— “I am excited about being a participant in resolving this country’s current energy challenges. New Mexico is in a position to be at the forefront of the solution and economics will play a critical role. As an environmental economist, I am involved in the interdisciplinary research that is seeking viable options for these issues, and I am in a position to convey the importance of such work to NMSU students.”
Meghan Starbuck, PhD, University Research Council Chair and Assistant Professor of the Department of Economics and International Business, says there are many important issues facing the community, the state and the nation, all of which involve economics and most of which carry a sense of urgency. Meghan emphasizes that NMSU faculty does much more than just convey information to its students, it truly strives to challenge their ability to think and to apply their education to these real life issues.
It was certainly people with passion for their work that pushed Meghan toward a career that would allow her to influence other people and her surroundings. Her high school councilor in Albuquerque, realizing the public school system was losing her and she was dropping out from boredom, turned out to be one of those key people at a critical juncture in her life. He offered guidance and opened doors, he worked with her parents and followed up on requirements to get her a GED and early enrollment in college.
A Basic Principals of Economics professor, who initially appeared to be a gruff and scary individual, presented economics as the basic building blocks for everything that surrounds the individual. That snatched Meghan’s attention in college. He convinced her that the subject could be interesting and even exciting. “I now want to help my students discover tools that will contribute to creating a better life, and to realize that economics not only presents lessons about people in general, it enhances their understanding of themselves. It’s not just crunching numbers and graphs, it’s visualizing the applications and results that drive the economies of nations, businesses and even personal finances.”
With a love of the outdoors (her favorite stress-relief is riding her mountain bike to the top of “A” Mountain), Meghan has always cared about the environment. Once she learned that economics had to be integrated into environmental issues in order to protect it, she knew that environmental economics and natural resources would be her career path. “There must be incentives to create profit from environmental solutions. In the case of progressive third world nations, they have the advantage of choosing policies and methods developed by industrialized countries through trial and many errors that can simultaneously benefit the environment and contribute to the economy. Countries like Costa Rica have discovered the environmental and economic benefits from eco-tourism and generating most of their power from geothermal and hydro energy.”
“An excellent example of NMSU’s involvement with communities and engagement in solving rural economic development issues,” Meghan relates, “is its partnership with The Center of Excellence for Hazardous Materials Management in Carlsbad and Artesia. It is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and State of New Mexico, among others, and the partnership also includes Los Alamos National Laboratories and Western Refinery.” The project’s goal is to research and produce a competitive biodiesel from algae oil and Meghan provides economics support. She is also the “energy economist” for a $1.2 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to examine the relationships between fossil fuel production, economic development and water in New Mexico. Jim Peach is the principle investigator for the DOE project known as PROSPER.
In her position as chair of the University Research Council, a faculty group representing all of the university’s schools, Meghan hopes the stand-alone council, working closely with school administrators, can identify and eliminate some of the barriers to world class research programs, especially those requiring interdisciplinary involvement. NMSU has the physical resources, like land, water, airspace and climate, for conducting research that is meaningful to both local and national issues, and has done well at garnering grants for the sciences. NMSU attracts lots of New Mexico students and most tend to remain in the state. “With the quality, depth and breadth of the faculty here, we can now give our students the tools to make a difference in our way of life in general, as well as to their own personal lives.” |
