Usha Nair-Reichert is an Associate Professor in the School of Economics. Her current research interests include (i) innovation ecosystems (ii) firm strategies related to innovation, globalization of R&D, trade, foreign direct investment, technology licensing and acquisition, and sustainability (iii) environmental regulations and their impact on firm strategy, innovation, trade and foreign direct investment (iv) partnerships, policies and collaborations for economic development, with specific focus on education, infrastructure, and health care.

Nair-Reichert worked on funded projects related to supply chains, innovation and efficiency gains in the pulp and paper industry, biotechnology, telecommunications, energy, affirmative action, and educational outcomes.  She has received funding from sources such as the Center for Paper Business and Industry Studies, Center for International Business Education and Research, and Power4Georgians. She recently received a Fulbright Specialist’s award for a project in Poland.

Nair-Reichert has published in peer reviewed journals including the Journal of International Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Research Policy, International Organization, World Development and Review of International Economics. She is a member of the American Economic Association, International Economics and Finance Society, the European Economics and Finance Society, and the Association of Indian Economic and Financial Studies. She also serves on the Advisory Board of the European Economics and Finance Society. 

Nair-Reichert obtained her Ph.D. in Economics from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University specializing in international trade, international business, econometrics and economic development. She joined the faculty at the School of Economics at Georgia Institute of Technology in 1995.  She served as interim School Chair during the academic year 2011-12.  As part of a select leadership program of the University System of Georgia, she was also an Executive Leadership Institute Scholar from Georgia Tech during 2011-2012.  She is a faculty associate with the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Program at Georgia Tech and a core faculty member at the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) at Georgia Tech. 

Prior to her graduate work at Purdue, she was employed in the banking sector in India where she has worked in areas related to trade and foreign exchange regulations, imports and exports, multinational investment, technology transfer, and introduction and integration of computerized check processing technologies.

Nair-Reichert has served as a trustee at The Westminster Schools,  the Trinity School  and the Georgia Tech Athletics Association Board. She is also a member of SHECON, a nonprofit group working with micro finance lending and economic development projects in Haiti. She enjoys reading, traveling, and experiencing new cultures. She is an ardent believer in the power of education to inspire people, change lives, and transform society.

Dr. Belton is an Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Programs in the School of Economics. Professor Belton’s initial training and research focus was on issues of monetary policy and how policy design and implementation impacts the cyclical behavior of the macro-economy. Currently, Professor Belton is involved in multidisciplinary analysis which examines the impact of political, cultural, and economic institutions on downstream outcomes of income distribution, business development, and social behavior. This research brings together issues of public policy, international affairs and economics to examine and developed much more broad theories of economic, political, and social development across ethnic groups and nation-states.

Dylan Brewer joined the faculty at the School of Economics in 2019. He received his PhD in Economics with a dual major in Environmental Science and Policy from Michigan State University in May 2019 as well as a Master of Arts degree in Economics from the same institution in 2016. Prior to his graduate studies, Dylan completed a Bachelor of Arts degree with majors in Economics and International Relations at the University of Virginia in 2014. Dylan's research uses the tools of applied econometrics and machine learning to answer questions in energy and environmental economics. He has published research on household energy consumption, the economics of thermostat settings, recycling, electricity demand, machine learning methodology, and air quality among other topics. He teaches courses on environmental economics at the graduate and undergraduate level, and his Principles of Microeconomics course has won awards at Georgia Tech.

Dr. Laura Taylor is Chair of the School of Economics at Georgia Tech. Her research focuses on policy evaluation and the valuation of natural resources and the environment. Recent applications include improving benefits estimation for policies designed to reduce human mortality; examining household responses to water conservation policies; evaluating the benefits of hazardous waste site cleanup for neighboring communities, and evaluating the impact of offshore wind energy on coastal tourism. Her research has received funding from a variety of sources including the US EPA, USDA, US Department of Interior and the National Science Foundation.  She is a Fellow of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists and has held numerous advisory board positions.  Prior to joining the faculty at Georgia Tech in 2018, Dr. Taylor was Director of the Center for Environmental and Resource Economic Policy at North Carolina State University (2007-2018), and Associate Director of the Environmental Policy Program at Georgia State University (2001-2015). 

Dr. Casey Wichman is an applied microeconomist working on issues at the intersection of environmental and public economics. His research focuses on how people interact with the natural and built environment, and what that behavior reveals about the value of environmental amenities. His research spans water and energy demand, valuation of environmental resources and infrastructure, urban transportation, public goods provision, demand for outdoor recreation, and climate change. Methodologically, he relies on the application of program evaluation techniques, often using large micro-data sets, to estimate causal effects of environmental policies on economic behavior. 

Prior to joining Georgia Tech, Dr. Wichman served as the Research Director of the Energy and Environment Lab at the University of Chicago and as a Fellow at Resources for the Future, an environmental economics think-tank in Washington, DC. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in 2015, and his doctoral work earned outstanding doctoral dissertation awards from both the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists and the Association of Agricultural and Applied Economists.

Shatakshee Dhongde is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of Economics at Georgia Tech. She obtained her PhD. from the University of California, Riverside. She is also a research affiliate with the Institute of Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her research has focused on the economics of poverty. Poverty is a multidimensional concept and is often not captured by income levels. Her papers measure poverty in its many forms and have been published in leading economics journals. In particular, her research on measuring multidimensional poverty in the United States has been highlighted in the national media, including NPR. She was awarded the Nancy and Richard Ruggles Prize for young researchers by the International Association of Review of Income and Wealth (IARIW). She serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Poverty and Social Justice.

Ioanna Maria Spyrou is a Ph.D. student in the School of Economics in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at Georgia Tech. She is interested in environmental economics, policies that promote sustainability and optimal use of natural resources, and how sustainable development can be achieved by using state-of-the-art technological advances. Her current research concentrates on analyzing the impact of natural shocks, including climatological, hydrological, and agricultural, on children’s well-being. She holds degrees in Plant Protection (MS), Agriculture (BA) and Mathematics (BA) from Aristotle University, Greece, and Applied Mathematics and Statistics (MA) from City University of New York.

Advisor: Shatakshee Dhongde