Teaching
I teach courses in food and agricultural markets, agribusiness entrepreneurship, and data-driven decision-making. Across my teaching, I emphasize applied economic reasoning, evidence-based decision-making, and professional skill development.
Many of my courses use GitHub and Quarto websites to organize lecture notes, lab materials, assignments, and examples for students.
Courses
AREC 224: Introduction to Agribusiness Entrepreneurship
AREC 224 introduces students to entrepreneurship in agribusiness and food systems. The course emphasizes problem identification, business model development, professional skill-building, case analysis, mentorship, and student-produced podcasting.
Core course elements include:
- student-led podcast episodes
- case-based discussion and analysis
- business model development
- professional development activities
- mentorship and reflection through the Entrepreneurial Individual Development Plan
AREC 310: Food and Agricultural Markets
AREC 310 examines the structure, behavior, and performance of food and agricultural markets. Students use economic tools to understand pricing, competition, market power, risk, and current issues affecting agricultural and food markets.
Core course elements include:
- market structure and competition
- agricultural and food price analysis
- futures markets and risk management
- applied market case studies
- connections between economic theory and real-world food markets
AREC 330: Data-Driven Decision-Making in Agricultural and Resource Economics
AREC 330 introduces students to data analysis, visualization, and decision-making using applied examples from food, agriculture, and resource economics. The course emphasizes reproducible workflows and communicating insights clearly.
Core course elements include:
- data cleaning and analysis in R
- visualization in Tableau
- applied labs using real-world datasets
- translating analysis into actionable insights
AREC 570: Methodology of Economic Research
AREC 570 examines the philosophical foundations of science and research with particular emphasis on the field of economics. Students will develop skills for planning, performing, reporting, and evaluating economic research. The goal with this course is to encourage students to think critically about the research process. Students will read about research methodology, and then analyze the logic and reasoning of others’ research as well as develop their own research proposal.
Additional Lab Notes
The following lab notes are designed for short, hands-on workshops and class activities.
Building an Academic Website with GitHub and Quarto
In this lab, students create a personal academic website using GitHub, RStudio, and Quarto. The notes assume no prior experience with GitHub or Git.
Guest Lectures
What would improve food access?
AREC 222: Food Systems · Colorado State University · October 13, 2026
How can public policy improve food access? This lecture examines evidence on new supermarkets, produce incentives, and dollar stores to consider what each approach can change for households.
Food access and public policy
FSHN 455/500 · Colorado State University · October 14, 2026
How do economists evaluate food-access policy? Using New York City’s supermarket incentives, this lecture examines market failure, equity, and the mechanisms connecting policy to food availability, prices, and diets.