A student in the College of Business and Economics placed in the top three, behind a first-place finisher and runner-up, in a national contest aimed at generating new ideas to solve pressing economics issues.

Hannah Vinson, a senior economics major, was one of 12 students in the country invited to share her ideas with a panel of the nation’s most prominent economists on June 12 at the 2010 National Economics Insider Symposium (NEIS) in Washington, D.C. She presented her essay, titled “Powering America’s Economy,” that addressed reducing energy demands.

Panelists included Ben Bernanke, chairman and member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; Olivier Blanchard, economic counselor and director of the Research Department of the International Monetary Fund; 2008 Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman; and John List, senior economist for the President’s Council of Economic Advisers on Environmental and Resource Economics.

The contest was organized by Pearson Higher Education. Vinson was accompanied by Boise State economics professor Samia Islam, who sponsored her in the contest.

Vinson is originally from Afton, Wyo. She intends to pursue a Ph.D. in economics after earning her bachelor’s degree at Boise State.