Dear ACE Alumni & Friends,
I hope everyone is ready for the summer. We are sending ACE students to internships across the globe this summer and can’t wait to hear about their adventures when they return to Mumford Hall this fall. We are excited to welcome Dr. LeeAnn Moss back to ACE in August as a Senior Lecturer after a few years at Purdue in the same role. LeeAnn was our Alumni Spotlight Feature in the December 2025 issue of ACE Alumni & Friends.
With a new hire comes two retirements. Prof. Paul Stoddard retired at the end of the semester after more than 25 years of service to ACE, reaching more than 12,000 students over the years. Read more about his last lecture in the story below. Prof. Carl Nelson will retire in June after 40 years in ACE. We had a retirement celebration for him in April. The highlight was that dozens of his former graduate students submitted stories about their time with him and the impact he had on their careers.
Our faculty continue to be recognized for their excellence in research and teaching. Prof. Joe Janzen was invested as the Clearing Corporation Foundation Endowed Associate Professor in Derivatives Trading on May 12. This prestigious honor was bestowed on him for his work in research, education and outreach on grain commodity marketing. Prof. Becca Taylor will be promoted to Associate Professor and Prof. Craig Lemoine will be promoted to Clinical Professor in August.
Please keep reading to learn about more exciting updates from the department, including student field trips, faculty accolades, and how data-intensive farm management research is improving decision-making. If you are inspired, please consider making a personally meaningful gift to ACE, whether it be time or money.
Best regards,
Sarah Low, professor & head, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics
News from Undergraduate Programs
Undergraduate Program Update
Greetings from ACE Undergraduate Programs! We have been hard at work serving over 900 students, encouraging them to excel in the classroom and to build their skills outside the classroom through action learning opportunities. In the stories below, you will see how our faculty and staff are partnering to create unique opportunities to apply what students are learning in their classes to critical issues in industry, preparing them to be leaders in their chosen industries. If your business would like to host ACE students during an action learning trip, please let us know by filling out this form or emailing our experiential learning coordinator, Chaya Sandler. Cities our students visit include Washington DC, Chicago, and Springfield.
We are thrilled to congratulate our undergraduate students who were recognized by the College of ACES with leadership awards. Benjamin Quirke received the Robert M. Harrison Leadership Award, and graduating senior Julia Podgorni received the Warren K. Wessels Award, which is chosen based on above-and-beyond academics, leadership record, participation in development activities, and their contributions to improving the overall quality of life for others as a part of ACES. Our students are truly exceptional!
As we near the end of another successful year, we eagerly anticipate changes to come in the fall. Our undergraduate curriculum review process is nearing conclusion as our proposed majors received campus approval to move forward for review by the Illinois Board of Higher Education. Once passed, the Undergraduate Advising Office will work to implement the new majors, educating current students about their curricular options and recruiting future students into these exciting new programs. We will also continue to promote the newly launched Certificate in Personal Finance, which has been met with significant interest from students across the university. Keep an eye out in our next newsletter for an update about these programs!
Check out some of the exciting activities in which our instructors and students are engaged!
Exploring real-world careers with ACES
Illinois faculty and students bring ACES impact to Springfield on Agriculture Legislative Day
Benjamin Quirke named 2026 Robert M. Harrison Leadership Award recipient
Professor Stoddard's Last Lecture
On April 21, the Department of ACE came together to celebrate Professor Paul Stoddard’s Last Lecture, a truly memorable event. Foellinger Auditorium was filled with over 200 students, alumni, colleagues, family, and friends who gathered to honor his decades of teaching, mentorship, and impact.
Throughout the evening, Professor Stoddard reflected on his career at the University of Illinois, sharing stories from the classroom and revisiting many of the signature lessons that shaped his courses. His ability to connect with students, challenge them to think differently, and make learning unforgettable has left a lasting legacy on the thousands of Illini he has taught and mentored.
We are deeply grateful for his contributions to ACE and wish him the very best in his well-earned retirement. You can watch his Last Lecture here, and you can read more about the event here.
Faculty Achievements
We have had many faculty members accomplishing remarkable things this semester, and we are excited to highlight them.
