Current Students

I am from Shanghai, China, and I feel honored to be able to earn a combined degree in both Economics and Statistics at UBC! For the past four years of my bachelor's journey, I have always been into quantitative applications of studied knowledge on real-world economic data and follow-up data analysis. I once had a summer internship in the asset management team in 2021 and that was exactly when my interest in dealing with figures bloomed. Moreover, I have been working as a research assistant for Professor Hiroyuki Kasahara since May. 2022. During the process, I really enjoyed consistently learning how to do the literature reviews and write the codes for analysis in a researcher position, as well as holding the precious opportunity to communicate with a professor promptly and directly.

Ever since taking my first economics class, I was drawn to the logic and methodology behind economic theory and empirical analysis. Economics theory helps us to dissect complex phenomena, clarify causality, and get closer to the truth. In my undergraduate studies, I acquired the methodology of identifying correlations and causations by combining theory and data analysis. However, I still need to expand my knowledge in other disciplines, especially environmental and business perspectives. Moreover, I need to improve my quantitative analysis skills. Although I took several Econometrics and statistics courses in my undergraduate study, I still lack experience applying economic theories to solving practical problems. This is why I'm looking forward to joining the MFRE program. I am eager to further enhance my skills in analyzing data in practical situations. It is also the field that I am primarily interested in, and I hope to become a data or financial analyst in the future. But I also aim to explore my interests and passions in other areas during the learning process of this program, striving to identify the career goals that ignite my enthusiasm and potential.

Hi, this is Carl. I graduated from UBC with a bachelor’s degree in economics and political Science. I used to be a research assistant for the UBC Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability during my undergraduate study. I believe food and resource governance will be an imperil part in making social and economic decisions going forward. The MFRE program can help me to gain a better understanding on quantitative reasoning and technical knowhow. In addition, I believe the program can enhance my industry knowledge on environmental regulations and commodity trading. In the future, I hope to work as a consultant for private equities or analyst for the public sector.

After MFRE, I plan to apply my skills directly to solutions for climate change through food resilience and carbon removal. I aspire to work on food supply security as we face catastrophic weather events alongside growing demand from population growth. I earned a bachelor’s in Economics from Scripps College in California and then worked as a Sr. Business Analyst for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In my spare time, I explored my interests around nutritional science and food systems. I wrote and illustrated educational comics on these subjects to deepen my understanding and share my findings with others

I love coffee, reading non-fiction, meditation, cooking, hiking, painting, yoga, and playing pickleball with my husband.

This is Zijian Chen (Barry). Nice to meet you all virtually/in reality in the future! I studied crop sciences and psychology back in my undergraduate level and then majored in Agricultural Economics at grad school. I worked 5 years in an agricultural commodity trading companies where I found my blind spots/weakness of knowledge in the world of agriculture/economics, for example, I thought there were more efficient ways in macro-data analysis for me at work and I was curious when it came to the subject of policy-making given that the market in China could be heavily driven by different policies.

I like movies & music & reading in my leisure time, I am also a certified personal trainer who plays a lot less often pick-up basketball games than before. Thank you all!

Hi everyone! I'm Yuto, an international student from Japan. I am glad to become a part of the MFRE family. I earned a bachelor's degree in Agri-Food and Environmental Policy from Meiji University and bring years of experience in the FMCG industry. My career has primarily revolved around sales and international trade management, with a particular focus on the confectionery and food sectors. Through the MFRE program, I aspire to further develop my analytical skills from an economic perspective. I am excited about the potential these quantitative skills hold as I navigate the uncertainties of the future, including Agri-tech, Food-tech, big data, the supply chain, and other emerging elements. My long-term goals are to secure a management role in a leading FMCG company in my 30s and to establish my own business in my 40s. In my spare time, I enjoy staying active. I like eating, doing sports, jogging, playing the piano & violin, watching Netflix, and exploring. Looking forward to meeting all!

Hello everyone, my name is Linqing Feng, but you can also call me Rebecca. I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Mathematical Economics at University of Waterloo in 2023. I had the opportunity to intern at a Chinese limited company during the summer of 2021, where I gained valuable experience in international trade. I have a strong interest in areas such as food and resources because they allow me to apply the economics knowledge I acquired during my undergraduate studies to real-life situations. It is truly an honour for me to be a part of the MFRE family. My career goal is to serve as a policy analyst either in an NGO or a government department. This will enable me to conduct research on economic development or food and natural resource problems to provide high-quality advice to policy makers. I believe the MFRE program can greatly assist me in achieving my career goals.

