The economics and pure mathematics double major was recognized by economics faculty members for writing the best thesis of the year.
The Martha and Spencer Love School of Business’ Department of Economics acknowledged Camille Kelley ’19 for writing the best economics thesis of the year.
Kelley, an economics and pure mathematics double major, was selected to receive the Best Thesis award out of 22 seniors majoring in economics or international economics who completed undergraduate research theses this year.
Michaela Fogarty '19 (mentor: Steve DeLoach) and Hannah Quinlan '19 (mentor: Vitaliy Strohush) were recognized with honorable mentions for their work.
The senior thesis serves as the culmination of the students’ required comprehensive evaluation in economics. Students work individually with a faculty mentor to research further topics and ideas that were discussed in class. Kelley, Fogarty and Quinlan presented their theses at the Eastern Economic Association annual meeting in New York and at Elon’s Spring Undergraduate Research Forum (SURF).
In “The Gender Gap in STEM Fields: Female STEM Student Attrition,” Kelley investigates what factors contribute to female persistence in STEM majors. Interestingly, she finds that female attrition rates are higher among selective universities and for students who work for pay during school, while attrition rates are lower for females who are perceived as a science of math person, either by themselves or their peers. Kelley’s work highlights the importance of cultivating confidence in female students early in their academic journey, so that they are better prepared once they arrive at college.
Kelley was mentored by Associate Professor Katy Rouse. Of Kelley, Rouse writes, “I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Camille on this project. She is the student with whom all faculty would want to work. She has an excellent academic record with outstanding quantitative and statistical skills. On many levels, working with Camille was more like working with a graduate student. From idea formulation to data analysis and writing, she took full ownership of the project. In fact, Camille worked more independently than any other student I’ve mentored in my 10 years at Elon.”
After graduation, Kelley will begin work with Sun Life Financial.
In “Impacts of Contraception on Women’s Decision-Making Agency,” Fogarty connects contraception use to greater female decision making agency with data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey. Her work provides a direct link between the two, which was absent in the economics literature. She concludes that empowering women through decision making agency is crucial to promoting global economic development, and that contraception availability and use should be included in any policy discussion.
In “The Relationship Between Education, Experience, and Political Efficiency,” Quinlan constructed a new data set on the background of every member of the House of Representatives from 1973-2018 to shed light on which characteristics matter most for sponsoring and enacting legislation. She notes that over forty percent of those elected to the House in November 2018 have never worked in government, so she was particularly keen to understand how characteristics other than congressional experience, such as education and military experience, affect what she calls political efficiency.