Purdue Agricultural Economics Honors Program
Eligibility
Undergraduate students with outstanding academic performance (GPA: 3.0) will be invited to join the departmental honors program.
Required Courses
AGEC 375 ( 1 credit) / The Process of Economic Research
(Co-requisites: MA 224 and STAT )
AGEC 499 (5 credits) / Honors Thesis
Honors Thesis
Honors students complete a thesis under the supervision of a faculty mentor. The thesis must be submitted to the honors program coordinator a month prior to graduation, and subsequently be presented to the department.
Honors Program Coordinator
Dr. Todd Kuethe, tkuethe@purdue.edu, 765-494-4251
Former Honors Students:
| Student | Honors thesis title | Advisor(s) | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grant Allyn | Dr. Jim Mintert | 2024 | |
| Austin Wright | Dr. Mindy Mallory | 2024 | |
| Chenyu Pan and Yingzhi Wang | Dr. Michael Delgado | 2024 | |
| Anqi Cui | Dr. Jacob Ricker-Gilbert | 2024 | |
| Sydney Wheeler | Who are the primary shoppers? An investigation of US households | Dr. Brenna Ellison | 2024 |
| Gabi Paxson | How does motivation impact feed purchases for show livestock participants | Dr. Scott Downey | 2024 |
| Noah Berning | Autonomy and Automation in Agriculture: A Market Outlook | Dr. Scott Downey | 2024 |
|
Jemima Baributsa |
What factors influence the willingness to pay and consumption frequency of different meats for Chinese consumers? |
Dr. Holly Wang | 2023 |
|
Cai Chen |
Forecasting county-level corn and soybean yield in the Midwest using a multivariate regression model |
Dr. Mindy Mallory | 2023 |
|
Ethan Buck ('24), Morgan Hinz ('24), Yuxi “Jimmy” Jiang ('23) and Xiuyun “Lisa” Wen ('23) |
Dr. Todd Kuethe | 2023 | |
| Grace Bolten | Food Insecurity in Indiana | Dr. Joseph Balagtas | 2023 |
| Lorenzo Alegria | Aflatoxin MRL impacts on global reaction to trade shock | Dr. Jacob Ricker-Gilbert | 2023 |
| Josh Bailey | Sources of Value for Agriculture from Space Exploration Technology Development | Dr. Kajal Gulati | 2023 |
| Kendra Personett | The COVID-19 Pandemic and Grocery Shopping Behavior: Who are the hybrid shoppers? | Dr. Brenna Ellison | 2023 |
| MacKinley Cooksey | The Use of Adjustment Strategies in BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) Owned Small Businesses | Dr. Maria Marshall | 2023 |
| Jingjing Tao | Quantifying “local food” online and social media in the United States for 2018–2021 | Dr. Nicole Olynk Widmar | 2022 |
| Owen Coon | Evaluating Expected Values of Breeding Strategies With and Without Bull Breeding Soundness Exams in Beef Cattle Herds | Dr. Nicole Olynk Widmar | 2022 |
| Claire Baney | Assessing Local Food Access: A Starter Kit for Communities | Dr. Michael Wilcox | 2022 |
| Jaden Retter | Technical Trading Systems in U.S. Commodity Futures Markets | Dr. Mindy Mallory | 2022 |
| Jiahui Huang | Research on the Impacts of Banning Plastic Straws in Catering Industry on Chinese Consumers’ Environmental Attitudes | Dr. Jayson Lusk | 2022 |
| Nick Bowser | Attitudes Towards Healthy Eating Across Demographics | Dr. Bhagyashree Katare | 2021 |
| Dane Erickson | The Effect of Chronic Wasting Disease on Resident Deer Hunting Permit Demand in Wisconsin | Dr. Carson Reeling | 2021 |
| Douglas Abney | Web Scraping for Agricultural Related Jobs on Indeed.com An Analysis of the Agricultural Industry’s Job Market | Dr. Todd Kuethe | 2021 |
| Mason Gordon | Indiana’s Stellar Communities Designation: An Evaluation of a State Economic Development Program | Dr. Michael Wilcox Dr. Larry DeBoer |
2020 |
| Katriel Marks | Analyzing Non-Legal Barriers to Women’s Land Ownership | Dr. Rhonda Phillips | 2020 |
| Josephine Cameron | Farm policy and foreign food aid: educating students and stakeholders on the Food for Progress program | Dr. Roman Keeney | 2020 |
| Hillary Vrba | The impact of stress on small business success after Hurricane Katrina | Dr. Maria Marshall | 2020 |
| Andrew Ahlersmeyer | Examining the economic viability of corn after corn cropping systems in the United States corn belt | Dr. Tim Baker Dr. Bruce Erickson |
2020 |
| Jiyong Kwon | The effect of Chinese consumer characteristics on the dining out behavior | Dr. H. Holly Wang | 2020 |
