Emilien Akotenou, African School of Economics predoctoral fellow, joins a growing cohort of ASE students who have also received fellowships to prestigious doctoral programs in North America. He will begin his PhD program in economics at the University of Oklahoma later this month. Emilien M. Akotenou cites the high quality of research published in renowned economic journals and the relative calm of the state of Oklahoma as the main reasons for choosing this university.

Emilien holds a degree in statistics and econometrics from the University of Abomey-Calavi. Before coming to the African School of Economics, he brought his skills in the professional world by working as an intern at a local statistics office.

Most importantly, Emilien feels that ASE was a major factor in his acceptance into the doctoral program. Not only did ASE offer internationally recognized courses taught by renowned professors from universities such as Princeton and MIT, but it also offered scientific seminars that provided engaging spaces for research discussion. Indeed, through these seminars, Emilien had the opportunity to meet Roger Myserson, 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics.

At ASE, Emilien also acquired a variety of technical skills, including the development of electronic surveys as well as software such as Stata R and matlab. Through his invaluable experiences at ASE’s Institute for Empirical Research in Political Economy, Emilien has coordinated various projects in the fields of education, employment, politics, and youth violence. His latest project is entitled “Economic Opportunity as Tools for Youth Violence Reduction. Outside of ASE, Mr. Akotenou has also had the opportunity to work for the Center for Evaluation and Development (C4ED) and the World Bank, where he currently works.

While ASE’s rigorous coursework and extensive research opportunities were formative, Emilien recognizes that another type of preparation was also needed: guidance in completing the graduate school application itself. ASE’s doctoral preparation program met these needs by teaching Emilien how to master the standardized GRE and TOEFL tests, as well as helping him secure financial aid for the application process.

Emilien’s vision is to acquire more knowledge and skills in economic development in order to contribute to Africa’s development. His ultimate goal is to share economic theories with the younger generation, but also to collaborate with decision-makers to improve public policies for development.