A Summer Outside

The Econ canoe – I swear I paddled and didn’t just sit in the middle the whole time

When it comes to my free time, I love doing just about anything outside – from hiking to swimming to playing basketball. My time with the LAKES program has been perfect for this so far. When we aren’t working on our research projects, most of our free time has been spent outside. A basketball hoop next to our dorms always keeps me busy in the evenings, and trips around the region fill the rest of my time. Just last weekend we went canoeing down Red Cedar River and biked to a local strawberry patch to pick our own berries for the week (pictures included).

The strawberries were so good we ate a whole
bucket in less than a week

My interest in the outdoors and traveling to new places not only influenced my decision to study Geography as my second major, but it also strongly influences my research interests. As someone who enjoys spending a lot of time outside, it only makes sense that I would be interested in research involving the environment and sustainability. The LAKES research is right up my ally – I get to learn about ways to limit environmental pollution while also exploring how much of a positive economic impact a cleaned-up lake would have on the local community. Studying a lake that I pass each day makes the research project even more interesting as I get to know the local area and community more and more every day.

Housing and Hedonic Models

As a member of the economics team, this summer I’m learning about multiple aspects of how the lakes affect Menomonie. First, we’re using a hedonic model to examine the housing in the Menomonie area. Our goal is to collect data on houses in Menomonie that are both on and off lakes Menomin and Tainter. Controlling for variables in the individual houses, such as number of bedrooms/bathrooms and number of square feet, the difference in price will show the value of having real estate on the lake. Additionally, we will look at properties on a cleaner lake in the Chetek area. After controlling for different housing variables, the difference in price will represent the value of having a cleaner lake. This has been a major focus of our research so far this summer. We’re also looking at the effect that having a cleaner lake has on the businesses in the area and individuals’ willingness to pay for a cleaner lake.

            While we have done a lot of organizing and data collection so far, I’m looking forward to learning more about the mathematics behind the models – particularly the hedonic pricing model. I’ve done some coursework with econometrics before, but I greatly look forward to being able to apply the knowledge to a real-world problem and see how to create a model that fits the situation. I’m also excited to learn more about how our economics research will interplay with the other groups, such as geography and sociology, by interacting with the other students and mentors throughout the summer.

A Trip Worth 6 Hours in the Airport

Coming from the University of Connecticut, I was expecting more or less of the same environment here at UW-Stout. My university is located in Storrs, a very rural area of Connecticut where our school constitutes the majority of the town. Upon arriving in Menomonie, I was happy to see that this wasn’t the case. With a downtown area and weekly community events such as the Farmer’s Market and Ludington Guard Band, the campus feels much more intertwined with the local community. It was a nice change to have a local coffee shop within walking distance to do work in rather than just a Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks. I’ve also been pleasantly surprised this first week by the level of community engagement in the LAKES program. The amount of local involvement has made working on the project even more exciting. Meeting the residents that this research will directly affect has helped put the project into perspective and emphasized the impact it will have on the local community.

Although I have previously done research at UConn, it was under the guidance of a single professor and we only met once a week, sometimes less. In addition, I did the majority of the work on my own time. The work environment we’ve had for the LAKES REU has been a much more enjoyable experience for me. I’ve found that meeting every day of the week has really helped keep the continuity of the research and helped me maintain focus on the work. It’s also a nice change to be able to focus 100% of my attention on the research rather than having to split my time between research and schoolwork. In addition, I’ve really enjoyed the interdisciplinary nature of our research. As a double major in economics and geography, the research for the LAKES program spans both of my disciplines. Although I’m working on the economics research under Dr. Ferguson, he has been very open about incorporating geography into the research using GIS software. Being able to include both of my areas of interest in one research project will be a very rewarding experience. My time in Menomonie has already exceeded my expectations and I greatly look forward to learning more about the community and how we can help it.

-Caitlin Delaney