New Faculty, Staff and Conner Hall Updates
Meet our new AAE faculty and staff member
Angie Yeonsook Im
Originally from South Korea, Yeon Sook (Angie) Im obtained her doctoral degree in Hospitality Management from the University of Missouri. Additionally, she holds an MBA degree with a focus on marketing and human resources management from the University of British Columbia in Canada, as well as a bachelor's degree from Chonnam National University in South Korea. She has several years of working experience in various areas, both in the public and private sectors. Aside from her academic pursuits, she has volunteered as a Korean language interpreter for various organizations, including WorldSkills International Competitions, Columbia Public Schools in Missouri, and the National Folk Museum of Korea. Her international background has fostered a strong passion for establishing global relationships and collaborating with communities to promote global competence. She eagerly anticipates embarking on her new journey at UGA, filled with invaluable opportunities to contribute to the growth of the program, engage in teaching, research, collaboration, and community service.
Ford Ramsey
Ford Ramsey joins the University of Georgia from Virginia Tech where he was recently promoted to associate professor. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from North Carolina State University and his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ford's research is in agricultural economics, Bayesian statistics, and crop insurance. He is joined in Athens by his wife, Alice, and daughter, Caroline. Ford is excited to join the strong research environment in AAE and looks forward to working alongside exceptional colleagues. He eagerly awaits the opportunity to purchase faculty football tickets and hopes to get the chance to see the Georgia Bulldogs in the national championship.
Jared Daniel
Jared Daniel, M.S. grew up in Bogart, Georgia on a small hobby farm where we raised hogs and sheep. He loves being active and outdoors, be it adventuring, hunting, or sporting. Jared earned his bachelor's degree in Agribusiness and master's degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics from UGA. He will be responsible for coordinating the collection of Farm Gate Value Survey data from County Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Agents. He will also be supporting projects of the Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development and Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics faculty. He is excited for the opportunity to serve both internal and external stakeholders by being an asset for data acquisition, availability, and visibility. Jared is proud to be an Ag Dawg and looks forward to working on projects that supports one of our state's most important industries.
Shanjukta Nath
Shanjukta Nath joins the University of Georgia from Stanford University as an applied microeconomist. Her research agenda involves using machine learning and experiments to build targeted policies, developing novel statistical methods to study peer influence and parental preferences, and empirically examining wealth and gender-based inequality and segregation. The Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Georgia will provide excellent opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration within and across departments on campus. She looks forward to combining the development of econometric methods with applications in agriculture, labor, and development economics. In particular, she wants to take advantage of the large scale data-sets from disparate sources in the modern ”big data” age to solve economic problems with an emphasis on vulnerable groups.
Lusi Xie
Lusi Xie is an environmental economist specializing in environmental valuation and experimental economics. Her areas of specialization include water resource management, wildlife conservation, and agri-environmental policies. Lusi earned her Ph.D. in agricultural and resource economics from the University of Alberta in Canada in 2021. Following that, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Delaware. Since 2021, she has been leading a research project that investigates incentive programs aimed at reducing irrigation water use for endangered species conservation in Georgia. The intriguing nature of this project, combined with a remarkable visit during the interview process, ultimately influenced her decision to join UGA. She is excited about collaborating with the faculty, students, and extension agents in the AAE department and UGA on new research projects focusing on agri-environmental issues.
Conner Hall gets a facelift
