Alumni update extravaganza!

Sarah Mack - 2017

If you asked me one year ago where I would be in one year I would NEVER say that I would be working for a former NJ Senator. Life has a crazy way of making you think you know what is coming next, but then throwing a wrench in things and pushing you in a whole new direction. 

Research Connections

Interdisciplinary research has turned me into a huge nerd... and I'm pretty okay with that. Not only am I curious about Ryleigh and I's own personal economic projects, but I'm super fascinated by what other students are working on this summer as well. Last Friday we assisted the sociology team (Elise and Sadie) in surveying farmers. Elise is studying farmers' practices based upon public policies and institutions that farmers interact with (i.e. the DNR). Sadie is also looking at farmer practices but is instead interested in the social connections that impact their business decisions. It was great to get away from the desk for a while and explore rural Wisconsin with them! Except for when the roads became increasingly confusing...whose idea was it to put fractions in street numbers?

Chit Chattin' in Chetek

One of my favorite things in life is adventure that takes me out of my comfort zone, and every single day that I've been here in Wisconsin has been that. I've plunged into the freezing cold Lake Menomin after a long, rainy day, I've traveled around the entire perimeter of the Chetek Chain of Lakes to chat with strangers all in one afternoon, and I've tried the squeakiest food on the planet: cheese curds. And it's not just these adventures that I enjoy doing, it's the people that I am honored to enjoy them with. I get to work with the most fun, adventurous people; they make me laugh too much to be worried about stepping out of my comfort zone.

The eCOWnomics of Menomonie

Two weeks have flown by and I can tell my brain is already getting bigger! Well, maybe it hasn't actually physically grown in size, but I sure am learning a lot from this experience. From my past three years of studying economics, I certainly understood that communities are complex - but real-life research gives you an entirely new perspective on the word "complex." While exploring IMPLAN (an input-output software that allows you to analyze the effects of a given shock on an economy), my team and I discovered just how many inputs go in to the development of a community project (hint: it's too many to count). For instance, we're interested in learning more about how the TMDL will affect the local economy. TMDL stands for Total Maximum Daily Load, and the Red Cedar River Water Quality Partnership created a plan for the town of Menomonie to reduce phosphorus loads that are heavily polluting the Red Cedar watershed. While this plan is good for the environment, we want to know if it's economically feasible for the community.

Lake Menomin: Beautiful With A Dirty Secret

After completing one week here in Menomonie, it is still so surreal that I'm here working with the most incredible group on the LAKES REU project. I am so thankful and lucky to collaborate on research that the community of Menomonie is so invested in, and the people working alongside me are the most positive, inspirational people I could ever ask for (I'm pretty sure I've never seen my mentor without a smile on his face). This is my first experience with legitimate research; I've only ever needed to do research for projects in my college classes. However, with real-life research that actually affects an entire town, I'm beginning to feel how high-stakes this project really is. The slight feeling of nervousness only drives me to be more ambitious because I strive to force myself out of my comfort zone, and this program is designed to do exactly that.