Watching my father, an asylum-seeking immigrant, lead our family out of poverty, made for a transforming childhood — I remember an apartment, a townhouse, the first suburban home, the dream home, and the downsizing. That personal history drew me to two subjects; real estate and economics.

I am an Assistant Professor of Real Estate and Economics at West Virginia University. I began my acadmic career at Northern Michigan University, where I continue to serve as a Distinguished Fellow at the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship. Through that affiliation I am on the board of scholars and the Mackinac Center. My PhD in economics is from George Mason University, as a Mercatus fellow, and I also have a master’s degree in Applied Economics from Johns Hopkins University.

Before academia, I developed an interdiciplinary connection with housing; started by rehabbing multifamily rentals. Then at Summit Consulting I worked on HUD subsidies, researched evidence of redlining, developed tools for accessing green retrofits, and looked at underwriting data. In addition, I spent time Bureau of Economic Analysis, on their regional research team. I helped develop better tools for regional economic indicators, mostly using housing data. I even lived on a commune!