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Research Team

Dr. Sandro Steinbach

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Principal Investigator

Research Areas: Agribusiness, International Trade, Agricultural Policy, Environmental and Health Economics

Education: Doctor Science ETH Zurich, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Zurich, Switzerland), 2018

Sandro is an Associate Professor with tenure in the Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics at North Dakota State University. He directs the Center for Agricultural Policy and Trade Studies and is a Challey Scholar. Sandro earned his BS degrees from the Humboldt University of Berlin and his MS degrees from the Humboldt University of Berlin and the University of California, Davis. He completed his doctoral studies in Economics with the Center for Economic Research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. Sandro's research uses applied economics and data science methods to answer research questions related to agribusinesses, international trade and policy, human and animal health, and the environment.

Click here for Google Scholar, here for his resume, and here for Twitter.

Dr. Armen Khederlarian

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Postdoctoral Scholar in International Economics and Data Science

Research Areas: International Economics, Development, and Macroeconomics

Education: Ph.D. Economics, University of Rochester, 2021

My research emphasizes the dynamic aspect of international trade and its implications for analyzing trade patterns and the welfare effects of trade policy. Because most quantitative trade models are static, they abstract from the rich, dynamic nature of real-world trade activities. Firms are forward-looking in the models I use when deciding their imports as they face various non-tariff barriers and hold inventories. My research finds that incorporating the dynamics of such models into the empirical analysis of trade policies can significantly alter commonly accepted results and provide helpful information to understand trade patterns.

Click here for Google Scholar, here for his resume, and here for his webpage.

Dr. Stepan Gordeev

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Postdoctoral Scholar in International Economics and Macroeconomics

Research Areas: Macroeconomics, Economic Development, and Growth

Education: Ph.D. Economics, University of Rochester, 2022

My research focuses on exploring the idiosyncrasies in the production behavior of individual firms and households in micro-level data, using economic theory to understand this behavior, and tracing out its implications for the development path of the economy. His dissertation research proposes nutrition demand as a mechanism that can explain which goods the subsistence farmers in low-income countries choose to consume and produce and that ultimately contributes to keeping the aggregate agricultural productivity low.

Click here for his resume and here for his webpage.

Soojung Ahn

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Doctoral Researcher

Research Area: International Development and Trade

Education: M.S. Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, 2019

Soojung is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Connecticut. She joined Dr. Steinbach’s research group in the Summer of 2020. She is currently working on a paper investigating the impact of COVID-19 on agricultural trade. Her dissertation research focuses on the intersection between international development and agricultural trade. Soojung in on the academic job market in 2023.

Click here for her resume.

Sijia (Sonia) Chen

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Doctoral Researcher

Research Area: Health and Environmental Economics

Education: M.S. Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2018 

Sijia is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Connecticut. Her research focuses on the economics of the environment, public policy, and human health. Sijia studies issues in empirical microeconomics, such as environmental (natural disasters) and social matters associated with maternal and infant health both mentally and physically. She develops a comprehensive view of the external factors and the economic costs on the health of vulnerable populations (women, newborns, and children). Sijia is also involved in international trade research as she is working on how duties affect global bilateral trade. Sijia will be on the job market in 2024.

Click here for her resume.

Dongin (Eric) Kim

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Doctoral Researcher

Research Areas: International Economics, Policy Evaluation, and Applied Econometrics 

Education: M.Sc. Management Engineering, KAIST, 2013

 

Dongin is a fifth-year doctoral candidate in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Connecticut. His research focuses on the impact of international trade and investment policies on economic outcomes. Under the guidance of Dr. Steinbach, he developed a novel dataset on foreign direct investment to distinguish between vertical and horizontal investment activities. He has presented several working papers at international conferences. His independent research is supported by a USDA-NIFA-EWD award for 2021-2024. This research measures the impact of global trade shocks on U.S. agriculture. Dongin is on the academic job market in 2023.

 

Click here for his resume and here for his webpage.

Yasin Yildirim

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Doctoral Researcher

Research interests: International Economics 

Education: M.S. Economics, North Carolina State University, 2022

 

Yasin is a first-year doctoral student in the Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics at North Dakota State University. His research focuses on international trade, particularly on issues related to foreign trade policies, such as trade agreements and barriers and their impact on agricultural product trade. His previous research focused on the growth of Brazilian agricultural exports. He joined Dr. Steinbach’s research group in the Fall of 2022. 

Click here for his resume.

Xiting Zhuang

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Doctoral Researcher

Research interests: International Economics, Applied Econometrics, and Causal Policy Evaluation 

Education: M.S. Quantitative Economics, Fuzhou University, 2017  

 

Xiting is a fifth-year doctoral student in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Connecticut. His research interests lie at the intersection of international trade, environmental policy, and economics of social problems. His previous research focused on the impact on carbon emissions of China’s current socio-economic transitions. He joined Professor Steinbach’s research group in Fall 2018. He developed a particular interest in understanding the environmental impacts of trade policies, with a specific focus on Chinese environmental trade policies. Xiting’s work also assesses the implications of international trade policies and the policy impacts of various economic, social, and political issues.

Click here for his resume.

Zishen Zuo

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Doctoral Researcher

Research interests: International Economics, International Finance, and Agribusiness

Education: M.A. in Forestry Economics and Management, Peking University, 2021  

 

Zishen is a second-year doctoral student in the Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics at North Dakota State University. His research focuses on international trade, international finance, and agribusiness. He currently works on the causes of shipping container shortage in U.S. ports and its effects on US agricultural products export. He joined the Steinbach Research Group in the Fall of 2022.

Click here for his resume.

Research Group Alumni

Postdoctoral Scholars

  • Xi He (2019-2020), Assistant Professor (tenure track), Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech (click here for her webpage)

  • Mingyang Li (2021-2022), Assistant Professor (tenure track), School of Economics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (click here for his webpage)

Temporary Research Assistants

  • Enrique Figueroa (2021-2022), Junior Consultant, Analysis Group

  • Adam Patterson (2021-2022), Research Scientist, Department of Economics, University of Connecticut

  • Andrew Chia (2020-2021), Economist, Ministry of Trade & Industry, Government of Singapore

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