Carnegie Mellon University

Research and Real-World Applications

The Tepper School of Business has a rich history of producing a wide range of substantive research, from student projects to nine Nobel Prize winners in Economics. 

Students are surrounded by individuals and teams who are constantly pushing the boundaries of human knowledge. In the undergraduate economics program, students are not only encouraged to participate in research, but are provided with the opportunities and means by which to do so. Students may be involved with research in economics by working as research assistants to faculty members, pursuing their own research projects, taking research methods courses, and working on projects in economics electives.

Research in the Classroom

Senior Honors Program

The Tepper School Senior Honors Program in Economics provides qualified students with the opportunity to engage in original research during their senior year at Carnegie Mellon. Students can undertake and complete an original piece of research while working independently or with a faculty member to identify a research question and claim ownership of its discovery process. 

Senior Project

The senior project course allows senior economics students to showcase the qualitative and quantitative skills that they have acquired while at Carnegie Mellon. With the goal of producing independent and original research, students are asked to synthesize and integrate the material learned in their economics coursework; identify a research project that can be completed within the allotted time frame; create, write, and present a research project; manage their relationships with their peers so that their working groups are productive; demonstrate their knowledge of the research in the write-up of their final project; and justify their research findings to a wide-ranged audience.

Current Topics:

  • Determinants of Telemedicine Adoption.
  • Statewide Renewable Energy Policies and Employment.
  • Impact of Community Effects on Mexican Migration.
  • Analysis of the Effects of Universal Health Care on Preventative Health Outcomes in Massachusetts.

Academic Minds: Faculty Research Spotlight


Do Consumers Benefit From More Competition in Financial Markets?

Ariel Zetlin-Jones, Tepper School Associate Professor of Economics, speaks about his research on what makes financial markets work.


How Does a Natural Disaster Affect Voting Patterns?

John Gasper, Tepper School Associate Teaching Professor of Economics, speaks about his research on the political economy — the intersection of economics and politics — specifically how natural disasters affect voting patterns.


Does the Rise in Replacement Workers Impact Wages?

Shu Lin Wee, Tepper School Assistant Professor of Economics, speaks about her research on replacement hiring and the productivity-wage gap.