In a first for an MSU Texas student, senior accounting and finance major Richard Ash has been invited to be part of the Peer Review Board for the Economics Scholars Program (ESP), a joint project between the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and Austin College that promotes the research of undergraduate economics students.

Members of the Peer Review Board are invited to the board, and must have been presenters at previous conferences, the ESP's cornerstone event. Each year, students and faculty from institutions across the United States and Canada meet to share undergraduate student-initiated or student-faculty coauthored works, ideas about the role of undergraduate research in the curriculum, and the challenges and concerns of undergraduates who conduct research.

Ash's first presentation at an ESP conference was in 2016, when he presented research that he had developed as part of the EURECA (Enhancing Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities) program. In 2017, he was one of 39 students selected nationwide to make an oral presentation at the ESP conference. His presentation was titled "On the Effect of Remittances on Poverty through Human Capital in Developing Countries: Are Developing Regions Different?"

As a Peer Review Board member, Ash will confer with other board members to review undergraduate submissions and choose the presentations for this year's conference, which will be held April 6 in Dallas. He is mentored by Assistant Professor Pablo Garcia-Fuentes. Ash is also a member of MSU Texas' nationally ranked cycling team.