Economics Ph.D. Candidates Join Annual Conference as APPAM Fellows

ATLANTA — Georgia State University Ph.D. candidates Sarah Akyena and Erica Mtenga were celebrated Nov. 22 among the 40 national Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) Equity and Inclusion Fellows at the 2024 Annual Fall Research Conference in National Harbor, Md. Georgia State was the only university in the South from which two fellows were chosen.

JuneMi Jennifer Kang wins Best Poster

They joined more than two dozen Andrew Young School of Policy Studies public policy and economics faculty and students who were present at the conference, including JuneMi Jennifer Kang, a Ph.D. candidate in public policy from Georgia State’s joint program with the Georgia Institute of Technology. Kang earned first place in the poster session for her presentation, "Pushing At-Risk Students Up the Academic Ladder: Evaluating the Effects of the Summer Success Academy Bridge Program," co-authored with her advisor, Professor Ross Rubenstein, the Dan E. Sweat Distinguished Chair in Educational and Community Policy.

“One of the many unique and exciting things about our Economics Department at GSU is that we are located in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies,” said Professor James Marton, department chair. “This means APPAM’s Fall Research Conference is a very important one for our faculty and our graduate students. We are thrilled that this year, once again, APPAM is supporting two of our students, providing them an opportunity to attend.”

Akyena and Mtenga were named to the APPAM Equity and Inclusion Fellowship program earlier in the semester. The fellowship covers expenses that support the participation and travel of graduate students, young professionals and undergraduate students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. While at the conference, fellows were encouraged to connect with each other and members of the APPAM Policy Council and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, whose members recognized the fellows’ accomplishments and bright futures. This year’s conference theme focused on policymaking at the federal, state and local levels.

Akyena entered the Ph.D. in Economics program in Georgia State’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies in 2019. Her research areas of interest are labor economics, public economics and education economics. Her work broadly examines behavioral responses to public policies and the sources of disparities in economic outcomes. One area of her research focuses on the implications and unintended consequences of public policies that address inequalities in the labor market and human capital achievement. In another work, she explores the impact of household and individual characteristics on labor market and education outcomes. Akyena is also a recipient of the 2024 National Tax Association (NTA) Equity and Inclusion Travel Fellowship.

At the Fall Research Conference, Akyena presented her paper, “The Earned Income Tax Credit and Occupational Skill Mismatch.”

“The APPAM conference gave me the opportunity to get exposure to pioneering public policy research,” she said. “I was invited to engage in substantive interactions on policy topics, formed new networks, presented my job market paper and received feedback on how to make it better. I am grateful to my dissertation committee chair, Professor David C. Ribar, for his encouragement and always advising me to give my best in my research.”

Mtenga entered the Ph.D. in Economics program in 2019. Her primary research interests are in econometrics, health economics, development economics and applied microeconomics. Her current research examines the estimation of treatment effects in the presence of misreporting, with applications in non-mutual exclusive programs in health, treatment effects estimation with missing/incomplete data in program participation, education in developing countries and the economics of substance use. Among other awards, she received the 2024 American Society of Health Economists Diversity Scholarship.

Mtenga applied for the APPAM fellowship with support from her adviser, Associate Professor Pierre Nguimkeu. She liked the overall goals of the fellowship: to spark a lifelong interest in the field of public policy, and to provide opportunities to engage with a wide network of peers.

“The 2024 APPAM conference enabled me to learn recent policy insights and the latest methodologies in public policy and economics,” she said. “The multidisciplinary aspect of the conference contributed to a more diverse outlook on my research. I also appreciate that this experience helped me build a larger professional network and learn from researchers who are at different stages of their careers.”