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Featured Fellows

Current high school or college students (or spring 2025 grads) who have taken at least one introductory economics class and are enthusiastic about the subject. They must be strong communicators–whether in person, in writing, or on video. (Or better yet, all three!) They should be intellectually curious, thoughtful, and insightful students, interested in ideas and their implications. They should excel at applying economic reasoning to real-world issues. They can make well reasoned arguments–and recognize when someone else has made a better one. 

In short, the very best young economics students!

For this inaugural year of the Fellowship, MRU is relying on recommendations from econ teachers and professors to help identify the best candidates. We’re asking educators to share information with the current or former students who they think would be the best fit for the program. The application process will require a (short and simple!) recommendation from the teacher/professor. 

Who We’re Looking For 🔎

Applicants must be 16 or older at the time of application. Accepted applicants who are younger than 18 will need a parent or guardian to sign the Fellowship agreement on their behalf. 

As part of the application process, applicants will need to supply the name and email address of a teacher or professor who can provide a recommendation. 

As part of our Fellowship agreement, each Fellow must grant MRU a license to use any content they create during the Fellowship; the Fellow will retain ownership of the content.

We ask our Fellows to commit to active participation throughout the program:

• Attend weekly Fellow program meetings

• Meet regularly with mentors

• Make a good-faith effort to complete projects to a high standard

Requirements for Fellows 📋

Audrey R. 
Golden, CO 

Audrey is a high school senior, who has held numerous leadership roles, including president of her school’s choir program, captain of her soccer team, and social media manager of her soccer club. She will be pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering at the Colorado School of Mines this fall. She has gained a first-hand understanding of real-world economics through both her father’s business and her own honors-level economics coursework. This sparked the idea for an interactive learning game she developed, designed to help students explore the effects of various types of tariffs on businesses—both large and small. Her project goal was to create a multi-step online interactive tool that shows the effect of various types of tariffs on both businesses and on the economy as a whole by combining both macro and microeconomics. This “choose your own adventure” type of interactive asks the user to identify and then see or experience the tariffs’ effects.

Alex N. 
Arlington, VA 

Alex is a rising high school senior with a background in AP Micro and Macroeconomics. His curiosity about the costs and benefits of higher education inspired his fellowship project: a podcast that asks the question “Is College Worth It?” In the series, Alex combines research with his own first-hand experience navigating skyrocketing tuition, financial aid forms, and college planning to challenge the assumption that college is the default path to success, and to consider what students might gain—or lose—by choosing a different direction. The goal of his project is to help educate kids and parents about college, the price of it, and the value gained from going to college. He wants people to have the chance to make a more informed choice about their future as well as pick what is right for them as an individual, noting that there are many options to consider after high school, not just one.

Andrew L. 
Mahwah, NJ
Class of 2025 (Inaugural Cohort)

Andrew is one of our youngest fellows, bringing a passion for economics that included taking AP Macroeconomics and AP Microeconomics as a hobby outside of school! His fellowship project changed dramatically after he read “Average is Over” by Tyler Cowen, when he decided to master his use of AI. Andrew’s project is called “Mapped News,” which is an online news platform for teachers that presents competing viewpoints on various topics of the day (e.g., rent control, tariffs, and UBI). He implemented three distinct components within his proprietary technology solution: lateral reading (to shift perspectives based on different sources), AI web scraping (to locate links based on custom prompts), and analytical philosophy (to generate visual argument maps). His two main goals for the website are to help teachers stay neutral and help students see both sides of an argument. Ultimately, “Mapped News” will give teachers the tools they need to help students refine their own beliefs. Andrew continues to develop this project on his own.

Zev van Z. 
Apex, NC 
Class of 2026 (University Cohort)

Zev is a senior at Duke University in Durham, NC, studying Economics. He is an active freelance writer for the campus and popular press as well as academic and public policy outlets. Zev plans a career that lets him continue to grow as a writer and commentator, while expanding into other media like podcasts.

Arjun R. 
Lake Oswego, OR
Class of 2025 (Inaugural Cohort) 

Arjun is a high school student with a passion for short-form video—and you’ll often find him out on the streets of Portland filming his projects. His videos show how economics is woven into everyday life around the city, from the way Portland grows to the choices people make in their communities. His goal is to motivate his peers to see economics as something real and relevant—sparking curiosity that might lead them to watch more videos, take a high school econ class, or simply look at their city with fresh eyes. By grounding his work in Portland but keeping the lessons clear and digestible, Arjun makes economics both local and universal—helping young people everywhere appreciate how the subject connects to their world.

