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Student News October 20, 2022

As Economics Students Begin Independent Work, the ESS Team Is Here to Help

Oscar Torres-Reyna

Dr. Torres-Reyna

Last semester, the Econ Statistical Services Team (ESS)–a unit in the Economics Department that helps students with all things data analysis–held nearly 600 advising sessions for students completing their Junior Independent Work (JIW) and Senior Thesis Projects. 

Dr. Oscar Torres-Reyna, who joined the department in 2021 to lead the ESS team and serve as a departmental lecturer, said the advising marathon gave him a deep sense of reward.

“Talking to students about their projects and figuring out how to best help them is my favorite part of my job,” said Dr. Torres-Reyna.

“I probably went to Oscar’s sessions over 10 times and had many other calls with ESS and DSS people willing to help. They are incredibly nice and helpful.” – Diego Chiriboga, Class of 2022

In addition to running ESS and providing data analysis assistance to ECO majors on their independent research projects, Dr. Torres-Reyna also teaches ECO 202: Statistics and Data Analytics for Economics. With degrees in economics, statistics, public administration, and political science, Dr. Torres-Reyna’s work experience spans over thirty years in federal government, private, and academic sectors. 

A constant in his career, however, has been the use of data analysis to extract meaning from data. Since 2007, he has shared that experience with the Princeton community through his role at the Princeton University Library. He joined the Economics Department in 2022 to lead ESS.

To get help from the ESS team, students can drop by an ESS Data Analysis Clinic (DAC)–held every Thursday and Friday from 10/24-12/16–or sign up for a one-on-one appointment by emailing Dr. Torres-Reyna at otorres@princeton.edu

What can ESS help with?

With current juniors beginning work on their Junior Papers, now is a great time for students to reach out to the ESS team for support. 

Visit the ESS page

The ESS team can help students–undergraduate or graduate–with any of the following: 

Online resources for students

The ESS Team has made a wealth of information available to students on the ESS program page, including guidance on crafting a research question and video tutorials and documentation on performing data analysis with Stata (for example information on data preparation, running regressions, and working with panel and time-series data in Stata).

“I relied heavily on Oscar from ESS’ help during my Junior Independent Work, which relied on a more-complicated and augmented time series model…Oscar was incredibly helpful in working through that trial and error with me (and made doing so over Zoom surprisingly fun!).” – Zachary Shevin, Class of 2022

How to meet with the ESS team

To get help from the ESS team, students can drop by an ESS Data Analysis Clinic (DAC)–held every Thursday and Friday from 10/24 to 12/16–or sign up for a one-on-one appointment.

DAC Clinics will be held:

Thursdays, 2 pm to 5 pm
Room B60B (Louis A. Simpson International Building-LAS)

Fridays, 2 pm to 5 pm
Room 217 (Julis Romo Rabinowitz Building-JRR)

For answers to more questions, visit the ESS page or reach out to Dr. Torres-Reyna at otorres@princeton.edu.

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