YPSILANTI – Rowan Moxley, an Honors College Presidential Scholar at Eastern Michigan University (EMU) from Homewood, Illinois, completed a summer internship at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Moxley, who studies Quantitative Economics and Applied Econometrics, worked closely with an economist to support daily research projects and develop programming solutions.
During his internship, Moxley was responsible for creating a data engineering module that imported and organized macroeconomic data from various sources. This work contributed to ongoing economic research efforts. He frequently explored topics such as inflation forecasting using publicly available data.
Moxley described the work environment as flexible and supportive of exploration. “The environment was super laid back and completely free, since there was no limit as to how far interns, economists, or their projects could go. There is no money-driven or survival-driven goal, so whatever is interesting to the economists, they’re allowed to pursue. And whatever your economist wants to do, that’s what you end up doing,” he said.
He noted that while prior knowledge in mathematics and political science helped him begin his tasks immediately, much of the learning happened independently on the job. “I couldn’t have gotten the position, and I couldn’t have excelled, if I didn’t have [the knowledge] I had prior. There was no real skill training, they just said ‘go ahead and start.’ So if you didn’t know how to do it, then you had to learn. ‘On-the-job training’ just meant that they gave you enough time to learn it yourself,” Moxley explained.
Moxley also highlighted collaborative problem-solving within his team: “Oftentimes, even the economists didn’t know how to finish a certain type of program in Python. We had full capability and could look up how to code–it was totally flexible to learn.”
He recounted lighter moments at work as well: “As we were playing [ping-pong], two economists came down and saw what we were doing, but it was clear that’s also what they were there for. There’s only one ping-pong table, so we had a little bit of a moment to decipher what was going on, then we all played together. They just decided, ‘Well, we’re not working either.’ It was really fun.”
Reflecting on his experience finding internships suited for him with guidance from Dr. Ann Eisenberg at EMU’s Honors College program and through networking in his field of study, Moxley advised other students: “One of the best ways is to talk to a lot of people related to your field. You’ll be able to trim off parts of their descriptions in a way until you have some synthesis of things that sound interesting.”
He emphasized authenticity during interviews: “The one thing constant in my mind was that I had to find a way to get in the things that make me me…if you can tell it in a way that it seems sort of intertwined with your being, it’s really important.”
Addressing concerns about coming from an unranked university when seeking elite opportunities or high-paying jobs after graduation compared with Ivy League peers or those from highly ranked institutions: “There’s a nice education here at Eastern,” Moxley said.”And if you work hard you can absolutely succeed at or above a high level–higher level than those at Ivies.You can totally beat out ‘the best in the game.’”
Eastern Michigan University serves more than 12,000 students across undergraduate and graduate programs including over 200 majors and minors alongside various graduate offerings according its official website. The university is recognized nationally for its academic programs across several fields and maintains both historic architecture and modern facilities supporting student success. Since its founding in 1849 focused on teacher preparation,EMU has developed into a comprehensive public institution emphasizing critical thinking skills and societal contributions.The university prioritizes career readiness through hands-on learning experiences.
