Jillian L. Correia has been awarded a Luce Scholarship for 2017-2018. She is Wake Forest’s first Luce scholar in over 20 years. The scholarship is a nationally competitive fellowship program created by the Henry Luce Foundation in 1974 to enhance the understanding of Asia among potential leaders in American society. Luce Scholars are provided stipends, language training and individualized professional placement in Asia.

Correia is one of 18 Luce Scholarship award winners who were chosen from among 161 candidates nominated by 68 colleges and universities nationwide.

As a Mathematical Economics major at Wake Forest, Jillian’s research looks comparatively at food systems in the UK and Switzerland and analyzes Multinational Time Use Survey Data from an economic lens to quantify time spent eating as a determinant of Body Mass Index (BMI). Correia offers theoretical and editorial guidance as Associate Editor for Food Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal and is thankful her econometric courses at Wake Forest provided a basis to better evaluate empirical studies.

Correia’s economic training also allowed her to spend a summer consulting at McKinsey and Company where she was tasked with developing a margin improvement strategy for a foodservice corporation. “There are a lot of moving parts in our multi-faceted food system; it’s important for me to understand how industry, the economy, policy, and human behavior all play a role,” Correia explained.

Correia plans to use her economics training during her Luce Scholars year and immerse herself both culturally and professionally in Asian society: “Ultimately, I plan to continue leading efforts in economic development to help alleviate the serious political and economic challenges facing global food security.”

Congratulations to Jillian!

A more in-depth article will appear in our fall newsletter.