Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Northwestern University won the ninth annual national finals of the College Fed Challenge on Tuesday, a competition that encourages students to learn about the U.S. economy, monetary policymaking, and the role of the Federal Reserve System. The team, from Evanston, Ill., represented the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and included Geoffrey Bery, Nikhil Byanna, David Chen, Jonathan Cohen, Eric Zhang, and faculty adviser Mark Witte.

The finals were held in the Board Room at the Board of Governors as the capstone to five district competitions held around the country. The other national finalists were second place Bentley University, Waltham, Mass., with honorable mentions for American University, Washington, D.C.; Lafayette College, Easton, Pa.; and Pace University, New York, N.Y.

College Fed Challenge is a team competition for undergraduate students. Teams analyze economic and financial conditions and formulate a monetary policy recommendation, modeling the Federal Open Market Committee.

"Fed Challenge offers students an exceptional opportunity to learn about the economy and monetary policy. I hope the experience heightened their interest in continuing to study economics. I congratulate all of the participants for producing presentations that demonstrated a comprehensive understanding of global economic events," said Federal Reserve Board Member Elizabeth A. Duke, one of the judges for this year's competition.

Teams competing in the finals gave 15-minute presentations and answered questions for a panel of judges. Teams were judged on economic analysis, responses to judges' questions, teamwork, and presentation. In addition to Governor Duke, judges for the finals this year were Krishna Guha, executive vice president of communications, Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Robert Barsky, senior economist and research adviser, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Teams competed in their local Reserve Bank Districts, and top teams moved on to the finals in Washington, D.C.