Elias F. 
Wantage, NJ 

Elias is a rising college sophomore double-majoring in Economics and Philosophy with a background in communications—honed through competitive speech and debate and his work on Colloquium, a podcast at Grove City College. For his fellowship project, he launched his own Substack series, where he explores behavioral economic interventions in the Affordable Care Act through a blend of research, policy insight, and analysis in a more accessible format than formal research papers or academic journals. His goal is to explore the structural influence behavioral economics has had on public health policies, noting that these effects can have negative consequences, and if policy is needed, alternative structures and incentives may be preferable.

Kriti J. 
Unionville, CT 
Class of 2025 (Inaugural Cohort)

Kriti is a standout high school student with a mix of academic and communication experience. She’s twice reached the EuroChallenge semifinals, taught personal finance to younger students, and even managed statewide social media accounts aimed at engaging young people—all while excelling in a full slate of AP classes. For her fellowship project, she produced three short-form videos (think TikTok or Instagram Reels) that connect economics—and especially behavioral economics—to the everyday lives of teens. Each episode delivers a quick, relatable concept designed to make economics accessible and relevant. “Economics isn’t just about big corporations and fancy theories,” she says. “It is about the decisions made in our everyday lives. Choices teens make are shaped by economics, even without realizing it.

Noah H. 
Atlanta, GA
Class of 2025 (Inaugural Cohort) 

Noah is a young entrepreneur who turned his passion for sneakers into a thriving resale business, generating over $10,000 in sales. Alongside his entrepreneurial work, he’s excelled academically as an AP Scholar with Honors and contributed as a mentor, coach, and student leader. This fall, he’ll study finance and data analytics at Southern Methodist University. For his fellowship project, Noah created Sneaker Econ—a series of short videos that use the sneaker resale market to make core economic concepts come alive. By breaking down ideas like supply and demand, input costs, opportunity cost, and resale profitability, he shows how economics plays out in a world teens already know. “Knowing economics helps you make smarter moves,” he points out, “even in hype culture.

Meet some past MRU Fellows—emerging economic communicators shaping the future of ideas. Explore their bios and final projects.

Featured Fellows

Meet some past MRU Fellows—emerging economic communicators shaping the future of ideas. Explore their bios and final projects.

Applicants must be 16 or older at the time of application. Accepted applicants who are younger than 18 will need a parent or guardian to sign the Fellowship agreement on their behalf. 

As part of the application process, applicants will need to supply the name and email address of a teacher or professor who can provide a recommendation. 

As part of our Fellowship agreement, each Fellow must grant MRU a license to use any content they create during the Fellowship; the Fellow will retain ownership of the content.

We ask our Fellows to commit to active participation throughout the program:

• Attend weekly Fellow program meetings

• Meet regularly with mentors

• Make a good-faith effort to complete projects to a high standard

Alex N. 
Arlington, VA 

Alex is a rising high school senior with a background in AP Micro and Macroeconomics. His curiosity about the costs and benefits of higher education inspired his fellowship project: a podcast that asks the question “Is College Worth It?” In the series, Alex combines research with his own first-hand experience navigating skyrocketing tuition, financial aid forms, and college planning to challenge the assumption that college is the default path to success, and to consider what students might gain—or lose—by choosing a different direction. The goal of his project is to help educate kids and parents about college, the price of it, and the value gained from going to college. He wants people to have the chance to make a more informed choice about their future as well as pick what is right for them as an individual, noting that there are many options to consider after high school, not just one.

Applicants must be 16 or older at the time of application. Accepted applicants who are younger than 18 will need a parent or guardian to sign the Fellowship agreement on their behalf. 

As part of the application process, applicants will need to supply the name and email address of a teacher or professor who can provide a recommendation. 

As part of our Fellowship agreement, each Fellow must grant MRU a license to use any content they create during the Fellowship; the Fellow will retain ownership of the content.

