Dave Blatter

Class of 2016

Major: Economics

Minor: Mathematics

Currently: pursuing a PhD in International and Comparative Labor at the Industrial and Labor Relations School at Cornell University with research focused on comparative labor movements in South Korea and Japan.

Future plans: After I graduate I currently plan on working in academia, although working for government in a research or policy position is also an option I'm considering.

The economics department played a huge role in my undergraduate education that informs the work and research I do today. It gave me a critical understanding of economics as a field and a strong foundation in econometrics and quantitative analysis. Most importantly, the UROP program gave me the chance to do research with Dr. Peter Philips. Seeing the research process, the kind of research that can be done, and the impact it can have on real people made me want to pursue research at the graduate level. UROP and the College of Social and Behavioral Science both provided my collaborators and I an opportunity to present our research to a wide range of scholars and students. Most importantly, the mentoring I received from Dr. Philips is without a doubt what prepared me to get accepted and excel at a place like Cornell. I'm incredibly grateful to the department and Dr. Philips in particular.

Dave had the opportunity to accompany Dr. Philips to a talk he gave in Korea on a topic related to some of the research they did together. A Korean news outlet wrote an article about the talk. (The linked article is published in Korean. If your browser does not offer the option for translation, view the page in English via Google Translate with these instructions.)