USDA National Needs Fellowship Program
New
for 2006
About the Fellowship Program
Application Information
Contact for more information: Tamah Morant
Current Fellows
Previous Fellows
Current USDA Fellow
Chris
Moore is a USDA National Needs Fellow pursuing a doctorate degree
in economics at NS State University.
He received a bachelor's degree in economics from Elon University in 2000. Chris' professional experience includes working as an economist with Triangle Economic Research (TER) in Durham, NC. TER is a private consulting firm that specializes in non-market valuation with applications in natural resource damage assessment. Currently, Chris is pursuing a Ph.D. in economics with concentrations in econometrics and natural resource economics, with a minor in statistics.
Chris' current research includes a non-market valuation study under the direction of the US Forest Service. The study is designed to guide policy regarding our national forests and a parasitic insect that is threatening Eastern and Carolina Hemlock trees throughout the Eastern United States. Chris expects to receive his degree in 2008, continue his research in natural resource economics, and teach at the collegiate level.
Return to topPrevious USDA Fellows
Dale K. Graybeal is a past USDA National Needs fellow from the economics
graduate program at North Carolina State University.
Prior to entering NC State, Dale earned a M.S. in statistics (1989) from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, Virginia and a M.S. in environmental sciences and engineering (1995), also from Virginia Tech. At NC State, he completed a Ph.D. in economics with a co-major in statistics.
Dale's research interests are varied. His dissertation research involved the application of recently developed methods in Bayesian data analysis and the use of Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation (MCMC) for the estimation of hierarchical statistical models. This is a rapidly growing area of statistics with great potential in applied econometric modeling. The MCMC methodology allows for the estimation of complex models that have been extremely difficult to work with in the past. Furthermore, because MCMC is a simulation method, the results are eminently suitable for policy simulation, sensitivity analysis, and the evaluation and comparison of alternative empirical models.
Currently, Dale is involved with a number of specific research topics including: contracts and tournaments in the broiler industry, structural change in forest product manufacturing industries, precision agriculture, recreational site choice, and the effect of risk of catastrophe on timber harvest decisions in the southeastern U.S.
His work in precision agriculture won the 1999 "Best Graduate Student Paper Award" from the Southern Agriculture Economics Association. Dale's future plans include a continuation of his efforts to explore the use of simulation-based empirical methods for the construction and comparison of models based on observational (i.e., non-experimental) data. Long term, he is interested in understanding the potential and the limitations of quantitative analysis in social science research and policy analysis.
Robert Huggett, Jr., a past National Needs fellow from North Carolina
State University, is currently an economist with the USDA Forest Service
Southern Research Station in Research Triangle Park in Raleigh, North
Carolina. Prior to earning his PhD in economics at North Carolina State,
Robert earned a BBA in Marketing from James Madison University in 1991.
Robert's current research involves environmental and resrouce economics,
decision-making under uncertainty and risk, the economics of wildfire
and natural resource accounting.
Elizabeth Murphy earned her BS in Agricultural and Applied Economics
from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)
in 1999. While earning her doctorate in economics from North Carolina
State University, she interned as a research assistant at the Economics
of Forest Protection and Mangement Unit at the Southern Research Station
in Research Triangle Park in Raleigh, North Carolina. Elizabeth is currently
a Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics at Oklahoma State University.
Her research interests focus on environmental economics, particularly
areas of water quality, wildlife and the use of economic incentives in
environmental policy.