We ask our Fellows to commit to active participation throughout the program:

• Attend weekly Fellow program meetings

• Meet regularly with mentors

• Make a good-faith effort to complete projects to a high standard

Andrew L. 
Mahwah, NJ
Class of 2025 (Inaugural Cohort)

Andrew is one of our youngest fellows, bringing a passion for economics that included taking AP Macroeconomics and AP Microeconomics as a hobby outside of school! His fellowship project changed dramatically after he read “Average is Over” by Tyler Cowen, when he decided to master his use of AI. Andrew’s project is called “Mapped News,” which is an online news platform for teachers that presents competing viewpoints on various topics of the day (e.g., rent control, tariffs, and UBI). He implemented three distinct components within his proprietary technology solution: lateral reading (to shift perspectives based on different sources), AI web scraping (to locate links based on custom prompts), and analytical philosophy (to generate visual argument maps). His two main goals for the website are to help teachers stay neutral and help students see both sides of an argument. Ultimately, “Mapped News” will give teachers the tools they need to help students refine their own beliefs. Andrew continues to develop 
this project on his own.

Applicants must be 16 or older at the time of application. Accepted applicants who are younger than 18 will need a parent or guardian to sign the Fellowship agreement on their behalf. 

As part of the application process, applicants will need to supply the name and email address of a teacher or professor who can provide a recommendation. 

As part of our Fellowship agreement, each Fellow must grant MRU a license to use any content they create during the Fellowship; the Fellow will retain ownership of the content.

We ask our Fellows to commit to active participation throughout the program:

• Attend weekly Fellow program meetings

• Meet regularly with mentors

• Make a good-faith effort to complete projects to a high standard

Arjun R. 
Lake Oswego, OR
Class of 2025 (Inaugural Cohort)

Arjun is a high school student with a passion for short-form video—and you’ll often find him out on the streets of Portland filming his projects. His videos show how economics is woven into everyday life around the city, from the way Portland grows to the choices people make in their communities. His goal is to motivate his peers to see economics as something real and relevant—sparking curiosity that might lead them to watch more videos, take a high school econ class, or simply look at their city with fresh eyes. By grounding his work in Portland but keeping the lessons clear and digestible, Arjun makes economics both local and universal—helping young people everywhere appreciate how the subject connects to their world. 

Applicants must be 16 or older at the time of application. Accepted applicants who are younger than 18 will need a parent or guardian to sign the Fellowship agreement on their behalf. 

As part of the application process, applicants will need to supply the name and email address of a teacher or professor who can provide a recommendation. 

As part of our Fellowship agreement, each Fellow must grant MRU a license to use any content they create during the Fellowship; the Fellow will retain ownership of the content.

We ask our Fellows to commit to active participation throughout the program:

• Attend weekly Fellow program meetings

• Meet regularly with mentors

• Make a good-faith effort to complete projects to a high standard

Audrey R. 
Golden, CO 

Audrey is a high school senior, who has held numerous leadership roles, including president of her school’s choir program, captain of her soccer team, and social media manager of her soccer club. She will be pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering at the Colorado School of Mines this fall. She has gained a first-hand understanding of real-world economics through both her father’s business and her own honors-level economics coursework. This sparked the idea for an interactive learning game she developed, designed to help students explore the effects of various types of tariffs on businesses—both large and small. Her project goal was to create a multi-step online interactive tool that shows the effect of various types of tariffs on both businesses and on the economy as a whole by combining both macro and microeconomics. This “choose your own adventure” type of interactive asks the user to identify and then see or experience the tariffs’ effects. 

Applicants must be 16 or older at the time of application. Accepted applicants who are younger than 18 will need a parent or guardian to sign the Fellowship agreement on their behalf. 

As part of the application process, applicants will need to supply the name and email address of a teacher or professor who can provide a recommendation. 

As part of our Fellowship agreement, each Fellow must grant MRU a license to use any content they create during the Fellowship; the Fellow will retain ownership of the content.

We ask our Fellows to commit to active participation throughout the program:

• Attend weekly Fellow program meetings

• Meet regularly with mentors

• Make a good-faith effort to complete projects to a high standard

Elias F. 
Wantage, NJ 

Elias is a rising college sophomore double-majoring in Economics and Philosophy with a background in communications—honed through competitive speech and debate and his work on Colloquium, a podcast at Grove City College. For his fellowship project, he launched his own Substack series, where he explores behavioral economic interventions in the Affordable Care Act through a blend of research, policy insight, and analysis in a more accessible format than formal research papers or academic journals. His goal is to explore the structural influence behavioral economics has had on public health policies, noting that these effects can have negative consequences, and if policy is needed, alternative structures and incentives may be preferable. 

