About me

I am the chair of the Department of Economics, Iowa State University. I am also a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA.

I earned my B.A. degree from Oberlin College in 1981 and my Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1988. From 1988 through 2015 I was a faculty member in the Department of Economics at the University of Kansas. During that time I was Director of the Center for Economic and Business Analysis in the Institute for Policy & Social Research (2001-2006), Associate Vice Provost for Research & Graduate Studies (2006-2012), and Interim Dean of Graduate Studies (Aug. 2011 – Jan. 2012).

From August 2012 – August 2014 I was Director of the National Science Foundation‘s Science of Science and Innovation Policy Program.

My research interests include the economic history of the United States, the economics of science, technology and innovation, and labor economics. In addition, I enjoy photography. Most of the images used on this website are photographs that I have taken.