Team

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.

Travis Cyronek
Senior Research Analyst
Travis Cyronek is a Ph.D. candidate in economics at UCSB, specializing in the fields of macroeconomics and econometrics. He earned his B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Irvine. He has solved a Rubik's cube in 10.15 seconds and plays Pokemon Go.

Charlie Nusbaum
Senior Research Analyst
Charlie Nusbaum is currently a Ph.D candidate in the Department of Economics at UCSB, specializing in the fields of macroeconomics and econometrics. He has assisted in the teaching of several undergraduate courses including introductory macroeconomics and intermediate microeconomics, and for the first year Ph.D macroeconomics sequence. Charlie's current work focuses on the growth effects of demographic change, household migration decisions, and the consistent estimation of impulse response functions. In the past, he received his B.S. in Applied Physics from Stockton University, where he served as the Student Senate Public Relations Chair, a member of The Activity Leaders of New Students, and as one of two student representatives on the Stockton Board of Trustees. In real life he does not look so dorky and plays a lot of tennis.

Daniel Cullen
Senior Research Analyst
Daniel Cullen is a Ph.D. candidate in economics at UCSB, specializing in the fields of applied and spatial econometrics. He earned his B.A. in Economics from the University of Florida and his MA in Economics from the University of Colorado, Denver. His beard is more encompassing now...and he also plays a lot of Pokemon Go.

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.