Dr. Madhu Khanna was named a 2025 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) this spring. This prestigious honor recognizes her outstanding contributions in research, teaching, and communicating science to broader audiences. To learn more, continue reading here: Madhu Khanna
Congratulations to Dr. Paul McNamara, recipient of the 2026 Sheth Distinguished Faculty Award for International Achievement. This honor recognizes Illinois faculty who demonstrate exceptional accomplishments in teaching, research, and public service on a global scale, an area where Dr. McNamara’s leadership and impact continue to shine. We also celebrate ACE student Mia Bonds, the Illinois International Undergraduate Achievement Award recipient. This award recognizes an undergraduate student whose service or contributions stem from meaningful participation in an international study course, program, or project. Mia’s work reflects the global engagement and curiosity we are proud to see in our students. To read more about their stories, click here: Paul McNamara and Mia Bonds International Achievement Awards
Professors Joe Janzen and Natalie Loduca participated in this year’s Extension Academy, a professional development program designed to help College of ACES faculty deepen their understanding of the university’s land grant mission and strengthen their engagement with Illinois communities. Together with our department head, they participated in an Extension Academy bus trip around the state after the semester ended, visiting Extension stakeholders and ACE alumni in Freeport, Macomb, Collinsville, and nearby locations. Read more about this initiative here: Illinois Extension Academy
Professor Ailie Elmore was awarded the Emerging Agribusiness Leader of the Year Award at the Illinois Agricultural Summit. This recognition reflects her outstanding dedication to teaching, her commitment to student success, and the leadership she brings to the ACE community. We are incredibly proud of her achievements and grateful for the energy, expertise, and support she invests in her students every day.
News from Graduate Programs
Graduate Program Update
Scholarly Achievements & 2026 Awards
The 2026 Research Celebration highlighted the exceptional caliber of our students' work. In the 2nd Year Research Paper competition, Fengqi Liu took first prize for his analysis of the air pollution costs of high-speed rail, followed by Sohyeon Ryu in second place for her work on sustainable aviation fuel policies, and Henrique Monaco in third for his study on the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" and its impact on Illinois farmers.
Our thesis and dissertation awards also recognized profound contributions to the field. Jenna Schaefer received the Outstanding MS Thesis Award for her research on single-use plastic bans, and was selected for the national outstanding MS thesis award by the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, which will be awarded this summer. Gowthami Venkateswaran earned the Outstanding PhD Dissertation Award for her three essays on agriculture and development. We also celebrated the high-quality work of Ziad Alian Sabbah and Yoko Yamasaki, who both received honorable mentions.
Further demonstrating our program’s research impact, our students continue to lead in top-tier academic journals. This semester, we celebrate recent and forthcoming publications in Food Quality and Preference (Da Eun Kim), Journal of Political Economy and Food Policy (Gustavo Enrique Nino), Ecological Economics (Nicolas Pazos), and European Review of Agricultural Economics (Kashi Ghorbani).
Professional Development & Career Events
Our Graduate Student Organization (GSO) remained incredibly active this spring, fostering dialogue on both emerging technologies and diverse career paths. During the week of February 16th, the GSO hosted a series of AI in Economics Research roundtables, where faculty and students examined how artificial intelligence is reshaping the landscape of literature reviews, coding, and academic writing.
Beyond the classroom, the GSO looked toward the future by organizing a panel on "Exploring Careers Outside Academia." The event brought together roughly 30 attendees from the ACE and Economics departments to hear from alumni now working at influential organizations such as Cornerstone Research, Belvedere Trading, WashU Medicine, and the General Services Administration.
Our Job Market Candidates are currently securing positions, with a full report on placements to be featured in the Fall 2026 newsletter. We are extremely proud of our graduates and wish them well in their next chapter!
Recruitment & Admissions
The spirit of our community was on full display on March 23rd during our Admitted Grad Student Visit Day. To provide the incoming cohort with a deep look into the program, Director of Graduate Studies Teresa Serra Devesa and MAAE Director Nick Paulson provided comprehensive overviews, followed by faculty lightning talks that showcased our cutting-edge research in Environmental, Development, and Consumer Economics. The day was defined by personal connections, as prospective students engaged with current peers through GSO and GEO presentations and student research talks, culminating in a dinner at Farren’s.
Admissions for the fall 2026 term is coming to a close. We have had excellent applicants this year and we are looking forward to welcoming our new cohort to the department in the fall, including 10 PhD students, 6 MS students, and 13 MAAE students.
Leadership & Committee Updates
We are pleased to welcome Professors Bill Ridley and Aaron Staples as the new Co-Directors of Graduate Student Placement. As they take on this vital role, we extend our deepest gratitude to Professor Sarah Janzen for her three years of dedication and service to our students' professional transitions.
