Andres Giraldo Palomino
Andres completed his Ph.D. under the supervision of Associate Professor Omer Ozak in 2018 and joined the Department of Economics at Pontifica Universidad Javeriana located in Bogota, Colombia as an Assistant Professor in Fall 2018. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019 and is now the head of the economics department. During his time at SMU, he received a Dean's Dissertation Fellowship and won the Melody Rice Memorial Award in Economics which goes to one economics PhD student annually for excellence in academic achievement and service to fellow students.
Andres' broad research interests span long run economic growth and political economy as well as macroeconomics and monetary economics. The strong relationships he developed at SMU have stayed with him through co-authoring relationships with SMU faculty, SMU PhD alum and economists at the Dallas Fed.
My time in SMU was amazing. The SMU Economics Department has a a nice characteristic: its faculty are kind and very dedicated to its students and the program is very personalized. I had the chance of interacting with several faculty and receiving feedback from all of them. They were both critical and respectful and I always received encouragement to keep working. I never felt abandoned but on the contrary felt very accompanied.
My classmates and also students from different cohorts than mine were also helpful and played an important role to be successful in the program. And the administrative staff was also an important support. Their support meant we could focus on our studies.
If I had the chance of choosing a graduate school again, I would pick SMU Economic Department without any hesitation.