Applicants must be 16 or older at the time of application. Accepted applicants who are younger than 18 will need a parent or guardian to sign the Fellowship agreement on their behalf. 

As part of the application process, applicants will need to supply the name and email address of a teacher or professor who can provide a recommendation. 

As part of our Fellowship agreement, each Fellow must grant MRU a license to use any content they create during the Fellowship; the Fellow will retain ownership of the content.

We ask our Fellows to commit to active participation throughout the program:

• Attend weekly Fellow program meetings

• Meet regularly with mentors

• Make a good-faith effort to complete projects to a high standard

Kriti J. 
Unionville, CT
Class of 2025 (Inaugural Cohort)

Kriti is a standout high school student with a mix of academic and communication experience. She’s twice reached the EuroChallenge semifinals, taught personal finance to younger students, and even managed statewide social media accounts aimed at engaging young people—all while excelling in a full slate of AP classes. For her fellowship project, she produced three short-form videos (think TikTok or Instagram Reels) that connect economics—and especially behavioral economics—to the everyday lives of teens. Each episode delivers a quick, relatable concept designed to make economics accessible and relevant. “Economics isn’t just about big corporations and fancy theories,” she says. “It is about the decisions made in our everyday lives. Choices teens make are shaped by economics, even without realizing it.” 

Applicants must be 16 or older at the time of application. Accepted applicants who are younger than 18 will need a parent or guardian to sign the Fellowship agreement on their behalf. 

As part of the application process, applicants will need to supply the name and email address of a teacher or professor who can provide a recommendation. 

As part of our Fellowship agreement, each Fellow must grant MRU a license to use any content they create during the Fellowship; the Fellow will retain ownership of the content.

We ask our Fellows to commit to active participation throughout the program:

• Attend weekly Fellow program meetings

• Meet regularly with mentors

• Make a good-faith effort to complete projects to a high standard

Noah H. 
Atlanta, GA
Class of 2025 (Inaugural Cohort) 

Noah is a young entrepreneur who turned his passion for sneakers into a thriving resale business, generating over $10,000 in sales. Alongside his entrepreneurial work, he’s excelled academically as an AP Scholar with Honors and contributed as a mentor, coach, and student leader. This fall, he’ll study finance and data analytics at Southern Methodist University. For his fellowship project, Noah created Sneaker Econ—a series of short videos that use the sneaker resale market to make core economic concepts come alive. By breaking down ideas like supply and demand, input costs, opportunity cost, and resale profitability, he shows how economics plays out in a world teens already know. “Knowing economics helps you make smarter moves,” he points out, “even in hype culture.” 

Applicants must be 16 or older at the time of application. Accepted applicants who are younger than 18 will need a parent or guardian to sign the Fellowship agreement on their behalf. 

As part of the application process, applicants will need to supply the name and email address of a teacher or professor who can provide a recommendation. 

As part of our Fellowship agreement, each Fellow must grant MRU a license to use any content they create during the Fellowship; the Fellow will retain ownership of the content.

We ask our Fellows to commit to active participation throughout the program:

• Attend weekly Fellow program meetings

• Meet regularly with mentors

• Make a good-faith effort to complete projects to a high standard

Zev van Z. 
Apex, NC 
Class of 2026 (University Cohort)

Zev is a senior at Duke University in Durham, NC, studying Economics. He is an active freelance writer for the campus and popular press as well as academic and public policy outlets. Zev plans a career that lets him continue to grow as a writer and commentator, while expanding into other media like podcasts.  

Applicants must be 16 or older at the time of application. Accepted applicants who are younger than 18 will need a parent or guardian to sign the Fellowship agreement on their behalf. 

As part of the application process, applicants will need to supply the name and email address of a teacher or professor who can provide a recommendation. 

As part of our Fellowship agreement, each Fellow must grant MRU a license to use any content they create during the Fellowship; the Fellow will retain ownership of the content.

We ask our Fellows to commit to active participation throughout the program:

• Attend weekly Fellow program meetings

• Meet regularly with mentors

• Make a good-faith effort to complete projects to a high standard

Mi L. 
Vienna, Austria 
Class of 2026 (University Cohort)

Mi is a predoctoral research fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economics Research in Stanford, CA; he holds a BSc in Business and Economics from the Vienna University of Economics and Business in Vienna. He previously worked at the European Central Bank and plans a career in academia after completing a PhD in economics. Mi produces YouTube videos on economics with two collaborators, and he hopes to upgrade the team’s production capabilities to continue to improve their content.

