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Graduate Student Research Assistants
REAL's Research Assistants come primarily from the Departments of Geography, Economics, Agricultural and Consumer Economics and Urban and Regional Planning, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Research Assistants
Ph.D Student -
Department of Agricultural & Consumer Economics
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e-mail: latuest2@illinois.edu
Laura Atuesta is a PhD student in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics. Her special interest is to build a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for Colombia with the purpose of explaining the development process in the country by modeling migration, poverty and income distribution among regions.
Additionally she is conducting research about the housing market in Illinois. Regional impact of foreclosures, high inventories and differences between the listing and closing prices of properties are evaluated to develop a new measurement of forecasting and prediction of the real estate cycles in Illinois. With professor Geoffrey Hewings, she is preparing monthly and quarterly forecast for the housing market in Illinois in association with the Illinois Association of Realtors.
Laura received her B.A in Finance and International Relations in La Universidad Externado de Colombia in 2003, and her M.S in Economics in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2007.
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Ph.D student -
Department of Urban & Regional Planning
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e-mail: cagil1@illinois.edu
Cihan T. Çagil joined the University of Illinois and REAL in Fall 2008 as a Ph.D student. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Department of Urban and Regional Planning in Faculty of Architecture of Istanbul Technical University, in 2004, and received a M.S degree in the same university in January, 2008. The topic of his dissertation is "National Science and Technology Policy and the Effects of Science and Technology Parks on Regional Development in Turkey". Since December 2004, he has been working as an urban planning specialist for Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. His research interests include relation between innovation and regional development, urban renewal and metropolitan management.
He enjoys soccer, watching movies, outdoor sports and film-editing.
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José De Leon
PhD. Student - Department of Geography
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e-mail: deleonal@illinois.edu
Jose De Leon earned his BA (Summa Cum Laude) from the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras in 2005. He joined the University of Illinois and REAL in Summer 2005. He finished his Masters in 2007 in the department of Geography. His thesis was based on the estimation of the economic relevance and impact of the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, PR. He is also teaching assistant for the course: Geography of Developing Countries. His main research interest is the spatial structure of economic development as well as the impact of potential climate change in socioeconomic sectors such as transportation, housing, tourism, migration, and so on, especially on countries within the Caribbean Region. He also is interest in topics such as the improvement of urban transportation systems and the creation of vulnerability indexes of natural disasters (related to climate change) for socioeconomic sectors.
Currently, De Leon is working in his qualifying exams and his dissertation proposal, which is about the empirical definition of prosperity and the effect of space on prosperity in US. In his free time, he enjoys hearing music, watching movies and sports (i.e., horse raicing, wrestling, basketball and soccer), dancing, and playing with his daughter.
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PhD. Student - Department of Urban and Regional Planning
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e-mail: mdu3@illinois.edu
Minshu Du is a PhD student in the Department of Urban and Regional planning at University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign (UIUC). She joined REAL in Spring 2009 and is now working with Professor Geoffrey Hewings as research assistant on the impact analysis of alternative clean coal technologies and its potential value-chain impact on the Illinois economy. Her research interest includes applied econometrics, economic modeling and economic development. She is particularly interested in the development of models for regional forecasting and economic development. During her undergraduate studies, Minshu worked with MIT Sloan School on the Global Classroom Project, case analysis of sustainable development, sponsored by the World Bank in 2006.
Before joining REAL, Minshu has earned her Master of Science degree in economics from UIUC (2008) and her Bachelor degree in economics from Tsinghua University, China (2007).
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Masters Student - Department of Urban and Regional Planning
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e-mail:fu3@illinois.edu
Jizhou Fu is a Master Candidate in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. She is also pursuing an Applied Master degree in Statistics Department. She earned a Bachelor Degree in Land & Real Estate Management from Renmin University of China in 2007. She joined REAL and started to work with Professor Hewings since the fall of 2008. Her research interest includes econometrics, economic modeling, and transportation data analysis. Right now she works with Professor Hewings to conduct tourism impact analysis for Mid-west states in US. She loves traveling, watching movies, and listening music.