| Jongho Bae | Impact of the tariff between the U.S. and China on Soybean Prices and the U.S. Soybean Farmers | Dr. Otto Doering | 2019 |
| Hao Tian | An Empirical Study on Rebound Effect of Hybrid Vehicle | Dr. Michael Delgado | 2018 |
| Shunpeng Wu | Influence of import and export prices on grain market during bubble and non-bubble periods | Dr. Michael Gunderson | 2018 |
| Lifeng Ren | Immigrant Farm and Agricultural Entrepreneurship | Dr. Bhagyashree Katare | 2018 |
| Kezhou Miao | Soft-Drink Consumption Trend in America, could the declining soft-drink consumption in America be applied to all population universally? Especially to children and adolescents. | Dr. James Binkley | 2017 |
| Grant Gardner | Predicting Generational Belonging on Farms | Dr. Scott Downey | 2017 |
| Wesley Davis | Further Insights from the Purdue University 2015 Performance Management in Agribusiness Survey | Dr. Michael Gunderson | 2017 |
| Kurt Cheng | The Impact of Exchange Rate, Interest Rate, and Output Prices for Intermediate Livestock Farms | Dr. Tim Baker | 2017 |
| Wuzheqian Xiao | What Determines Urban Chinese Consumers' Shopping Outlets For Pork? | Dr. Holly Wang | 2016 |
| Shelby Swain | Farmer Cooperative Locations Related to Incomes in Indiana | Dr. Michael Gunderson | 2016 |
| Thomas Fisher | Civil War and Child Malnutrition in Nepal | Dr. Jerry Shively | 2016 |
| Sarah Correll | College Bound or Bound to Fail? Determinants of Indiana’s High School Graduation and College-Going Rates | Dr. Larry DeBoer | 2016 |
| Katherine Chang | The Power of Asking Questions: Do Belief, Goal and Need-Related Questions Shape People’s Preference towards a Product? | Dr. Scott Downey | 2016 |
| Andrew Johnson | Agricultural credit risk and the macroeconomy: Derteminants of Farm Credit Mid-America PD migrations | Dr. Michael Boehlje | 2015 |
| Erin Whittaker | The Fundamental Factors Affecting Corn Price from 1982-2013 | Dr. Corinne Alexander | May-14 |
| Andrew Sokolchik | Cannabis Farming: The Potential of Hemp in Indiana's Agricultural Landscape | Dr. Michael Gunderson | May-14 |
| Anbo Wang | Performance and Risk of Agricultural Assests: A Time-Varying Approach | Dr. Tim Baker | December-13 |
| Celia Qijun Guan | What Causes Teacher Turnover in Indiana | Dr. Larry DeBoer | May-13 |
| Su Hua | To Rent or To Own: The Residential Tenure Choices of Chinese Students in the U.S. | Dr. Brigitte Waldorf | May-12 |
| Laura Bohlander | The Influence and Relationship between Livestock Producers and Salespeople in the Feed and Animal Health Industry | Dr. Alan Gray | May-12 |
| Amy Winter | Living and Saving Green: An Economics Assessment of Purdue's Food Waste Handling System | Dr. John Lee | May-12 |
| Jamie Steiner | Helping or Hindering Education through School Consolidation: School Building Effects on District Costs and Student Achievement | Dr. Larry DeBoer | May-11 |
| Renee Foltz | The Methodology of Small Business Demise Information Recovery | Dr. Maria Marshall | May-11 |
| Bailey Perry | An Analysis of the Potential for Producer Profitability Given Changing Consumer Preferences for Pasture Dairying | Dr. Nicole Olynk | May-11 |
| Carissa McCay | Effect of Cooperatives Working Together: Herd Retirements on the U.S. Dairy Herd Size | Dr. Joseph Balagtas | May-11 |
| Jing Hao | Buyers' Cartels: An Empirical Study of Prevalence and Economic Characteristics | Dr. John Connor | May-11 |
| Katharine Bartlett | Effects of Cattle Density on FMD Spread | Dr. Frank Dooley | May-10 |
| Sam Clark | Transitioning to Organic Farming in Indiana | Dr. Corinne Alexander | May-10 |
| Ryan Crane | Management Strategies and Philosophies of Successful Farm Businesses | Dr. Craig Dobbins | May-09 |
Effective May 30, 2025, the university has undergone a strategic restructuring, resulting in the sunset of the Office of Multicultural Programs and related DEI offices in accordance with institutional policy. While historical references to these offices remain in past publications, our commitment to fostering an inclusive and equitable academic environment continues through new and evolving initiatives.