Catherine Eckel & Sheryl Ball

Catherine Eckel & Sheryl Ball stand out individually in the field of Economics and have a history of collaboration with one another. Their work together led to the development of their topic of discussion today: Using Our WITS: A system for adapting research experiments for teaching economics. Designed to introduce students to the structure and conduct of research while using experiments to illustrate the process, this approach enables active learning in large class sections. While each has a distinct research agenda, they have in common the methodology of experimental economics. Their research is inherently interdisciplinary, crossing boundaries between economics and psychology, sociology, and even biology, with most of their work conducted in the Lab for the Study of Human Thought and Action, a dedicated behavioral research lab that Catherine directs.

Since joining the Virginia Tech faculty in 1983, Professor Catherine Eckel, has developed three new courses and co-created two with Sheryl Ball. She has served as Principle Investigator or Co-PI on six teaching-related grants, including two teaching/learning awards; one major CIL grant with Sheryl; two from NSF and one from the Mellon Foundation. In 2003, she was appointed one of four University Advance Professors, co-directing a $3.5 million award from NSF's Advance Program, to promote women in science and engineering.

Sheryl Ball was recruited to Virginia Tech in 1992. Since then, she has developed three courses on her own and two with Catherine. Her honors include six teaching-related grants, a grant from the National Institute of Dispute Resolution, and she is a member of a team at Virginia Tech that was awarded an NSF IGERT grant to develop a joint graduate program in engineering and business. In 2002, she received the Virginia Tech Advising Award for revamping the undergraduate advising system as Director of Undergraduate Studies, and in 2003, was awarded a College of Arts and Sciences Certificate of Teaching Excellence.