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Rafael Garduño
PhD. Student - Department of Agricultural Consumer Economics
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e-mail: rgardun2@illinois.edu
Rafael is a PhD student in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics. His research interests include income and wealth distribution, inequality and poverty, regional economics, trade, and growth theory. He holds a MSc in Local Economic Development from the London School of Economics (LSE), a MA in Finance from the Escuela de Graduados en Administración y Dirección de Empresas (EGADE) at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), and a BA in Busines Administration from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM). He is conducting research with Prof. Kathy Baylis.
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Ph.D student -
Department of Urban & Regional Planning
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e-mail: irawan1@illinois.edu
Andi Irawan started his PhD program and joined REAL in Fall 2008. His research interests include spatial analysis and GIS on convergence and industrial clusters, multi-sectors model, and sea transportation/maritime economics. He earned MSc in Regional Science from London School of Economics, UK, a Master in Public Policy degree from Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, and Sarjana Sains (S1) from Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember Surabaya, Indonesia. He is the recipient of Fulbright Presidential Scholarship and was the winner of the 2004 Taught Postgraduate Student Award by Regional Science Association International-British and Irish Section. In his spare time, he likes to listens to rock music and watch movies or England Premier League.
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Ph.D Candidate -
Department of Urban & Regional Planning
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e-mail: kim68@illinois.edu
Jae Hong Kim had joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2004; completed his master study in Urban and Regional Planning in 2006; and is now in PhD in Regional Planning program. He has attempted to understand the dynamic interrelationship between the progress of a regional economic system and the evolution of its spatial structure. In this context, he wishes to assess the validity, timeliness, and effectiveness of various land use, transportation, and economic development policies. Also, as a research assistant, he has been engaged in regional economic analysis and land use modeling projects for REAL and LEAM (Land Use Evolution and Impact Assessment Modeling) laboratory.
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Ph.D Candidate -
Department of Economics
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e-mail: tkim35@illinois.edu
Tae-Jeong Kim joined the University of Illinois in 2005 and REAL in 2008. His research interest is on the empirical macroeconomics and time-series econometrics. Currently he is working on the regional CGE model to evaluate the impact of aging population and accelerating labor mobility on the regional economy.
Before joining the University of Illinois, he has worked for the Bank of Korea since 1997. During the years in the Bank, he had worked at the Monetary Policy Department and Office of the Bank Supervision. Now, he is compiling CBAI (Chicago Business Activity Index) and analyzing the regional economic issues in REAL.
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Ph.D Student -
Department of Agricultural & Consumer Economics
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e-mail: cmille38@illinois.edu
Cristina Miller is a PhD student in the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Economics. Recently, she was awarded a USDA Public Service Leaders Scholarship. Her research interests include regional and rural economic development policies (especially within the EU), regional economics, and GIS. She holds a MA in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a MA in Political Science from the University of Birmingham in England, and a BBA from Baylor University. In addition, Cristina was a Fulbright Fellow at the Universität zu Köln in Germany and conducted field research on EU Structural Funds at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium.
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Ph.D Student -
Department of Agricultural & Consumer Economics
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e-mail: paredes1@illinois.edu
Dusan Paredes is a PhD student in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, focusing in regional economics. His research interests include the relation among the regional housing market, interregional migration and regional labor market dynamics and its impact in the regional growth and regional inequality. He earned a MS in Regional Science from Catholic University of the North, Antofagasta, Chile. He is conducting research with Prof. Andrew Isserman.
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Ph.D Student -
Department of Urban & Regional Planning
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e-mail: aruddin2@illinois.edu
A K M Riaz Uddin joined the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and REAL in fall 2006. He primary research interest is in Transportation and Regional Development. Especially he likes to explore how a particular kind of investment in transportation (e.g. local vis-à-vis regional) at a given system of city hierarchy tends to influence regional economic development. He is hoping to explore more in the stated area with Professor Geoffrey J D Hewings.
He received his Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) in 2003. Before joining REAL-UIUC he worked for Planning Commission in Bangladesh as a Transport Economist. He also worked in the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and the Unnayan Shamannay. His most desired moments are those spent with his family and friends.
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Ph.D Student -
Department of Agricultural & Consumer Economics
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e-mail: wu31@illinois.edu
Patrick Chun-Hua Wu is a PhD student in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics. His research interest includes dynamic economic modeling and business cycle fluctuations on regional markets. He joined REAL in Spring 2009. Currently he is working on compiling Python Module for Input-Output Analysis (PyIO) to implement different and more complex methods of analysis based on input-output, social accounting and computable general equilibrium models.
