Catherine Creiman has always been interested in decision making and loves the idea of modeling human behavior. She is excited about behavioral economics because it allows for more nuanced answers than traditional economics to questions about why people make particular choices, while also encouraging interdisciplinary work with other topics, like gender differences, equitable education, and the environment.
In her undergraduate economic classes she learned about the importance of conducting ethical and rigorous research. Working at the Pittsburgh Experiential Economics Laboratory as a recipient of the Harvey Cohen Undergraduate Research Prize, she learned how to do that research in practice. At PEEL, Catherine assists in behavioral and experimental economics projects, and presents research findings. As part of this fellowship, Catherine had the chance to meet with Al Roth, the 2012 Nobel Prize winner in Economics, who was one of the founders of the PEEL lab.
As an undergraduate student at Pitt, Catherine recommends that students get involved in clubs and other econ-related activities! She believes that having friends in classes makes them much more fun and gives you a reason to study more, building a sense of community, and hearing about related opportunities through the grapevine.
After graduation, Catherine plans to go to graduate school in public policy and hopefully get a job doing research. She is also interested in teaching, so academia is definitely one of the careers she’s considering!