
Peter Rupert, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Dr. Rupert joined the Economic Forecast
Project as its executive director in August
2010. He is a professor of economics and
former Chairman of the UCSB Department of
Economics. He is the Associate Director of
the UCSB Laboratory for Aggregate Economics
and Finance, founded by Nobel Laureate Finn
E. Kydland. He is an Editor of the European
Economic Review and Labour Economics. Prior
to joining UCSB, Dr. Rupert spent 12 years
as Senior Economic Advisor at the Federal
Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Dr. Rupert has
held appointments at the University of
Western Ontario, State University of New
York at Buffalo, West Virginia University,
the University of Southern California, and
Birkbeck College, University of London. Dr.
Rupert earned his B.S. from Santa Clara
University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. at the
University of Rochester. His areas of
specialization include macroeconomics,
monetary economics, economics of the
criminal justice system, labor, and
household economics. Evidently, rides a red
Vespa.

Kenneth Freeland
Business Officer
Kenneth Freeland joined the EFP in 2011.
He is responsible for overseeing and
coordinating economic impact studies and
consulting projects, board and sponsor
relations, EFP finance, administration, and
operations. He gets in bike accidents too
many times. He likes birds.

Ryan Sherrard
Senior Research Analyst
Ryan Sherrard is a Ph.D. candidate in economics at
UCSB, specializing in the fields of labor economics and
econometrics. He earned his B.S. in Economics and History, and his B.A. in Spanish and Latin American Studies
from the Robert D. Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon in 2016. His current research focuses on the economics of crime,
and the labor markets of ex-offenders.

Thomas Fullagar
Senior Research Analyst
Thomas Fullagar is a Ph.D. candidate in economics at
UCSB, specializing in the fields of labor and health
economics. He earned a B.A. in Economics and Philosophy from
Kansas State University and his M.A. in Economics from
the University of Texas, Austin. Prior to attending UCSB, he worked
for Welch Consulting. Before becoming interested in economics, he was a camel whisperer, although not a very successful one.

Sarah Papich
Senior Research Analyst
Sarah is a Ph.D. student in economics at UC Santa Barbara, focusing on labor economics, public economics, and health economics.
She earned a B.A. in economics and political science from the University of Colorado Boulder.
She is currently studying the effects of access to buy now, pay later services on financial well-being, as well as the determinants of female labor force participation across countries.
Research Interns:

Rhys Tracy
Research Analyst
Rhys Tracy is a 2nd year Undergraduate
student at UCSB studying Computer Science.
He is also on the UCSB Men's Volleyball
team.

Haotian Xia
Research Analyst
Haotian Xia is a 2nd year undergraduate student
majoring in Computer Science and minoring in
Statistics. He plays volleyball on the UCSB
Men's Volleyball Team and aspires to work as a
data analyst after graduation.