Staff Members
Research Assistant Professors
Sanghyun Han
Research Areas: Agricultural policy and trade, environmental economics, political economy
Education: Ph.D. in Economics, Boston College, 2025
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Sanghyun Han is a Research Assistant Professor in the Agribusiness and Applied Economics Department at North Dakota State University.
His research primarily examines the role of agricultural trade in addressing environmental challenges such as climate change. He also studies how governments’ sectoral preferences shape trade policies around the world and quantifies the economic impacts of these political preferences.
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Jiyeon Kim
Research Areas: International Trade and Agricultural Policy
Education: PhD in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University, 2025
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​Jiyeon Kim is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics at North Dakota State University. Her research focuses on international trade and agricultural policy, specifically within the context of production economics, farmers’ decision-making, and causal inference. She has examined the impact of trade agreements on the farm economy, providing insights into how agricultural production responds to changes in the trade environment.
Dongin Kim
Research Areas: International Economics, Agricultural Policy Evaluation
Education: Ph.D. Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Connecticut, 2023
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Dongin is a Research Assistant Professor in the Agribusiness and Applied Economics Department at North Dakota State University. His research primarily examines the effects of trade liberalization policies, such as the WTO and RTAs, on agri-food trade and global value chains. Since joining the department in 2023, he has made significant contributions to the field by publishing in leading academic journals and securing research grants to support his work.​​
Xiting Zhuang
Research Areas: Agricultural policy and trade, supply chain, machine learning
Education: Ph.D. Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Connecticut, 2024
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​Xiting is a Research Assistant Professor in the Agribusiness and Applied Economics Department at North Dakota State University. His research primarily examines the effects of supply chain disruptions, such as environmental and geopolitical disruptions, on agri-food trade. He has made significant contributions to the field by publishing in leading academic journals to support his work.​​​​
Carlos Zurita
Research Areas: International Trade, Industrial Organization
Education: Ph.D. Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, 2023
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Carlos is a Research Assistant Professor in the Agribusiness and Applied Economics Department at North Dakota State University. His research focuses on agricultural policy evaluation and international trade, with a particular interest in how trade policies shape the competitiveness of U.S. agriculture. He has extensive experience analyzing the effects of tariff increases, regional trade agreements, and global disruptions on agri-food global value chains (GVCs) and agricultural export patterns. His current research includes applying general equilibrium analysis to assess the welfare impacts of U.S. international trade policy shifts and examining how trade and multilateral agreements influence agri-food GVC flows.
Graduate Students
Manoj Datta
Research Areas: International Trade
Education: MSS in Economics, University of Chittagong, 2014
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Manoj is a Graduate Research Assistant currently pursuing an MSc in Agribusiness & Applied Economics at North Dakota State University. His research focuses on international trade and policy analysis. He is currently working on anti-price gouging policies, particularly their effects on food markets, and is actively assessing the impact of such regulations on consumer welfare and market stability in both domestic and international trade contexts.
Felipe Barbosa
Research Areas: International Trade
Education: B.Sc Agronomy, Northern Fluminense State University, 2023.​
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Felipe is a Graduate Research Assistant pursuing an M.S. in Agribusiness and Applied Economics at North Dakota State University. His previous work includes experience in agricultural commodity trading in Brazil, where he supported fertilizer sales and engaged with international market operations. He also participated in the Soybean Breeding Program at the University of Minnesota, contributing to field research and seed quality assessments. Currently, he works at CAPTS and ARPC, focusing on applied economic research in agriculture, with an emphasis on trade and policy analysis.
Burlin Fuglie
Research Areas: International Trade
Education: B.Sc. Quantitative Economics, North Dakota State University, 2024
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Burlin is a graduate student pursuing an M.S. degree in Agribusiness and Applied Economics at North Dakota State University, where he serves as a Graduate Research Assistant. He explores the complex relationships within global international trade using statistical and mathematical models. While he has no professional background in economics, his real-world perspective keeps him grounded as he applies economic theory to the markets he researches.
Yasin Yildirim
Research Areas: International Economics
Education: M.S. Economics, North Carolina State University, 2022
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Yasin is a doctoral student in the Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics at North Dakota State University. His research centers on agricultural trade, with a particular emphasis on foreign trade policies, including trade agreements and barriers. His previous work includes exploring the commodity futures market in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war and assessing the impact of presidential trade policy proposals on North Dakota soybean exports and farm income. Currently, he is working on how trade agreements affect the margins of agricultural trade.