AEASP 2024 Scholar Emma Leonard

Emma Leonard is a third-year student at Elon University where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Psychology, minoring in Mathematics, Art, and Neuroscience. She founded the Elon Economics Peer Mentoring Program in an effort to increase diversity within the department. She was a teaching and learning apprentice for Microeconomic Theory and is a leader on Elon’s College Fed Challenge team, which made the national semi-finals in 2022. Emma’s passion for research was sparked by her experience as an associate editor for the Issues in Political Economy Undergraduate Research Journal and organizing undergraduate sessions at the 2024 Eastern Economic Association Conference. Her research interests are quite varied, as she currently has separate ongoing projects on how undergraduate student confidence aligns with academic performance and the heterogeneous relationship between monetary policy, housing, and wealth inequality. She balances her academic work with yoga as a 200-hour certified instructor. After graduation, she aims to pursue a PhD in Economics, focusing on behavioral perspectives to public policy.