Join Us in Supporting ACE Graduate Students
We’re always looking to connect our graduate students with the incredible expertise and experience of our alumni community. Whether you’re interested in hosting an intern, participating in a professional development workshop, or sharing your career insights, your involvement can make a real difference in shaping the next generation of leaders in agricultural, environmental, and consumer economics.
Interested? Contact us at ace-grad@illinois.edu - we’d love to collaborate with you!
Graduate Student Publications
We are incredibly proud of the publications our graduate students completed in 2025 and 2026! Please check out the incredible research they are publishing.
Research/Outreach
Our faculty and students are leading innovative research, outreach, and education programs in Illinois and around the world. Faculty and student projects like these address challenges, seek solutions, and build awareness every day.
Check out a few of our recent research & outreach stories below.
From Dirt to Data: Precision Agriculture at the Data-Intensive Farm Management Project. Read more.
Poverty intervention program in Bangladesh may reinforce gender gaps, study shows. Read more.
Illinois study: How a potential antibiotics ban could affect apple growers. Read more.
Stay in the Know
Want to keep up with our research? Make sure to follow us on social media, visit our refreshed research and outreach pages, and keep an eye on ACES News to read about new and impactful research coming out of ACE!
Alumni News
Alumni Spotlight
In this issue, we are proud to spotlight alumna Sarah Dickey, who graduated in 2016 with a B.S. in Agricultural and Consumer Economics. Today, Sarah is a Manager and Product Owner for Data Services at CME Group, where she oversees the platform that delivers daily market data to more than 2,500 global customers. Her decade-long career at CME began as an intern, a role she earned through the foundation she built in ACE.
Sarah chose ACE because it offered the perfect intersection of economics and public policy. She was drawn to understanding how legislation shapes markets and wanted a degree that combined technical skills with real-world context. What she found in ACE was not only academic rigor, but also a community that shaped her personally and professionally. She fondly recalls the relationships she built with classmates and professors, noting that the sense of belonging made her Illinois experience truly special.
Experiential learning played a defining role in Sarah’s time as a student. With the encouragement of her advisor, Ann Finnegan, she pursued opportunities that pushed her beyond the classroom. She studied abroad in Sierra Leone with Professor Paul McNamara, spent a spring break in Washington, D.C. observing policy in action with Professor Jonathan Coppess, and traveled to California with Jon Scholl to learn about agricultural production firsthand. These experiences gave her the confidence to pursue competitive internships with the White House and the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee, opportunities which allowed her to apply her ACE training to national policy conversations.
Since graduating, Sarah has remained deeply connected to the Department. She helps coordinate a biennial class visit to CME Group, giving students a behind-the-scenes look at the company and the ability to learn about industry topics from professionals. She also guest lectures whenever faculty require a professional perspective in their classrooms. Most recently, Sarah was appointed to the ACES Alumni Board, where she will serve as a District Director and support students seeking the same transformative experiences that shaped her own path.
For Sarah, being an ACE alumna is an extension of the leadership she embraced as Student Body Vice President and as an ACE Ambassador. She cares deeply about the future of the university and takes pride in carrying the reputation of the college into her professional life. Her advice to students is simple but powerful: take calculated risks and step outside your comfort zone. “Whether it’s a challenging internship, a study abroad trip, or a leadership role on campus, those are the moments that prepare you for the real world.” She reflects, “My time in student government and my internships in D.C. felt like risks at the time, but they gave me the confidence I needed to navigate a decade-long career at a major global exchange.”
We are honored to feature Sarah Dickey and grateful for her continued commitment to ACE. Her journey reflects the impact of experiential learning, mentorship, community, and the lasting strength of the ACE alumni family.
How to Engage
Stay connected! Be sure to check out our new alumni webpage to see ways that you can engage with ACE as an alum. From volunteering your time in the classroom to connecting with student organizations to attending events, there are ways for everyone. Not seeing what you’re looking for? Fill out our engagement interest form and tell us how you’d like to connect!
Giving
If you are interested in giving a financial gift to the department, the easiest way to do this is to visit Giving to Agricultural & Consumer Economics and select the fund you’d like to give to (e.g. Academic Excellence Fund, Paul Stoddard Excellence Fund, etc.). This will bring you to the UIF giving page and you can select the amount for each fund and then fill in your personal information and finalize your gift. For information or to discuss options for making a major gift, please contact the advancement office directly at 217-333-9355 (acesadvancement@illinois.edu) or contact Kyle Potthast, ACE Major Gift Officer at 217-300-5715 (kpotthst@illinois.edu).