During the summer vacations in 2018 and 2019, I participated in the volunteer activities held by Oxfam Macau. While helping in raising funds for smallholding farms in poor communities and encouraging more people to give attention to them, I realized that there was still a large uneven distribution of resources and unfairness in trade in different regions around the world, which covered the areas of agriculture, food, environment, and natural resources. With the MFRE program, I desire to gain sufficient knowledge in these fields and be well-prepared for my future job at NGOs, which enables me to help people in poor communities to obtain more even allocation of resources. Last but not least, in my free time, I love hiking, traveling, and baking.

hanyh99@student.ubc.ca

Hello! I am Andy this is my fifth year at UBC. recently I just completed my Bachelor's degree in Food and Resource Economics. I established a distinct curiosity about food production and distribution. As I progressed in my undergraduate degree, this passion transformed into a desire to explore the logic behind the food market and the economic impact of large-scale environmental and governmental disruptions

I am excited to deepen my professional knowledge and skills by studying in UBC's Master of Food and Resource Economics (MFRE) program. I anticipate that this program will not only enhance my understanding of business management, government policy, and production practices but also sharpen my communication and interpersonal skills, which I believe will be critical to my future career path. It's a pleasure to meet you all and I hope we can become friends!

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Hi there! I am from Kingston, Jamaica, and recently graduated from UBC Sauder School of Business with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Operations and Logistics. I have lived in three countries, Jamaica, China, and Canada. Throughout my time volunteering in Jamaica, I clearly realize that there are still so many people in the world who are experiencing poverty and hunger. The process of distributing food to refugee areas every week cannot help but give me the idea of dedicating to research on food economy and environmental issues when I was in high school. Joining the MFRE program aligns perfectly with my career aspirations. I am drawn to the program's multidisciplinary curriculum, which integrates economics, policy, and technology in tackling global food security and resource management issues. My main areas of interest include sustainable agriculture, circular economy, and food waste reduction. Post MFRE, I aim to leverage my knowledge and skills to work towards creating sustainable and resilient food systems. Whether in the realm of policy development, consulting, or research, my ultimate goal is to contribute to the transformation of the food and resources sector, promoting environmental stewardship and social equity. Through the MFRE program, I am excited to collaborate with like-minded individuals and industry experts, gaining invaluable insights and fostering meaningful connections that will further empower me to make a positive impact in the field.

During my undergraduate study, I was very interested in the course “The Process of Economic Development”, which related to resource allocation, policy-making, and eliminating poverty, and really hope to study deeply on these areas. MFRE offers great opportunities to help me improve myself, since its curriculum focuses on applied economics, business, and policy aspects within the Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Environmental sectors, which extends the depth and breadth of my economic knowledge from the intersection among various angles, elevating my strategic insight and application expertise. I am looking forward to starting my graduate journey in MFRE and associating myself with the food and resources industries (especially the public sector) in near future.

Throughout my undergraduate studies, I focused on commerce with a specialization in finance and business analytics, which honed my abilities in quantitative and data analysis. The global pandemic caused by Covid-19 has had a severe impact on the world's economy, with each country implementing various regulations and restrictions.

In Canada, I have observed the supply chain crisis in the food and resource sectors, which has made food less accessible and affordable for people across the country. While working as a research assistant at UBC Sauder, I helped collect transportation data and analyzed how transport connectivity affects import and export trades between Canada and its trade partners. This experience inspired me to explore how government policies and transportation impact price volatility and the supply chain of food and resources. Upon completion of my MFRE degree, I aim to obtain a position as an analyst in a finance firm, with a focus on food, resources, and green finance, where I can apply my comprehensive knowledge and analytical skills

As for hobbies, I played varsity table tennis during my undergrad, and I like traveling to try out different cuisines.

tangzixi@student.ubc.ca

I am passionate about experiencing different cultures, and that is why I went to four universities on three continents during undergrad: in addition to graduating with high distinction and high honors in Economics from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, I have also studied at Sun Yat-sen University in China, the University of Hong Kong, and the London School of Economics and Political Science.

I am also passionate about agribusiness: I have worked as an analyst in a boutique private equity firm that specializes in the swine industry, and I am excited about the opportunity to learn more about applying data analytics in agribusiness in the MFRE program. With the acquired knowledge, I hope to work as an agricultural economist after graduation.  

