2026 Jim and Matthew Scarpati Honorary Applied Economics Conference

Thanks to the generosity of Lynn Scarpati, the Department of Economics is proud to announce the 3nd annual conference in the Spring 2026 semester.

Undergraduate economics majors and MA/MS students in Economics are eligible and are invited to participate. Non-economics majors with sufficient economics background are also eligible.

How to Participate:

Participating students will present their papers in a conference format at the end of the Spring semester. The first-place prize comes with an award of at least $1500, the second-place prize comes with an award of at least $1000. Additionally, participants who were previously chosen for a proposal prize and successfully present in the conference will be awarded $250 each, and the committee reserves the right to award additional prizes to conference participants, including but not limited to the first- and second-place prize winners.

Conference Topic:

Open topic: Students may choose the topic of the paper and presentation, subject to the approval of the conference committee. We encourage students to seek feedback from committee members prior to choosing the topic and intended method of analysis of their paper.

Upcoming Meeting Times:

October 15, 5pm: general interest meeting.

  • Additional interest meetings may be held in October depending on student availability.

February 3, March 3, April 7, May 5, 5pm-7pm: conference committee help sessions.

  • Members of the Scarpati Conference Committee will attend to provide support to participants or prospective participants of the conference.

Thursday, May 14, 9am-4pm: Scarpati Conference presentations and reception.

Downloable Files and Forms: