THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
UCHICAGO GRAD STUDENT, FRANCESCO RUGGIERI, HONORED FOR EXEMPLARY TEACHING
PUBLISHED ON MAY 31, 2023
Francesco Ruggieri Honored for Exemplary Teaching
Prior to coming to UChicago, econometrics was among Francesco Ruggieri’s least favorite courses. Econometrics is at a unique intersection between economic and statistical theory, he said, but for a long time, he thought of them as disjoint fields.
He now teaches it to undergraduates despite its lack of popularity among students. Managing the subject’s synergies between data and theory is one of the key lessons Ruggieri aims to teach.
'Letting the data speak for themselves is an illusion,' Ruggieri said. 'The data alone can certainly provide interesting descriptive insights, but theoretical models – even simple frameworks with mild assumptions – are necessary to guide our understanding of real-world phenomena and have an impact on policy.'
Ruggieri employs a unique teaching approach to help students with this difficult course: short recaps of the previous lecture at the beginning of each class. During this portion of the class, Ruggieri encourages students to 'fill intentional gaps' in his summaries in order to foster engagement in a course in which the material is cumulative.
Ruggieri said he deeply values the chance to teach UChicago students, who he said have a natural inquisitiveness and desire to achieve a deep understanding of class material. He particularly appreciates the ways in which students draw connections across their courses.
He also said he values the chance to discuss careers in academia with students hoping to enroll in doctoral programs in economics.
'Navigating these steps can be intimidating at first because admission to doctoral programs is competitive and information on how best to proceed is not widely available,' Ruggieri said. 'Having experienced the same career uncertainty only a few years ago, I particularly enjoy devoting time to mentoring undergraduate students who are interested in economics research.'"