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Barnard/Columbia
Student Team Wins College Fed Challenge
The Barnard/Columbia student team wins the top prize of
$50,000 dollars from the Moody's Foundation for the College
Fed Challenge sponsored the New York Federal Reserve Bank. |
New
York, NY— The Barnard/Columbia student team has won this
year’s College Fed Challenge, sponsored by the New York
Federal Reserve Bank, with a $50,000 prize from the Moody's
Foundation to be shared by the Barnard and Columbia Economics
Departments, faculty advisors, and students.
The College Fed Challenge, now in its third year, is an economic
competition organized by the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
Five-member teams from local New York colleges and universities
create a 20-minute presentation about the status of current
economic conditions and forecast how the economic and financial
conditions will affect monetary policy. The teams also offer
recommendations as to how the Federal Reserve Bank should
set interest rates, and respond to the judges’ questions
about current macroeconomic conditions, macro analysis, and
the Federal Reserve System. The judges are business and Federal
Reserve Bank economists and the presentations can take a variety
of forms, ranging from a mock open market committee meeting
to debates over the documentation of research reports.
The Barnard/Columbia winning team of five included : DeVaughn
Fowles (CC ‘04), Ken Harada (CC ‘05), Victoria Shenderovich
(Columbia GS ‘04), Melissa Thompson (BC ‘04), and
Jenny Tolochko (BC ‘04), who competed against teams from
12 other schools from the tri-state area. The team was coached
for the Challenge by Steve Malin, a senior economist at the
Federal Reserve Bank.
"We were fortunate to have Steve Malin assist in preparing
the team for the Challenge, though he credits the Barnard/Columbia
team for their enormous effort and spirit in putting together
a winning performance. The team’s victory was decisive
and the students worked together very effectively to field
the judges’ questions," said Professor David Weiman,
chair of the Economics Department at Barnard.
The College Fed Challenge was initiated in 2001 by Barnard
senior Parastu Malik, who assisted in the creation of the
program at the NYFRB and has continued to work with their
staff to expand the College Fed Challenge. Malik helped to
assemble the first Barnard/Columbia team in 2001 and created
an independent study course to prepare for the competition.
Since then she has continued work with Professor Weiman to
develop the program.
"The program is wonderful because it really affords students
the opportunity to apply what they learn in the economics
classroom to a real world setting. They not only expand their
knowledge of the Federal Reserve System but also develop valuable
research and critical thinking skills," said Malik.
This year, the second place in the Fed Challenge went to Rutgers
University, and third place to Geneseo College.
Contact:
Petra Tuomi, Barnard Public Affairs, 212-854-7907
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