Miles Smith '23 was awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, which will fund 3 years of his PhD and allow him to focus wholly on his research in the social sciences and economics.
Why did you choose to apply for this award?
The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) is a competitive award that fully funds 3 years of my PhD. This fellowship offers unparalleled financial support so that I can focus entirely on my own research rather than working for my financial assistance. The opportunity for an academic researcher to completely focus on their research without additional obligations, like teaching, is incredibly rare.
Briefly describe the work you will be doing on your fellowship.
My research aims to understand the efficacy of different policies when companies are powerful as a producer and as an employer. Specifically I ask, when companies have power in both the consumer goods and labor markets, how do policies like minimum wages help (or fail to help) households and how does this affect those companies' market power? If a firm has the power to almost entirely pass on any wage cost increase back to the consumer by increasing prices, and if minimum wages might kick smaller firms out of the market, will this temporary relief for households result in long-run consolidation of market power? If so, what are effective policies in the presence of dual-market power?
What are you most looking forward to during your time as a fellow?
This research project is very near to my heart, and I am so excited to have the time and resources to truly dive into this project uninhibited. This will be one of the only times in my life where I can immerse myself within a project without many external obligations. It is an opportunity that is very rare in academia and one for which I am deeply grateful. I also look forward to stepping away from the chalk board and engaging with those communities and with those policies I hope to better research and understand.
How have your experiences at Oxy prepared you to apply for this award?
My time at Occidental helped me ask thoughtful and also big questions. In each of my classes, my professors encouraged me to go beyond just understanding the material but to think critically about what we were learning, to question what might be missing and how our understanding of an issue could be improved. Within the economics department, no question ever felt off limits, even if attempting to answer it rigorously as an undergrad was a less-than-feasible. Yet, I was taught how to break up big questions into smaller, more focused ones, and then thoughtfully approach answering each. Passion was always encouraged and was guided into rigor.
I truly could not have received this award had it not been for the incredible mentorship of both Prof. Brandon Lehr and Prof. Jorgen Harris, who have encouraged my journey as a budding economist while at Oxy and after. Their support truly made this path for me possible.
What advice would you give future applicants about the application process?
Take ownership of your real passion. Don't write a research proposal for what you think will get you the award, write the research that you are truly passionate in. There is no substitute for being genuine. And there is no substitute for being thoughtful, deliberate, and excited.