I love listening to and reading about classical music, and I can often be found by the piano during my free time. My favorite composers include Beethoven, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninoff.

I am Easton, a recent graduate of the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and a minor in Commerce. Since graduation I have worked and interned in various fields, including real estate, insurance, and finance. I am interested in environmental economics, which led me to apply for the MFRE program..After completing the MFRE program, my goal is to work as a data analyst in the agricultural industry to contribute to a carbon-free economy.

I enjoy hiking, frisbee, and snowboarding. I like to challenge myself, constantly learn new knowledge and skills, and apply them to practical situations. My ultimate goal is to become an innovator, create value for society, and improve people's lives. I believe that by constantly pursuing the state of flow, I can achieve this goal. I am a curious and passionate person with a strong interest in various fields,

Hi, everyone! My name is Jingqingze Xie, and I recently graduated from SFU with a Bachelor of Economics with distinction. During my time at Simon Fraser University, I primarily focused on acquiring theoretical knowledge in Economics. I completed an internship as a finance intern at an international trade company, and during my senior year, I worked with my mentor on researching the local economic impact of China's environmental protection tax law. I am very interested in the process and decision-making of government policy. Therefore, the main reason why I chose the MFRE program is to gain in-depth knowledge of food and resource economics, as well as learn more comprehensive methods and techniques for policy analysis and data analysis.

After MFRE, I plan to become a policy analyst in the agricultural and environmental sector, contributing to sustainable policy development and benefiting society

I am Xinyi Xu, who recently graduated  from UBC Sauder School of Business with a major of Finance. My undergraduate studies equipped me with business competency, a solid financial foundation, and an economic mindset to help me to continue my studies in MFRE. In addition, I am familiar with the R programming and Excel models. I hope I can learn more useful computer techniques for quantitative/data analysis. I have also interned as a business analyst at 01 Caijing. During the internship, I performed extensive research on digital transformation trends and strategies for the insurance industry and composed industry insight reports.

MFRE will enable me to systematically advance my knowledge of agriculture and hone my quantitative toolkit with econometric models, and gain hands-on experience. Upon graduation, I intend to work at consulting firms as a research analyst and leverage my expertise to reveal information about the food industry

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Having completed my BA degree in Economics at the University of British Columbia, the culmination of my undergraduate experiences has proliferated my passion for systematically exploring the economics and policy analysis at the intersection of agri-food systems and environmental resource management. Moreover, I possess an innate passion for research on climate change, agricultural sustainability, and food security from an economic perspective. Thus, I am thrilled to matriculate into the venerated MFRE program. Through its multidisciplinary curriculum encompassing applied economics, agribusiness, and policy analysis, I intend to cultivate optimal strategies to address sustainable development, environmental concerns, and resource governance in agriculture and food systems. By undertaking the MFRE program, I am confident in acquiring the ability to analyze data, evaluate policy and project, and conduct in-depth research before actualizing my long-term goal of becoming an Economic and Policy Analyst in international organizations, spearheading resource management projects and sustainable agricultural policies

Motivated by my rural upbringing in Shandong Province, China, I pursued a bachelor's degree in Agricultural and Forestry Economics & Management at Beijing Forestry University, with a minor in Economics from Peking University. Along my academic journey, I demonstrated leadership and communication abilities by organizing a campus-wide session on sustainable management. Immersing myself in real-world modeling analysis further ignited my passion for Food and Resource Economics, prompting me to pursue a Master's program to advance my career prospects.

My internship at Deloitte's Venture Capital and Private Equity Program provided practical insights into applying economic principles. This experience solidified my aspiration to work as an economic analyst across public, private, and academic sectors. Equipped with my skills and knowledge, I am determined to contribute to the sustainability of our eco-society, particularly in addressing the urgent challenges of climate change

I recently graduated from UBC Bachelor of International Economics. After taking ECON 471, nonrenewable resource economics, it sparked my interest in how resource extractors allocate their extraction plans over time, as well as in policies that encourage businesses to switch to renewable energy. The models are evidently the essence of researchers' work, but they were built upon a number of rigorous assumptions that are difficult to apply in a real-world context. I'm interested in  incorporating quantitative skills with economics in order to better analyze policies from various perspectives in different industries. Thinking about my future path, I look forward to getting involved in data analytics at financial or energy companies.

Apart from simply extracting data, a more crucial process is utilizing the data to assess the pros and cons of implementing certain features from a business perspective.

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