Earl O. Heady Decision Sciences Spreadsheet Competition

The Undergraduate Student Section of the AAEA (SS-AAEA) would like to announce the new Earl O. Heady Decision Sciences Spreadsheet Competition. It will debut at the 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting in San Francisco. The purpose of the new competition is to provide a forum for undergraduate students to showcase their ability to address real world problems in agricultural and applied economics using a spreadsheet, as well as celebrate their success as experiential learners.

We thank Dr. Julie Caswell, the other members of the AAEA Trust Committee, and the AAEA Executive Board for their gracious support of this new experiential learning initiative through their AAEA Trust Grant program. Consequently, the award structure will be:

·         1st place - $400 to the student, a plaque, and recognition at the AAEA Annual Awards Ceremony

·         2nd place - $200 to the student

·         3rd place - $100 to the student

In the past, the Paper Competition was the only competition of the SS-AAEA to address undergraduate student research. With this second competition offering, we can now segment that market much better. The following highlights some major differences between the two research competitions:

The EOHDS Spreadsheet Competition

·         Using sound economic principles as operationalized with a spreadsheet, students will solve a real world problem important to agricultural and applied economists.

·         One student per project.

·         Students submit a spreadsheet and a poster for evaluation.

·         Students make a 5-minute presentation at the Annual Meeting.

The Paper Competition

·         Historically, students have done a literature review, collected data on an economic phenomenon, and tested hypotheses. The papers resemble a shorter version of a senior thesis.

·         One student per paper.

·         Students submit a paper for evaluation.

·         Students make a 12-minute presentation at the Annual Meeting.

Please visit http://www.aaea.org/membership/sections/ss-aaea/aaea-annual-meeting to access the new EOHDS Spreadsheet Competition Guidelines and forms. If further clarification is needed please contact Steven Vickner at 614-551-1916 or steven_vickner@wilmington.edu.