Philander Smith College is pleased to announce that John Amhanesi, a junior with a double major in business management and psychology, will participate in the inaugural cohort of the Expanding Diversity in Economics (EDE) Summer Institute offered by The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI) at the University of Chicago. The EDE Summer Institute will be held virtually from July 18-August 6 and will identify and support talented undergraduate students from a broad range of backgrounds interested in the study of economics.

An international student from Benin City, Nigeria, Ahmanesi is a member of the McKinley Newton Honors Academy at Philander Smith College and will be one of 45 participants from a pool of more than 200 applications from 31 institutions. The cohort GPA average is 3.78 on a 4.0 scale.

Amhanesi said, “I am very passionate about research centered around behavioral economics, decision science, and policy management. I want to ask questions that will promote inclusion in policy objectives, market strategy, organizational operations, and people management. Currently, I am a PRIMO (Program for Research in Markets and Organizations) research fellow at the Harvard Business School and a summer intern at NVIDIA Corporation.”

“Talent is dispersed widely, and this program will help to bring a wider set of people into economics,” said Michael Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and Director of BFI.

Following the 2021 summer program, participants will become part of an ongoing EDE mentoring network. Select participants will be eligible to join research projects and complete assistantships during the academic year. To learn more about the program, visit https://bfi.uchicago.edu/news/becker-friedman-institute-at-uchicago-announces-inaugural-cohort-for-2021-expanding-diversity-in-economics-summer-institute/