Mi L. 
Vienna, Austria 
Class of 2026 
(University Cohort)

Mi is a predoctoral research fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economics Research in Stanford, CA; he holds a BSc in Business and Economics from the Vienna University of Economics and Business in Vienna. He previously worked at the European Central Bank and plans a career in academia after completing a PhD in economics. Mi produces YouTube videos on economics with two collaborators, and he hopes to upgrade the team’s production capabilities to continue to improve their content.

Applicants must be 16 or older at the time of application. Accepted applicants who are younger than 18 will need a parent or guardian to sign the Fellowship agreement on their behalf. 

As part of the application process, applicants will need to supply the name and email address of a teacher or professor who can provide a recommendation. 

As part of our Fellowship agreement, each Fellow must grant MRU a license to use any content they create during the Fellowship; the Fellow will retain ownership of the content.

We ask our Fellows to commit to active participation throughout the program:

• Attend weekly Fellow program meetings

• Meet regularly with mentors

• Make a good-faith effort to complete projects to a high standard

Valay K. 
Aurora, CO 
Class of 2026 (University Cohort)

Valay is a freshman at the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO, studying Economics and Political Science. He has been producing his own videos on YouTube for almost a decade–with a recent focus on economics and business issues. Most at home on stage or in front of a camera, he hopes to turn his love for “performance economics” into a career. 

Valay K. 
Aurora, CO 
Class of 2026 
(University Cohort)

Valay is a freshman at the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO, studying Economics and Political Science. He has been producing his own videos on YouTube for almost a decade–with a recent focus on economics and business issues. Most at home on stage or in front of a camera, he hopes to turn his love for “performance economics” into a career. 

Saul J. 
Seattle, WA
Class of 2025 (Inaugural Cohort)

Saul is pursuing his economics degree at Santa Clara University, blending a passion for economics with an interest in writing and storytelling. For his fellowship project, he launched a podcast series on the “hidden costs” of higher education—deeply researched, carefully scripted, and designed to be engaging for listeners beyond academia. One standout episode examines the market for law school, featuring an interview with a professor of law at the University of Tennessee. The conversation explores how cultural forces like Law & Order fueled demand to attend law school, how institutions often opened their doors wide without guiding students responsibly, and how many graduates found themselves burdened with debt and fewer job prospects than expected. Saul also highlights the strikingly bimodal distribution of pay among law school graduates: while many students assumed they’d land on the high end as well-paid lawyers, the reality left a large number disappointed to find themselves on the lower end instead. By mixing sharp research, expert voices, and an accessible style, Saul’s podcast sheds light on corners of higher education that often go unexamined.

Applicants must be 16 or older at the time of application. Accepted applicants who are younger than 18 will need a parent or guardian to sign the Fellowship agreement on their behalf. 

As part of the application process, applicants will need to supply the name and email address of a teacher or professor who can provide a recommendation. 

As part of our Fellowship agreement, each Fellow must grant MRU a license to use any content they create during the Fellowship; the Fellow will retain ownership of the content.

We ask our Fellows to commit to active participation throughout the program:

• Attend weekly Fellow program meetings

• Meet regularly with mentors

• Make a good-faith effort to complete projects to a high standard

Saul J. 
Seattle, WA
Class of 2025 (Inaugural Cohort) 

Saul is pursuing his economics degree at Santa Clara University, blending a passion for economics with an interest in writing and storytelling. For his fellowship project, he launched a podcast series on the “hidden costs” of higher education—deeply researched, carefully scripted, and designed to be engaging for listeners beyond academia. One standout episode examines the market for law school, featuring an interview with a professor of law at the University of Tennessee. The conversation explores how cultural forces like Law & Order fueled demand to attend law school, how institutions often opened their doors wide without guiding students responsibly, and how many graduates found themselves burdened with debt and fewer job prospects than expected. Saul also highlights the strikingly bimodal distribution of pay among law school graduates: while many students assumed they’d land on the high end as well-paid lawyers, the reality left a large number disappointed to find themselves on the lower end instead. By mixing sharp research, expert voices, and an accessible style, Saul’s podcast sheds light on corners of higher education that often go unexamined.