EAST LANSING, Mich. — One Michigan State University researcher will offer her expertise on a team chosen to advise President Barack Obama on matters of economic policy.
Starting Aug. 8, Lisa Cook, assistant professor in the Department of Economics and James Madison College, will begin a yearlong appointment on the president's Council of Economic Advisers.
Specifically, she'll focus on issues related to international economics and science and innovation, and call upon her research in macroeconomics and the Michigan economy to help address the nation’s high unemployment rate.
The CEA is comprised of three council members and is supported by a staff of professional senior economists, staff economists and research assistants, as well as a statistical office. Cook will serve as a senior economist.
"I am absolutely thrilled to represent MSU in this capacity," she said. "I am very grateful for the support I have received at all levels at the university."
This isn't the first time Cook has provided economic advice in Washington. Most notably she served as a team leader for the Obama presidential transition team working on the Economics and International Trade team from November 2008 to January 2009, a senior adviser on Finance and Development at the Treasury Department during the 2000-01 academic year and a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow under the Clinton and Bush administrations during the 2000-01 academic year
For the year, Cook will relocate to Washington, and then come back to resume her research and teaching at MSU.
"I look forward to returning to MSU and integrating the important lessons I anticipate learning into my research and teaching," Cook said.
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