Troy, N.Y. — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute professor Vivek Ghosal, a widely recognized expert in the fields of antitrust and regulatory economics, and various aspects of business strategy, has been named the Virginia and Lloyd W. Rittenhouse ’35 Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences. An endowed professorship is among the highest honors bestowed on a Rensselaer faculty member. Ghosal also serves as the newly appointed head of the Department of Economics in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS).

“For more than half a century, the Economics Department at Rensselaer has made important contributions to learning and research at the Institute,” said HASS Dean Mary Simoni. “The department is an integral component of a well-rounded education at a highly ranked technological university with a long and distinguished history. Dr. Ghosal is a leader in the field of economics, and will serve as a strong contributor to economics education at Rensselaer. His new role will be exceptionally important as we continue to build excellence in new areas such as health economics and biosciences, energy economics and the environment, and urban and regional economic development.”

Ghosal has extensive experience in antitrust and regulatory matters, serving as an economist at the U.S. Antitrust Division in Washington, D.C., and an economics expert with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris He has published numerous articles in economics, law and economics, and management journals, along with two books focused on antitrust and regulatory reform.

Presently, Ghosal serves on the editorial board of the Review of Industrial Organization and Business Strategy and the Environment. He has been a consultant for international organizations, governments, consulting firms, and companies on issues related to antitrust, regulatory reform, business and economic modeling of markets, industry studies, and statistical and econometric modeling. He also has provided project and expert reports and testimony. Ghosal earned a master’s degree in economics from the Delhi School of Economics (India) and a doctorate in economics from the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business.

Prior to joining Rensselaer, Ghosal was the Richard and Mary Inman Professor and director of graduate programs in the School of Economics at Georgia Institute of Technology. He has taught and conducted research on firms’ decisions under uncertainty, firm strategy related to investments, innovation and technology, antitrust law and economics, and regulatory policies and reform. In addition, Ghosal has delivered lectures on these topics at various forums worldwide.

“I am very excited to be part of Rensselaer’s intellectual community,” said Ghosal. “My vision is to build a stronger and bigger Economics Department, and one that specifically focuses on STEM-centric areas such as health economics and biosciences, energy economics and environmental issues, and regional and urban economic development. With these objectives in mind, I hope to be able to hire new faculty that specialize in these areas, and introduce attractive master’s and Ph.D. programs that will develop a stronger footprint for economics at Rensselaer as well as externally.”  

The Virginia and Lloyd W. Rittenhouse ’35 Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences is supported by an endowment established in 1995, to “teach and expend special effort in the development and improvement of the humanities and social sciences’ First Year Studies Program as one of three dedicated first-year studies faculty, and to exert leadership of other faculty members by assisting in the organization and administration of the program.”

Since the department’s inception, faculty have had a strong commitment to teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and the curriculum covers the principal subjects within economics as well as several specialized fields. Faculty have published extensively, including books and numerous articles appearing in many of the major economics journals, and also serve as active members and leaders of national and international economics organizations.

Today, research in the department focuses on fields such as ecological economics, the economics of technological change, the economics of energy, research and development, monetary theory and policy, and financial regulation. The Economics Department comprises eight tenured and tenure-track faculty and two lecturers. To date, the department has 58 students majoring in economics, and 41 students pursuing minor in the department. The department offers courses in traditional fields such as introductory economics, microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, and international economics.

The research and curriculum within the Department of Economics exemplifies The New Polytechnic, an emerging paradigm for teaching, learning, and research at Rensselaer. The New Polytechnic emphasizes and supports collaboration across disciplines, sectors, and regions to address the great global challenges of our day, using the most advanced tools and technologies, many of which are developed at Rensselaer. The New Polytechnic is transformative in the global impact of research, in its innovative pedagogy, and in the lives of students at Rensselaer.

For more information, visit: http://www.economics.rpi.edu/.

About Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1824, is America’s first technological research university. The university offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in engineering; the sciences; information technology and web sciences; architecture; management; and the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Rensselaer faculty advance research in a wide range of fields, with an emphasis on biotechnology, nanotechnology, computational science and engineering, data science, and the media arts and technology. The Institute has an established record of success in the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the marketplace, fulfilling its founding mission of applying science “to the common purposes of life.” For more information, please visit http://www.rpi.edu.