Sudipta Sarangi named head of Department of Economics
Sudipta Sarangi, program director for economics at the National Science Foundation, joins Virginia Tech as a professor and head of the Department of Economics in the College of Science.
Sarangi has worked in the academic world for most of his career, beginning as a research assistant while a graduate student. His fields of interest include applied game theory, experimental economics and development economics. Much of his current research focuses on issues relating to social networks.
“We are thrilled to have such a distinguished scholar among us at Virginia Tech,” said College of Science Dean Lay Nam Chang.
Prior to working for the National Science Foundation, Sarangi worked at Louisiana State University as a professor of economics where he was the Gulf Coast Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Inc. Distinguished Professor of Business Administration. He has been a visiting researcher at several institutions, including Purdue University in Spring 2008 and at Virginia Tech in Fall 2007. He has also been a consultant to the World Bank and the Food and Agricultural Organization.
“His experience with interdisciplinary research at the National Science Foundation will enable him to lead our faculty in integrating their scholarship with work done by other scholars at Virginia Tech,” said Nicolaus Tideman, former economics department head.
Sarangi has over fifty published papers and worked with researchers in computer science, mathematics and industrial engineering. He has received nearly a million dollars in funded research for topics that include building social networks, modeling hurricane evacuation behavior and how people make choices. His research has been funded at different times by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Homeland Security, and the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency.
In recognition for his contributions to the academic world, Sarangi won numerous awards and grants at Louisiana State University, including the Tiger Athletic Foundation Teaching Award, LSU Rainmaker Award, and the LSU Distinguished Faculty award.
Sarangi serves the economics community as a member of the American Economic Association, the Royal Economic Society, the Econometric Society and the Game Theory Society. He is an Associate Editor for the Southern Economic Journal and Studies in Microeconomics.
He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Delhi, a master’s degree from the Delhi School of Economics, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from Virginia Tech.
