Master's students or advanced undergraduate students who have already taken or do not wish to take the Agricultural and Consumer Economics Independent Study course to conduct a research project, can look into taking our higher level research oriented courses.

ACE 499 CEP: Climate Change Economics and Policy

In ACE 499 CEP students will learn data, concepts, and techniques to understand climate change, its economics and the policies associated to it. The course starts with the physical science basis of climate science with an emphasis on the physical uncertainties, the difficulties of projecting climate trends and of devising future emissions scenarios are emphasized. Then abatement costs, policy instruments for emission reduction, impacts of climate change (agriculture, development, migration, labor productivity, health), the costs and benefits of adaptation and mitigation, discounting, policy instruments, and international agreements are studied. The course will use R studio, an advanced statistical software, for hands-on exercises. Prior experience with the software is expected.

Credits: 3 hours
Course schedule: Meets twice a week for an hour and 20 minutes
Prerequisite: ACE 300 or ECON 302 credit or equivalent knowledge expected.

ACE 499 MW: Business and Industry Data Analysis

ACE 499 MW is a new course designed to build the skills you need to find, analyze and explain the publicly-available data. The course will introduce you to the socioeconomic data available through statistical agencies such as the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, among others. These data can help answer business and policy related questions about the employment, wage and demographic trends within specific geographies (e.g., State, County, etc.). Through active learning and practical exercises you will become more proficient in tools such as Excel and PowerPoint to communicate and explain these data to others.

Credits: 3 hours
Course schedule: Meets twice a week for an hour and 20 minutes
Prerequisite: At least junior standing; ACE 161 or equivalent knowledge expected.

ACE 471: Consumer Economic Policy (Fall only)

ACE 471 is a research course, which is part of the Ethnography of the University Initiative. Students research a policy-relevant issue that affects students at the University of Illinois. They learn how to formulate  a research question, conduct focus groups, write an online survey, and analyze qualitative and quantitative data. Students will get experience writing research papers that will help them in future courses that require projects and papers. Former students have reported that they have put their research experience in ACE 471 on their resumes and discussed it in interviews. Students have the opportunity to archive their papers in the IDEALS database, which is available through the University of Illinois library. The papers written in earlier classes have been downloaded thousands of times. 

Credits: 3 hours
Course schedule: Meets twice a week for an hour and 20 minutes
Prerequisite: ACE 100 or equivalent and junior standing

ACE 335: Food Marketing and Behavior

ACE 335 explores the food choices consumers make and what this means in the food and agribusiness industries. Students will also learn how to conduct basic research related to consumer behavior, including developing a research question, designing high quality surveys/experiments, and analyzing data.

Credits: 3 hours
Course Schedule: Meets twice a week for an hour and 20 minutes
Prerequisite: None

ACE 396: Honors Research or Thesis

ACE 396 offers individual research, special problems, thesis, development and/or design work under the direction of the Honors advisor. May be repeated as topics vary, up to 4 hours in the same term to a maximum of 12 hours in separate terms. Credit is not given for more than 12 hours of special problems, research, thesis and/or individual studies may be counted toward the degree.

Complete the Honors Research/Thesis Form with your Honors advisor.

Submit Form. Once it has been satisfactorily completed, you will then be sent the CRN to register for the independent study course.

Credits: 1 to 4 hours
Prerequisite: Junior standing, admissions to the ACES Honors Program, and consent of instructor. 

ACE 295: Independent Study

ACE 295 offers individual or small group research, special problems, or other studies under the supervision of an appropriate member of the faculty. Credit for the independent study may range from 1 to 4 hours; the number of hours is negotiated with the supervising faculty member. It is eligible for both letter and S/U grading. May be repeated in the same or subsequent terms as topics vary. May be repeated up to 4 hours in a semester, but no more than 12 hours of special problems, research, thesis and/or individual studies may be counted toward the degree.

Learn more about ACE 295.
View ACE 295 on the course explorer.