College Fed Challenge 2009
(Newark, N.J., Dec. 3, 2009) – Months of intense work yielded rich results for the College Fed Challenge team fielded by the economics department at Rutgers University in Newark. On Dec. 2, students Lakshya Aeri, Sharissa Barrow, Victor Castaneda, Diego LaFuente and Michael Martins scored a second place finish -- and a $15,000 award from the Moody’s Foundation -- at the national finals of the ninth annual College Fed Challenge. Their coach is Economics Department Chair John Graham.
The team represented the New York Federal Reserve District at the finals, held at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C. , competing against teams from Harvard University, Northwestern University and Lafayette College. The Rutgers students came in second behind Lafayette, while Harvard finished third and Northwestern was fourth. The Rutgers team members will share $10,000 of the prize from Moody’s, while $5,000 goes to the Rutgers, Newark, Economics Department.
The team members are:
- Michael Martins, economics major, Class of 2010(BA/MA program), Peapack-Gladstone, N.J.;
- Sharissa Barrow, mathematics and economics major, Class of 2010, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.,
- Victor Castaneda, mathematics and economics major, Class of 2011, Elizabeth, N.J.;
- Diego LaFuente, economics major, Class of 2010, Belleville, N.J.;
- Lakshya Aeri, finance and accounting major, Class of 2010, Jersey City, N.J.
Team Coach Professor John Graham is a resident of South Orange, N.J.
“This is fabulous news, and a tribute to our students and to John Graham’s dedication and effectiveness as a teacher and coach,” declared Steven J. Diner, chancellor of Rutgers University, Newark. The team’s achievement marks the second time in four years that a team from Rutgers University, Newark, has advanced to the national finals. To make it that far, the team first had to win the preliminary round of its competition Nov. 5, competing against teams from Columbia, Cornell, Fairfield and St. Lawrence universities. A total of 33 teams competed in that first round, with Rutgers-Newark and five other universities advancing to the Nov. 20 New York finals. The Rutgers team then came in first place during the New York Finals at the New York Federal Reserve, earning an engraved Golden Eagle Award. They outscored teams from Pace University, the College of New Jersey and the State University of New York-Oneonta.
In each round of the competition, five members from each team act as the monetary policy committee of the Federal Reserve, known as the Federal Open Market Committee, which makes the nation’s monetary decisions. Team members give a 20-minute presentation, including Power Point slides of economic and financial data, and then conclude each presentation with a monetary policy recommendation concerning the federal funds rate and the Fed’s other credit easing policies introduced after the financial crisis of 2008.
Finally the panel of judges questions each team for 15 minutes, grilling them not only on their presentation and policy recommendation, but also the team’s overall knowledge of macroeconomics, how the Federal Reserve operates, and the major monetary issues facing the Fed. Each team is then scored in several categories, including teamwork, knowledge, and presentation skills.
This year’s competition is co-sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Eastern Economic Association.
Media Contact: Carla Capizzi
973/353-5263
E-mail: capizzi@rutgers.edu