Nicholas Pairolero a ’09 graduate from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire in with a B.B.A. in business economics and mathematics didn’t stop there. After graduating, he entered a Ph.D. program in economics at Indiana University Bloomington.
“Although the first year was challenging because of heavy coursework, I found that I was very well prepared given my strong economics and mathematics background from UWEC. The most difficult and rewarding aspect of the Ph.D. was learning how to do research.”
He completed his dissertation in industrial organization in 2016, with an emphasis on price determination and efficiency in supply chain networks.
After the Ph.D., he started working as an economist in the Office of Policy and International Affairs at the Office of the Chief Economist at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in Washington D.C.
“We do a mix of research and policy work in the economics of innovation and intellectual property. Innovation is the foundation for economic productivity and growth, and intellectual property rights provide incentives for creativity, invention, and the development of new products and services. As economists working in this environment, our objective is to support decision and policy making at the USPTO with economic theory and empirical analyses. My recent work examines the impact of Supreme Court decisions on the efficiency of the patent system, patent examiner incentives and patent quality, and machine learning/natural language processing approaches to mapping technology.”
Where will your UWEC Econ degree take you?
