Pace Fed Reserve Challenge Team Wins Regional Competition and Ranks Top Five in Nationals

The Pace University Federal Reserve Challenge team won the New York Regional College Federal Reserve Challenge competition, and ranked in the top five nationally, competing in the latter with institutions including Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Miami, the University of Virginia, and the University of Michigan. They also received honorable mention as finalists in the competition.

Team Co-Captains Liam Chentoufi ‘25, Economics, and Suraj Sharma ’25 ’26, Business Economics/MS Applied Quantitative Economic Analysis and Policy, led a team of undergraduate and accelerated combined degree students, including Justin Boudreau ‘25, Computer Science (Seidenberg), Economics, Brooklyn Bynum ‘26, Business Economics/MS Applied Quantitative Economic Analysis and Policy, Gunnar Freeman ’26, Computational Economics, Shaniah James ’26, Economics/MS Applied Quantitative Economic Analysis and Policy, Grace McGrath ‘26, Economics/MS Applied Quantitative Economic Analysis and Policy, Kristina Nasteva ’26, Business Economics, Harvey Nguyen ’26, Economics/MS Applied Quantitative Economic Analysis and Policy, Giancarlo Raspanti ’26, Business Economics/MS Applied Quantitative Economic Analysis and Policy, and Viktoriia Yevtushenko ‘25, Business Economics.

This bond among the Fed team alumni and the current team members, as well as the dedication of our entire department to the experiential learning and incredible work ethic of the team members, is what makes the Pace Fed team exceptional.

The Fed Reserve Challenge is a national competition among US colleges and universities in which teams analyze current economic conditions and propose a monetary policy to Fed officials. This year, 119 schools participated in the competition, the most ever.

The team was coached by Professor Gregory Colman, PhD, as well as Clinical Associate Professor Mark Weinstock, CBE, “It’s a great achievement and a tribute of the hard work that the students put in and I could not be prouder of them,” said Colman. Weinstock, who helped the team prepare for the Q&A portion of the competition, emphasized that “Our teams always excelled in this part of the competition and exhibited an incredible range of knowledge of monetary policy and US economy.”

The College Federal Reserve Challenge is a prime example of experiential learning at Pace, and many alumni, who were members of the team while students, have received both internships and gainful employment due to their experience at the award-winning competition. They, in turn, have been giving back, returning to Pace to help train younger generations.

Professor Anna Shostya, PhD, chair of the Economics department, said, “This bond among the Fed team alumni and the current team members, as well as the dedication of our entire department to the experiential learning and incredible work ethic of the team members, is what makes the Pace Fed team exceptional.”

In recognition of Pace University‘s consistent performance and success in the College Federal Reserve Challenge, President of the New York Reserve Bank John Williams has accepted an invitation from the Fed team captains to speak at the Pace Economics Society and Women in Economics student organizations (which also co-hosted an event this past October that brought prominent labor economics Daniel Hamermesh to the New York City campus) in February 2025.