Current Students

I recently graduated from UBC with a major in economics and a minor in business during my undergraduate studies. I decide to pursue the Master of Food and Resource Economics program to foster the opportunity to reflect on which foundational economic theories, models, and formulas I have learned and can use to make a positive contribution to society. My short-term career goals include developing the leadership, communication, and theoretical tools necessary to become a versatile economist with a focus on natural resources and sustainability. In the long-term, I aspire to work at United Nations, an NGO, or a financial institution with trusted professional skills. The unique multidisciplinary program offered by the program will further enhance my quantitative analysis and economics proficiencies while developing my policy analysis and management skills to directly contribute to achieving my career goals. I am especially interested in better understanding food waste, land scarcity, and resource allocation to utilize my theoretical background to formulate relevant policies from an applied economics perspective. 

I like observing the world through the macroeconomic lens; for example, I enjoy tracking exchange rate changes as time goes by and making assumptions about how governments would enact monetary policies to deal with inflation problems. I like to go to the fitness centre and read financial news articles in my daily life. I spent four years in economy bachelor’s degrees and one year of work experience for Alibaba e-commerce website as an online shop manager assistant in my previous studies. The reason for joining MFRE is that I am interested in the food market and enjoy applying MBA and analysis skills in food economics. And it would also be helpful if I could forecast the food price in my future career life. The main areas of interest would be business analytics and estimating econometric models. Thus, I like to work in a financial institution and deal with business analysis work.

I can’t wait to join the MFRE cohort to learn from everyone and explore our academic curiosities together. I am personally very keen to deepen my knowledge about using economic incentives to transition our global food system for future climate 

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.

I am originally from the United States but have spent the last decade in Toronto after graduating from the Rotman Commerce undergraduate program at the University of Toronto. Since graduation I have worked in digital advertising, retail consulting, and hospitality marketing. My career has evolved to center around wine importation and management, including achieving the Wine and Spirits Education Trust Diploma in October 2021. I am looking forward to using the MFRE program to accelerate my career within the wine industry. I am deeply passionate about wine from an agricultural standpoint, recently completing my first harvest internship in California. In my spare time, I like to stay active with swimming, running, and biking, and am looking forward to the great outdoor activities that Vancouver offers

Tilahun is an energetic and optimistic individual who graduated from Hawassa University (HU)

in Ethiopia with First-Class Honours in Economics. His professor called him “a bright and
an attentive young man with his well-known work ethic”.

After his graduation, he worked in Ethio-French Ready to use Foods (Plumpy Nut & Plumpy Sup) manufacturing company, where the produced ready-to-use foods primarily targeted children and adults with nutritional deficiencies.  His overall educational goal is to undertake various research on food insecurity and distribution issues in his country. Provided that he has a foundation in his areas of interest, he believes he needed to acquire relevant knowledge and advanced technical skills in areas such as the food market and policy analysis. Given its academic and research reputation and the caliber of its programs, Tilahun believes the MFRE program of the University of British Columbia will provide him with this knowledge, skills, and expertise.

Tilahun is excited to join the faculty of Land and Food Systems and he is humbled and thrilled to work with the prestigious faculty and diverse student community. He hopes to work with the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture as a Policy Analyst after accomplishing his MFRE program

I recently graduated from the University of Victoria with a Bachelor of Science in Economics with a focus on finance.

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.

kjiao@student.ubc.ca

Hello everyone! My name is Kaiwen Jiao from Beijing, China. I just graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of International Economics. The main reason I am interested in MFRE is that most of my family careers are centered around the food and medicine sector. So, during four years in the BIE program, I took several classes about the development of resources and economics. And my first internship was with a company in the food sector. Besides, my future goal is to work in or set up a food processing company since I find myself really interested in this area. So, I am really looking forward to joining in MFRE program

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Hello, I am Wen, but you can feel free to call me Amanda. I graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of International Economics in the year 2021. I also accumulated one year of working experience in the banking industry and was responsible for due diligence in the anti-money laundering and sanction 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.

Hello, I’m Alison! I graduated from UBC with a Bachelor’s in Economics.  My undergraduate degree and experiences of growing up in a developing country gave me a chance to understand the importance of food and resource security. I hope to combine the knowledge and apply the skills I will learn from MFRE to help inform those in the society, whether they may be individual farmers, businesses, larger organizations, or the government; to improve or make the current institutions more efficient and maximize their potential. After MFRE, I hope to work as a consultant or analyst in the public or financial sector.

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

wyawen@student.ubc.ca

Hello! My name is Xu Yiwen, but you can call me May. I just completed my undergraduate degree in Applied Economics at Queen's University. I am very interested in gourmet food and have long observed the food industry’s development. While feeling happy with the booming food economy, I am extremely concerned about frequently reported scandals about food safety and hygiene. It drives me to think of fundamental solutions to the food economy’s healthy development. Therefore, I am very excited to be admitted to the Master of Food and Resource Economics program.  

 In addition to academic study, I have spent my vacations on internships at NurnbergMesse China. There, I acted as an interpreter and hostess for various forums and got opportunities to communicate with business leaders, from whom I got informed of the latest development in different industries, including the food and resource industry. At the same time, I gained much improvement in my communication, cooperation, and problem-solving ability. So, I am ready to share my experience and exchange ideas with fellow students in MFRE program.   As a new student at UBC, I hope I could have a meaningful and colorful experience with all of you. I am looking forward to meeting you soon! 

I am a recent graduate from UBC with a BA in Economics and a BA in Psychology. My initial interest in food and resource was sparked by my experiences at Sprouts and Agora Café, where I had in-depth exchanges with people interested in the agribusiness sector. Being an intern for an e-commerce company, I gained a deeper understanding of food marketing, services, and management. Since our modern food and natural resource systems need to adapt to rapid changes in the environment and technology, I believe that talents are necessary for society to improve these existing systems. Combining my interests and social needs, I set my career goal as an economist for food-related companies, focusing on efficiencies in decision making. In my free time, I enjoy figure skating, playing badminton, and travelling. I am also interested in cutting-edge research on human attention and unconsciousness and have worked for UBC’s Visual Cognition Lab for three years. I look forward to meeting everyone and making unforgettable memories together

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