(Nov. 12, 2018) -- UTSA alumnus Zachary Miranda ’18 understands the power of education. The UTSA economics major is a first-generation high school and university graduate.
Miranda was raised by a single parent. His mother never had the opportunity to complete high school.
“College was never a thought to me. I never thought I could go to a university,” said Miranda. “My mind was on working after high school— or possibly the military.”
After graduating from high school, though, Miranda developed an interest in economics.
“I knew my ACT scores were high, and that’s when I decided I would pursue a college education.”
Miranda steadily worked through his college applications, teaching himself along the way. Ultimately, he was admitted to UTSA to pursue an economics degree.
>> Learn how UTSA supports its first-gen community.
During his initial year, the undergraduate focused on his academics. He says that UTSA faculty members and friends helped him succeed and persist to graduation. Assistant Professor of Economics Samson Alva in the College of Business was particularly instrumental.
“We became friends and he provided me with great advice regarding my future in the economics field and my interest in pursuing a Ph.D. in economics.” said Miranda.
Notably, Alva stressed the importance of having a strong mathematical foundation if Miranda wanted to succeed in the discipline.
“I was not solid in my mathematical preparation and I felt I didn’t have the skills to do that. But he helped me understand that if I put in the time and really made the effort to succeed, I could,” Miranda recalls.
Ultimately, the first-generation college student did so well that he ended up adding a minor in mathematics.
Miranda’s hard work came to fruition during his last semester at UTSA when he was awarded a full scholarship to the highly competitive American Economic Association’s Summer Program (AEASP) sponsored at Michigan State University. AEASP recognizes outstanding students of diverse backgrounds and gives the opportunity to students to take advanced coursework in economics while performing research to present at the American Economic Association’s Summer Mentoring Pipeline Conference.
“Zachary is intelligent and enterprising, and I have high hopes for him. He has remarkable balance of humility and confidence in his ability to succeed. Perhaps most impressive of all is his faith that, with hard work and a positive attitude, no hurdle is too great,” said Alva.
Miranda’s research focused on a topic underexplored by economics literature: the effects of declining male workforce participation on nationally aggregated matching marriage markets. Simply put, the UTSA student researched the mathematics and economics of marriage—why people get married, how they find each other and marriage markets.
“I am interested in topics that are valuable to the community, a meaningful research contribution to society,” he said.
His research led him to explore a trend in labor economics: why prime age males ages 25 to 50 are not working and how this affects marriage markets.
His research caught the attention of the economics community and was awarded Best Research Project by the AEASP. Selected by his peers, he became the inaugural recipient of the Janet Yellen Citizenship and Mentorship Award, given to Miranda for his willingness to go above and beyond for his peers and assising in four of his cohort’s research projects.
Miranda recently accepted a position at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He plans to take classes at a local university and then pursue a Ph.D. program to continue his growth as a researcher.
Most of all, he hopes his story will inspire other first-generation students to pursue their passions and leverage the power an education can give.
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