My name is Elene. I am a second-year Ph.D. student. I am from Georgia, the country, not the state 😊. The republic of Georgia is in Eastern Europe and its name confuses many students and even security staff at DIA. 

I came to Colorado a few years ago to earn an M.A. degree from the University of Denver. Before joining the Ph.D. program at CSU, I worked at Arrow Electronics, helping IBM Software sales team. I also worked at the Colorado Department of Transportation, where I evaluated process efficiency by conducting data analysis. 

My research interests are in public policy and education economics. Currently, I am working on measuring equity in education financing. I am also interested in analyzing poor relief and charity behaviors in the context of public goods games. In my free time I like to hike, Eldorado Canyon trail was one of my favorites this summer, highly recommend it. 

This semester I TA for Economics of Social Issues (ECON 101) class. I look forward to meeting my new students. Hope we all have a rewarding semester.