PROFESSIONAL

Aaron D. Wood is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Tampa, where he teaches game theory, intermediate microeconomic theory, and principles of microeconomics, and he researches evolutionary and computational energy economics, among other topics. He completed his Ph.D. in 2014 at the University of Wyoming, where he was a student of Charles F. Mason, David Finnoff, and Jason F. Shogren.

Wood is passionate about teaching and student development, and he has taught game theory, intermediate microeconomics, and nearly forty sections of principles of microeconomics thus far across his career at Tampa and Wyoming. In 2013 and 2014, he was a back-to-back winner of the Promoting Intellectual Engagement in the First Year (PIE) Award, a teaching award granted to faculty at the University of Wyoming who inspire excitement, inquiry, and autonomy in first-year courses. Due to his work in the classroom at Wyoming, he was also invited teach sections for freshmen orientation, serve as an honorary assistant coach on the women's soccer team, and serve as a judge for a university-wide scholarship. At Tampa, he was awarded as the 2020 teacher of the year for the Sykes College of Business. In the future, Aaron hopes to teach advanced microeconomics, environmental and natural resource economics, energy economics, behavioral economics, experimental economics, and history of economic thought.

In terms of research, Aaron's interests include energy economics, environmental and natural resource economics, game theory, computational economics, behavioral economics, and experimental economics. He has published with Jason F. Shogren and Onur Sapci in Climatic Change, with Kevin Berry in Economics & Human Biology, and with Charles F. Mason and David Finnoff in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization and Springer Nature Business & Economics. He published a solo-authored paper in the International Review of Economics Education, and three articles with Karla Borja and Leon “Lee” Hoke in the Journal of Management Education, the Academy of Economics & Finance Journal, and College Teaching. His primary research focuses on combining evolutionary game theory and agent-based modeling into a comprehensive methodological toolkit to examine issues in behavioral economics in which agents learn, experiment, and use heuristics as they engage in strategic interactions over time. His primary area of application for this work is studying the evolution of energy markets across time. Additional research examines agent-based approaches to COVID-19 transmission, optimal Pigouvian taxes in the context of climate change, resource use, and population growth, the evolutionary game theory of online health communities, and modeling issues from behavioral economics using neoclassical microeconomics. Wood also has experience as a consultant for private firms and government.

More than anything else, Wood greatly enjoys spending 80 hours a week alone in his office while other thirty-somethings are having families and buying consumer goods.

PERSONAL

Born and raised in Peoria, IL, Aaron graduated summa cum laude from the Honors Program at Bradley University, where he holds a bachelor of science in economics, a bachelor of music in music composition, and a minor in philosophy. He was the pianist in the Bradley Jazz Ensemble and Bradley Jazz Combo, and he was the economics tutor to the men’s basketball team.

Aaron enjoys playing piano and writing music, and he has extensive experience in diverse genre and group settings, he has served as a church pianist, and he has toured in the U.S. and Europe.

Aaron also enjoys running, reading (French existentialism, English poetry, econ papers, etc.), basketball, and soccer. He is an active parishioner in the Episcopal Church.

He is a fan of Bradley University basketball and soccer, Wyoming football, and the St. Louis Cardinals.