Faculty Awards & Honors

• Rank of the Department
• The Department has maintained its strength as a top-ranked program for over two decades.
• Award Winning Faculty
• AREC faculty are among the most distinguished in the profession.
• Policy Experience of Faculty
• AREC faculty are renowned for their policy expertise.
• Professional Leadership of Faculty
• AREC faculty are leaders of learned societies in the Department's primary fields.
• Editorial Experience of the Faculty
• AREC faculty have served as editors and on editorial boards of the major scholarly journals in the Department's primary fields.

Employment Placement of Recent Graduates

Students receiving recent graduate degrees from the Department have found employment in choice academic positions and the best international organizations.

• Placement of graduate students in academic positions
  Glenn Sheriff, Columbia University
  Sumeet Gulati, University of British Columbia, Canada
  Charles Towe, University of Maryland
  Gregmar Galinato, Washington State University
  Michele Baggio, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
  Beat Hintermann. ETH Zurich, Switzerland
  Marcella Veronesi, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
  Xiangping Liu, North Carolina State University
  Dimitrios Reppas, University of Manchester, UK
  Chad Lawley, University of Manitoba, Canada
  Angelo Zago, University of Verona, Italy
  Anmol Ratan, Monash University, Australia
  Ricardo Smith-Ramirez, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (Center for Research and Teaching in Economics, also known as CIDE), Mexico
  Constant Tra, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
  Sarah Adelman, Mount Holyoke College
  Timothy Fitzgerald, Montana State University
  Craig Landry, East Carolina State University
  Shaikh Mahfuz Rahman, Texas Tech University
  Oscar Cristi, Universidad del Desarrolla, Santiago, Chile
  Oscar Melo, Ponticia Universidad Catalica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
  Ravissa Suchato, Kasetsart University, Thailand
  Mohammed Helal Uddin, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

• Placement of graduate students in U.S. government agencies
  Nathaniel Higgins, USDA Economic Research Service, Washington DC
  Roger Claassen, USDA Economic Research Service, Washington DC
  Conrad Choiniere, Food and Drug Administration
  Andrew Stocking, Congressional Budget Office, Washington DC
  Dennis Guignet, National Center for Environmental Economics, US EPA, Washington DC
  Heather Klemick, National Center for Environmental Economics, US EPA, Washington DC
  Stephen Kasperski, National Marine Fisheries Service, Seattle
  Geret DePiper, National Marine Fisheries Service, Woods Hole

• Placement of graduate students in major international organizations
  Yabei Zhang, World Bank, Washington DC
  Lopamudra Chakraborti, World Bank, Washington DC
  Jotsyna Puri, United Nations, New York, NY
  Michelle Brock, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, London, UK
  Daniel Gilligan, IFPRI, Washington DC
  Gustavo Anriquez, FAO, Rome, Italy
  Hernan Gonzalez, United Nations Development Programme, Santiago, Chile
  Ekaterina Krivonos, Economic Commission for Latin American and Carribbean, Santiago, Chile

• Placement of graduate students in other positions
  Lucija Muehlenbachs, Resources for the Future, Washington DC
  Paramita Sinha, RTI International, Research Triangle, North Carolina
  Tulika Narayan, ABT Associates Inc.

Quality of the Educational Experience

The Department strives to offer the highest quality educational experience in agricultural & resource economics.

• A major emphasis is on engaging students in publishable research starting in their first year.
  The Department offers annual awards for graduate student performance:
  
  1. The Rhona Lantin Award for the best paper written by a first-year graduate student.
  2. The Bessie H. Duvault Award for the best paper written by a second-year graduate student.
  3. The Billy V. and Mary Lessley Award for the best dissertation.
  These awards are accompanied by a substantial cash reward. They encourage students to think about writing publishable research papers, the bread-and-butter of future careers, starting on the very first day of graduate school.

• Agricultural & Applied Economics Association Outstanding PhD Dissertation Awards won by students
  Beat Hinterman Honorable mention 2010
  Constant Tra 2008
  Ricardo Smith-Ramirez 2006
  Dan Gilligan Honorable mention 2005
  Timothy Haab 1996
  Madhur Gautam Honorable mention 1994
  Rodney Smith 1993
  Douglas Larson 1989

Proximity to Major Government Agencies & Related Organizations

The Department offers close proximity to an incomparable array of government agencies, international institutions, and non-governmental organizations devoted to environmental issues, agricultural policy, natural resource management, and international development. Opportunities for attending stimulating seminars abound. Many students find useful work experience, access to data, and cutting-edge thesis topics as well as future employment through these organizations.

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is located only 9.7 miles away.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is located only 10.6 miles away.
• The U.S. Economic Research Service (ERS) is located only 9.4 miles away.
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is located only 1.5 miles away.
• Resources for the Future (RFF) is located only 9.0 miles away.
• The Joint Institute for Food Science and Nutrition (JIFSAN) is located on the University of Maryland campus.
• The Joint Global Change Research Institute (JGCRI) is located adjacent to the University of Maryland campus.
• The National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education is located on the University of Maryland campus.
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is located only 9.9 miles away.
• The World Bank is located only 10.0 miles away.
• The Inter-American Development Bank is located only 9.8 miles away.
• The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is located only 9.8 miles away.
• The Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) with its National Agricultural Library is located only 3.1 miles away.
• The U.S. Capitol, Senate, and House of Representatives, which enacts all federal law, is enacted is located only 9.5 miles away.
• The National Socio-Environmental Sythesis Center (SESYNC) is located only 28 miles away in Annapolis, Md.