This year marks another term of hard work paid off as students plan to move forward beyond the Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics. Congratulations to our 2018 graduates.
A total of 32 undergraduate students within the department received their diplomas last month. Pictured to the left is undergraduate student Cedric Nwafor, who served as this year’s commencement speaker. Nwafor is the founder of ROOTS Africa, a student-led organization that strives to combat poverty and hunger through agricultural innovation and education. Nwafor plans to continue his work with ROOTS Africa and eventually turn the student-operated program into a 501C3 organization.
Other graduates will move on to organizations ranging from The Peace Corps to the U.S. House of Representatives to JP Morgan Chase & Co. In addition, several students have been accepted to graduate schools such as Cornell University, the Economics Development program at Vanderbilt University, Yale University and more.
Three graduate students were also recognized at the commencement ceremony and will be receiving their Ph.D.s this summer. Pictured to the right is graduate Uttara Balakrishnan with her advisor, Associate Professor Pamela Jakiela. Balakrishnan will be a research economist at IMPAQ International, a social science research firm dedicated to evaluating and enhancing education, human services, health and international development programs. Wenjun Wang, pictured below with Balakrishnan, and John Roberts were also acknowledged at the ceremony. Wang will move on to be an associate with the Agricultural Bank of China and Roberts will take on the role of research analyst within the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
