gas operations, enhanced oil recovery (EOR), CO2 capture, storage, and utilization (CCUS) and techno-economic project feasibility assessments. As a faculty member in the Department of Economics, and Faculty Fellow for the Center for Business & Economic Analysis (CBEA), Dr. Cook's project work is in partnerships with various public and private entities to derive actionable insights for policymakers and business decision-makers.
Professor, Agriculture & Applied Economics
Agriculture Bldg 2316C
(307) 766-5539 | coupal@uwyo.edu
Website
Dr. Roger Coupal is the Department Head and Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Wyoming. His areas of expertise and teaching interests include natural resource policy, community development, economic impact analysis, and public lands policy. Coupal’s objective is to provide educational opportunities and information for community groups and public officials engaged in policy issues that reside in the nexus of community development and natural resource policy. He holds a PhD from Washington State University.
Associate Director, GFRC, UIC
ckhalaf@uwyo.edu
Website
Dr. Christelle Khalaf is the associate director of the Government Finance Research Center at the University of Illinois Chicago. Previously, she worked as the associate director of the CBEA. She continues to provide support to the CBEA as needed, especially as it pertains to the CORE-CM project.
Assistant Professor of Educational Research
Education 312
307-766-3187 | mperki17@uwyo.edu
Website
Dr. Mark Perkins is an associate professor of Educational Research Methods in the College of Education. He was formally the director of institutional research at Laramie County Community College. He currently serves on the Wyoming State Longitudinal Educational Data System. His research interests include the connection between local and state economies and educational systems. Methodologically, he has interests in R programming, psychometrics, structural equation modeling, machine learning, but also conducts qualitative research studies with particular interests in Grounded Theory and Phenomenology. His Ph.D. is from Colorado State University.
Assistant Professor, Agriculture & Applied Economics
Agriculture Bldg
(307) 766-2386 | avansand@uwyo.edu
Website
Anders Van Sandt is an Assistant Professor of Regional Economics and a Community Development Extension Specialist in the department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Wyoming. Dr. Van Sandt also serves as a Faculty Fellow with the Center for Business and Economic Analysis and is an active member of multiple applied economics and Extension associations. He received his Ph.D. in Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics from Colorado State University and his BA in Economics from Linfield University. His extension and research efforts revolve around promoting economic development by exploring rural-urban linkages, diversification of local industries, entrepreneurship, and community and industry interdependencies. Dr. Van Sandt’s current projects include increasing rural healthcare access through community engagement, leveraging community strengths for greater economic and environmental resilience, and working with restricted-access microdata through Federal Statistical Research Data Centers to model industry location decisions.
Research Assistant
College of Business Bldg 362
ebryant4@uwyo.edu
Eli Bryant is a second-year M.S. student in the Department of Economics. He is interested in economic development, environmental economics, natural resource economics, and statistics. Born in Laramie, he has had the pleasure of enjoying many outdoor activities including fly fishing, rock climbing, and hiking. He hopes his time working on a variety of projects as a research assistant in the CBEA will prepare him for a long and successful career.
Research Assistant
College of Business Bldg 363
smukher1@uwyo.edu
Srutakirti Mukherjee is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Economics at UWyo. Her areas of interest are conservation economics, natural resource and environmental economics, and energy economics. She holds a master's degree in Economics from the University of Calcutta, India.
Research Assistant
College of Business Bldg 365
snevels@uwyo.edu
Steven is pursuing his Masters degree in Economics and will be graduating this spring. He received his Bachelor's degree from The Ohio State University in 2020, majoring in Agribusiness and Applied Economics. His professional interests include forestry, energy and agriculture.
Previous Research Assistant
College of Business Bldg 363
klima@uwyo.edu
Kiptia Lima is a second-year master’s student in the Department of Economics at UW and will be working as a graduate assistant this summer. She did her bachelor's from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Her areas of interest are public goods provision, environmental economics, and behavioral economics. She will be working on the Pilot Hill project for CBEA. Kiptia loves to read books and watch movies in her spare time.
Previous Research Assistant
College of Business Bldg 363
izapatam@uwyo.edu
Irene Zapata Morán is a second-year Ph.D. student at UW in the Economics Department. Irene received her BS in Biology from UNAM (México) in 2015, and her MSc in Environmental Economics from CIDE (México) in 2018. Her interests are the use and conservation of Biodiversity. Irene enjoys Laramie's landscapes hiking with her dogs and taking care of her yard.
Previous Research Assistant
College of Business Bldg 363
rpompa@uwyo.edu
Rachel Pompa is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Economics at UW and will be earning a MS in Economics in 2021. She completed a BS in mathematics and a BA in economics at the University of Minnesota – Duluth. Some of her current research uses behavioral and experimental economics to examine the effects of nudges in nonprofit organizational settings. Other research she has worked on has been in the areas of COVID-19, species migration, and climate change relating to agricultural policies and practices.
Previous Research Assistant
Originally from California, Bethany King came to the University of Wyoming in 2016 to pursue her BS in Economics and Environmental Systems Science. She continued her education at UW earning a MS in Economics in 2021. Bethany worked as a research assistant at the CBEA for both years of her master’s degree. This experience has been invaluable at her new position as a Research Economist at Western Washington University’s Center for Economic and Business Research.
Previous Research Assistant
Born in Laramie, Wyoming, Dylan Bainer is now a Principal Economist for the state of Wyoming's Economic Analysis Division. In the spring of 2020, he graduated from the University of Wyoming with a Master's in Economics and a Bachelor's in Mathematics. In his free time, Dylan likes to play tennis and spend time with family and friends.
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