He earned his M.S. degree in Policy Economics(MSPE) in University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2009 and B.S. degree in Computer Science from National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) at Taiwan in 2001.
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Ph.D Student -
Department of Urban & Regional Planning
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e-mail: ravera2@illinois.edu
Rafael Angel Vera is PhD. student from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. His research is focused in the understanding the differences in the chain value generated by small medium and large scale firms in terms of employment, production, location and structural organization. Currently Mr. Vera contributes in the developing of the monthly forecasts of employment in the state of Illinois and its Metropolitan Statistical Areas published by REAL. Academically, Mr. Vera holds a Masters Degree in Policy Economics from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (2007) and a B.A. in Economics from Universidad Privada Boliviana in Cochabamba, Bolivia (2004). Mr. Vera is also interested in the International Economics and trade relationship among Regions in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean.
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Ph.D Student -
Department of Urban & Regional Planning
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e-mail: pwaland2@illinois.edu
Paksi Walandouw joined the University of Illinois and REAL in Spring 2005. He is working with regional models, especially the models that characterize the effect of spatial interaction to the economic and demographic activities. Previously, he was working with regional income convergence model and public investment impact on the economics and demographic activities.
Paksi earned his Bachelor in Economics from Department of Economics in Faculty Economics University of Indonesia, Jakarta, in 2001, and Master of Arts in Economics and Public Policy from Graduate School of Public Policy in Kyung Hee University, Suwon Campus, in 2004. In Jakarta, Indonesia, he worked as a lecturer in the Department of Economics in Faculty Economics University of Indonesia, and as a researcher in Demographic Institute in Faculty Economics University of Indonesia. Economics issues, especially regional economics issues in Indonesia, like income distribution, public capital outlays, regional tax, and regional specific behavior, were his primary interest, while he worked in the university. As a lecturer, he taught several subjects in economics, like microeconomics, macroeconomic, econometrics and statistics.
He enjoys reading, traveling, hanging out, watching movies, and filmmaking.
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Jun Wan
PhD. Student - Department of Urban and Regional Planning
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e-mail: junwan1@illinois.edu
Jun Wan is a PhD student in the Department of Urban and Regional planning at UIUC and started to work with Professor Hewings in REAL since the fall of 2008. He earned his law degree in China from Wuhan University, and got his M.A. degree in Geography with specialization in Economic Geography and Transportation Studies from Boston University. His education background has covered disciplines of Environmental Science, Law, International Relations and Economics. His research interests basically include regional development with special focus on infrastructure, transportation analysis and modelling, and spatial econometrics. During his spare time, he writes a lot and enjoys all kinds of music.
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PhD Student - Department of Urban & Regional Planning
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e-mail: yamano1@illinois.edu
Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry, OECD
2,rue Andre-Pascal
75775 Paris Cedex 16, France
+33 1 4524 8546
Current research areas: Regional modeling, Intercountry analysis
Norihiko Yamano is responsible for the current edition of OECD's
Input-Output database. He has previously worked at the Central
Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, Japan as a research
economist. He
has developed various types of economic models using originally
developed regional public capital stock, labor force statistics, and inter-regional IO tables.
He also served as an external consultant for many projects regarding economic, energy and demographic forecasting models.
First contact with REAL was in July 1999- August 2000, as a visiting scholar to develop the interregional input-output econometric model and transport infrastructure model for Japan.
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PhD Student - Department of Urban & Regional Planning
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
e-mail: yu28@illinois.edu
Chenxi Yu is a Research Assistant in the REAL Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She works with Professor Hewings to create the Illinois Monthly Employment Report, the Illinois Economic Review, and some other research projects. Right now her research is focused on the effects of the business cycle on local economic growth and migration. Her other research interests include regional economics analysis, economic development theories & policies, and political economy.
Chenxi earned a B.S. in 2007 from Peking University in China. She is expected to finish her master’s degree by May of 2009. Her master’s thesis is focused on the effects of the business cycle on the growth of local economies. She will continue her PhD in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois after she finishes her master’s degree.
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