I teach Econometrics courses and sports related courses. I also teach a first-year seminar, Baseball Economics. I am the faculty advisor for the Sports Analytics Association (SAA) and the Assistant Director of the Sports and Society Initiative (SSI).
As the faculty leader for the Sports Analytics Association and my role with SSI, I have been the co-organizer of the OSU Sports Analytics Conference for the past 3 years. We started the conference in the Fall of 2020 and our third iteration of the conference took place this spring. We have been sponsored by SSI, the Economics Department, Fisher College of Business, Sumer Sports, and Stats Bomb. We are growing quickly in both popularity and notoriety. This year we had over 200 unique logins during the virtual portion of the conference. Both our Women's Basketball and College Football panels maintained over 100 participants for their entire duration. Our in-person attendance topped 80 individuals. Over the two days 19 students presented their research projects and 17 panelists/speakers shared their expertise. In addition to several OSU students. this year we had in-person presenters from other Ohio Universities, Minnesota, and Ontario. Our online option has drawn several international presenters too. We have had guest panelists from every major sports franchise in Ohio and several major media outlets. The conference will take place again in the spring of 2024.
I was named the Assistant Director of the Sports and Society Initiative in the fall of 2022. SSI is a cross-discipline, collaborative endeavor to foster research and engage at the intersection of Sports and Society. Some of SSI’s sponsored events this year included the sports analytics conference, Creative Con, and a forum on the role of NIL in OSU athletics. We also sponsor an SSI student research fair and have provided grants to students and faculty working on sports related research. We are already planning events for next year to promote more student research and discuss the societal effects of legalized sports gambling.
I have arranged for several educational trips to sporting events open to all students. This year we took a tour of Huntington Park with the Columbus Clippers’ head of group sales each semester. In the fall semester we attended the Columbus Blue Jackets Sports Management night and in the spring I was able to arrange a Q&A with members of the Blue Jacket’s Business Intelligence team. In March with assistance from SSI and Career Services we took a chartered bus to the Cleveland Cavaliers’ business analytics n ight.
During my time at OSU I have developed two new courses and a first year seminar. Sports Data and Economic Analysis was offered for the first time in 2018. The course covers the application of statistical and econometric techniques to economic questions in the sports industry. In the spring semester of 2019, I started Survey of Econometric methods I. The course is an elective for the MAE program and draws participants from our Econ undergraduates and graduate students in other departments. The course is a combination of programming in R and applied econometrics. In the fall semester of 2019, I started teaching my first-year seminar Baseball Economics. The one credit hour course is open to incoming first-year students and provides a basic introduction to economic thinking using examples from baseball. I earned my PhD from the University of Houston in 2015. Prior to that I earned an MA in Economics from Miami University and a BA in Mathematics from the University of Michigan- Flint. Before graduate school I coached high school sports and worked as an at-risk tutor. I have run marathons each of the past three years and also enjoy camping and fishing. My wife and I spend most of our time entertaining our young children.
