Dr. 玛利亚姆 Khawar: 经济学 research provides fascinating journeys

Dr. 玛利亚姆 Khawar, Professor of 经济学他对世界经济体系以及影响这些体系的问题有着天生的好奇心. Since she began her career at 埃尔迈拉大学 in 1997, 这种好奇心导致了对世界各国比较发展的持续研究, 特别关注地理作为一个可以解释不同发展结果的因素.

“Geography is a very broad variable, so you have to dig deep into seeing where that leads you,” Khawar explained. “It has led me to look at culture, it has led me to look at institutions. What’s a proximate cause? What’s an ultimate cause? So, there’s all sorts of different avenues to explore.”

In 2016, she brought this research together in a book, “The Geography of Underdevelopment,” and continues to explore topics within this research, 比如意大利南部和更富裕的意大利北部在发展成果上的差异. To help with this process, Khawar在博士的帮助下开始使用地理信息系统建模. Trevor Browning, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science.

在她的职业生涯中，Khawar从不担心寻找新的研究课题. 当她完成一个项目时，她会发现更多的问题，这些问题会引导她走上新的道路.

“It’s fascinating. It’s like a book that never ends,”她说。. “你不知道结局，你只需要继续读下去，看看接下来会发生什么.”

在高等教育教学的其他压力和责任下，研究很容易被搁置. But Khawar said if she didn’t make time for research, 她会失去一部分作为Academics的自我，也不会忠于她进入这个行业的初衷.

“我真的很喜欢我的学科，我喜欢我研究和回答的问题, and I think that’s really important,”她说。. “I think it makes me a better teacher.”

As a student, economics wasn’t always at the forefront of Khawar’s ambitions. 她在伊利诺斯州诺克斯学院主修计算机科学，开始了她的本科学习, drawn to the field by the mathematics involved and the logic of programming. 然而, 当出现问题时，调试程序的繁琐过程导致Khawar对计算机科学的兴趣开始转移. That’s when she discovered economics.

“我觉得它很吸引人，因为它不是你强加给事物的价值判断, but just an objective way of looking at things,她解释道. “在决策过程中权衡成本和收益，我觉得这很自然.”

Even though her focus was more on economics, Khawar maintained her Computer Science major and graduated with both degrees. Because of her computer science background, 当她决定去约翰霍普金斯大学读研究生时，她已经具备了所需的大量数学先决条件. 这也使她能够迅速适应他们在研究生院使用的统计软件，以及后来帮助她从事这一职业的软件.

尽管Khawar喜欢作为国际组织的一部分，去不同的国家帮助领导人解决他们的经济问题, 她喜欢在诺克斯这样的小学校教书，做更多的研究. 在EC，她找到了一所和诺克斯很像的学院，连紫色和金色都很像.

Khawar has spent her entire career at Elmira, 在那里，她不断尝试发展和探索新的方法来教育她的学生，使她成为最好的老师. As she continues to track economic trends, 通过现在在国际上工作的以前的同学和广泛的阅读, she has seen the field evolve. Now there is more recognition of how society and culture impact the economy, a shift from theoretical to applied economics with much of the research, 经济学家如何以一种容易理解的方式与普通人交流思想，也受到了越来越多的关注.

At the academic level, 然而, 她看到学生们转向他们认为有更具体工作机会的领域，比如会计, 金融, 或业务.

“我和经济学家看到的是，你可以把经济学应用到每一个领域. 对我来说, 经济学的基础知识和经济学知识意味着你可以在任何领域工作, but I don’t think that people on the outside see that.”

Khawar说，她在EC的职业生涯的亮点之一就是有机会教授第三学期的课程, which she did for around a decade before COVID. She hopes to start teaching them again soon.

“带学生出国是我教授生涯中非常丰富的一部分，”她说. “这是一些最有意义的经历，因为你可以看到学生们以一种其他任何东西都无法做到的方式成长和学习. 只是看到新的文化，新的视角，新的地方，新的做事方式.”

在秘鲁, 她和她的学生研究了这个国家不断变化的地理如何导致不同的经济模式. She’s also looked at globalization in Thailand and Cambodia, 从经济学和社会学的角度和一个社会学家的朋友. Other locations have included Brazil, Australia, Vietnam, and South Africa.

“I’ve been to some of these places multiple times. I’ve been to the Amazon three times,” she added. “How many people can say that?”