Haslam College of Business - Job Market Candidates 2025-2026

Fifth year
Fields of Interest: economic forecasting, international trade


Halima Begum worked as a central banker, and her experience in banking motivated her to pursue a Ph.D. in economics. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in statistics, as well as an MBA in finance.

Fifth year
Fields of Interest: health economics, environmental economics, labor economics

Debanjali Dasgupta completed her undergraduate coursework in economics from Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi, India, and her master’s in economics from TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi, India. Prior to starting her Ph.D. in economics, she worked as a research assistant at TERI School of Advanced Studies and at Ipsos, a multinational market research organization for various health policy projects that focus on barriers to accessing healthcare services in India. Her current research interests focus on maternal and child health. Outside academics, she is interested in art and music.

Personal Website

Fifth year
Fields of Interest: labor economics, development economics, and behavioral economics


Trinity’s Douglass received a bachelor’s degree in public health from the University of Washington and a master’s degree in agricultural economics from the University of Tennessee. She enjoys hiking, trail running and mountain biking.

Personal Website

Fifth year
Fields of Interest: education economics, health economics

Linnea Endersby graduated from Seton Hall University with a bachelor’s degree in economics.

Fourth Year

Fields of interest: labor economics, public economics, energy and applied macroeconomics

Lucas Gurgel is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Economics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business. His research focuses on labor and public economics, with particular attention to the intersection of education and health outcomes. He also maintains an active research interest in applied macroeconomics, having published work on Brazilian monetary policy and examined how oil price fluctuations affect economic performance.

Gurgel currently works as a research assistant at Haslam’s Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research, where he develops policy evaluation projects for faculty and external organizations. Before graduate school, he worked as an electrical engineer on wind farm operations and university infrastructure projects.

Personal Website

Fifth year
Fields of Interests: environmental economics, education economics and labor economics

Xin Jin is an applied microeconomist. Her research lies at the intersection of education, environment and labor economics. Jin’s current work focuses on how environmental shocks and education policies shape students’ academic and social outcomes.

Personal Website

Fifth year
Fields of Interest: environmental, transportation, and public economics

Trenton Marable is a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Economics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business. His research broadly explores how consumers respond to changes in environmental quality and infrastructure. His current work focuses on the impacts of drinking water quality violations and the role of pricing and access in EV charging behavior. Following his third year at UT, Marable worked as a research intern at Resources for the Future in Washington, D.C.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from Mississippi State University, with minors in economics and mathematics

Fifth year
A153 BCBER, Cherokee Mills

Fields of Interest: tax policy impact, fair division mechanisms, game theory

Thomas Verville is a Ph.D. student at the University of Tennessee. His academic journey began at Kalamazoo College, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in economics. After working for a few years, he completed his master’s degree in applied economics at Western Michigan University.

In his free time, Thomas enjoys golfing and playing guitar. Most of his time is spent either playing fetch with his dog or pampering his two cats.

Fifth year
A202 Cherokee Mills

Fields of Interest: Public economics, international trade, environmental economics



Prabuddha Prakash graduated with a master’s degree in economics from Delhi School of Economics, India. He has a penchant for applied microeconomics, and his goal is to provide empirical evidence to policymakers.