Research Economist
Western Washington University, with over 16,000 students in seven colleges and the graduate school, is nationally recognized for its educational programs, students and faculty. The campus is located in Bellingham, Washington, a coastal community of 90,000 overlooking Bellingham Bay, the San Juan Islands and the North Cascades Mountain range. The city lies 90 miles north of Seattle and 60 miles south of Vancouver, British Columbia. Western is the highest-ranking public, master’s-granting university in the Pacific Northwest, according to the 2022 U.S. News & World Report rankings.
Western Washington University is committed to achieving excellence through advancing inclusive success, increasing our Washington impact, and focusing on transformational education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and based on innovative scholarship, research, and creative activity. Western’s greatest strength is the outstanding students, faculty, staff, and alumni/ae who make up its community. Western supports an inclusive governance structure for all and provides a learning and working environment in which everyone can thrive. In pursuit of this excellence, individual employees are expected to establish and maintain productive and effective inclusive working relationships amongst diverse populations including staff, faculty, administration, student, and external constituents. Further, individual employees are expected to have the ability to operationalize sustainability concepts (economic, societal, environmental) into all aspects of performing their job duties.
About the Department
The Center for Economic and Business Research supports Western’s mission, which states that together with our students, staff, and faculty, we are committed to making a positive impact in the state and the world with a shared focus on academic excellence and inclusive achievement. We encourage applications from women, people of color, people with disabilities, veterans, and other candidates from underrepresented backgrounds and with diverse experiences interested in this opportunity.
About the Position
This position functions as the Research Economist in the Center and as a mentor for student researchers, providing assistance, training, and support to the students. The Center engages in more than two dozen unique research projects annually. As Research Economist, this position is responsible for overseeing and managing the methodology and analytics related to: economic impact analyses; data collection, organization, and monthly forecasts for the Puget Sound Economic Forecaster; and other analytical project support work. This position supports and conducts primary research including public opinion (survey and focus groups) and responding to requests for proposals. This critical role is also responsible for preparing and reviewing written reports on other projects engaged in by the Center which include public opinion research, regional economic research and other related areas. This position may require presentation of findings of all of the Center’s research projects.
Position Duties and Responsibilities
General economic and business research and analysis for Center projects (30%)
- Monitor changes in economies from local to global and their effects on modeling efforts
- Collect economic and demographic data from secondary and primary sources using survey mechanisms and established databases/datasets
- Generate and/or edit reports on analyses of data for clients
- Assist in designing media (graphics, images, videos, etc.) that are relevant to projects
- Maintain historical record of projects
Impact Analysis and Econometric Modeling (30%)
- Advanced statistical analysis, including econometric modeling in EViews and other statistical packages
- Perform economic impact analyses in IMPLAN, with the ability to customize sectors and multipliers
- Provide Mentorship, Training, and Support for Student Researchers and Projects (30%)
- Work in a collaborative setting with student researchers and faculty
- Manage reporting and deadline for all concurrent projects
- Monitor student work for quality and consistency of analysis, writing, and presentation
- Mentor and train student employees
- Manage students on personal and professional level
Draft Proposals, Presentations, and External Meetings (10%)
- Assist Director in writing project proposals and scope of work documents for potential projects
- Produce written articles for publication
- Attend meetings and give presentations across the region to clients
- Other administrative duties to facilitate the office
- Receive training in new research methods and tools and network with other researchers