Doctoral Programs
at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies

AYSPS in 2003 had 73 students in its Ph.D. in Economics program, a 26 percent increase in enrollment since 2002. Enrollment in the Ph.D. in Public Policy program administered jointly with the Georgia Institute of Technology remained level in 2002 with 30 students. Word of the School’s doctoral programs has spread; in 2003 the Economics Department received applications from Turkey, Jordan, Thailand, India, China, Romania, Korea, Brazil, Cameroon, Kenya, Chile, Ukraine, Netherlands, Indonesia, Austria and Spain, as well as the United States.

In This Page

• Doctoral Graduates in the Andrew Young School
  • Current Students
• Ph.D in Economics
• Joint Ph.D. in Public Policy
• Graduate Research and Teaching Assistants

Doctoral Graduates in the Andrew Young School

Six doctoral degrees were awarded in the Andrew Young School in 2003.

Francisco Arze (Ph.D. in Economics) successfully defended his dissertation entitled, “A Study of the Relationship Between Fiscal Decentralization and the Composition of Public Expenditures.” He is currently working as (title) in the International Studies Program at the Andrew Young School.

Angela Blair Hutchinson (Ph.D. in Public Policy) successfully defended her dissertation entitled, “A Health Technology Assessment of HIV Counseling and Testing Technologies: Evidence of Effectiveness, Cost-Effectiveness and The Consumer Perspective." She and David Rein are the first graduates of the school’s joint doctoral program with the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is a decision scientist in the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Mikhail Melnik (Ph.D. in Economics) successfully defended his dissertation, “Issues in The Economics of E-Commerce.” He is a visiting assistant professor of economics in the Andrew Young School.

Kathryn O’Neill (Ph.D. in Human Resource Development) successfully defended her dissertation, “The effect of masculine gender schema on the transfer of interpersonal communication skills training to the workplace.” O’Neill won the AYSPS “Award for Distinguished Contribution to HRD Research.” She is a senior consultant at Rock-Tenn Company and teaches part time in the Management Department of the School of Business at Clayton College and State University.

David Rein (Ph.D. in Public Policy) successfully defended his dissertation, "Modeling the Health Care Utilization of Children in Medicaid." He joins Dr. Hutchinson as one of the first students to graduate from the school’s new joint doctoral program with the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is presently a research economist for RTI International in Atlanta, Georgia.

Sasatra Sudsawasd (Ph.D. in Economics) successfully defended his dissertation, “Investment Under Trade Policy Uncertainty,” and is now on the faculty of the School of Development Economics at the National Institute of Development Administration in Bangkok, Thailand.

Current Students

Doctoral students coauthor a number of articles with AYSPS faculty, and engage in a wide assortment of research and international activities. For complete information on the research in 2003, see "Graduate Student Activities" in the research section of this report.

Ph.D. in Economics

The Ph.D. in Economics program develops in its students a high degree of competence in conducting basic and applied research and in teaching to prepare them for careers that require a doctoral degree in economics. It provides a rigorous course of study that emphasizes the latest theoretical knowledge, quantitative techniques, research methodology and empirical evidence in the student’s selected specialization.

Recent graduates have accepted academic jobs at the Naval Postgraduate School in California, Indiana University and Deakin University in Australia. Recent non-academic placements include the Environmental Protection Agency, the Congressional Budget Office and the Center for Study of Science and Society in Dallas, Texas.

The Joint Ph.D. in Public Policy

The joint Ph.D. program in Public Policy is designed to prepare research-oriented policy analysts, design specialists, policy evaluators and policy implementation experts for responsible positions in universities, research centers, nonprofit organizations and government agencies. Complementing Georgia Tech’s strengths, the faculty and curriculum at AYSPS provide expertise in public administration, program evaluation, urban policy studies and economics. Doctoral students can participate in applied policy research through several nationally recognized research centers at both universities, which include the Policy Research Center, the Research Value Mapping Program, the Georgia Health Policy Center, the Air Quality Laboratory, the Environmental Policy Program and the Technology Policy and Assessment Center.

The Andrew Young School’s doctoral programs continue to grow and diversify. In 2003, 14 students presented research papers at regional and national professional conferences, 19 papers were published in refereed journals, with six under review, and seven students taught courses.

Graduate Research and Teaching Assistants

Almost all doctoral students and many master's-level students in AYSPS work as graduate assistants while completing their academic programs. A list of the break-down per semester is provided below. Funding for GRAs totaled $1,184,280 for 2003, a 33 percent increase over 2002.