Cal State Fullerton College of Business and Economics alumna Denisa Marc ’24 (M.A. in Economics) is the proud recipient of a major award for her master’s thesis research on predicting the impact of Federal Reserve meeting statements on the performance of U.S. Treasury yields. Her research showed that every word of the Fed’s summaries truly matters when it comes to financial markets performance, with notable swings and shifts accordingly.

Marc, an international student from Romania, has been honored with the ProQuest Distinguished Master’s Thesis in Humanities, Social Sciences, Education and Business Disciplines. The award is bestowed by the Western Association of Graduate Schools (WAGS) for research in 2024-2025. An awards ceremony is planned on March 18 and Marc plans to attend, where she will give a short presentation about her study. Additionally, Marc has received a $1,000 award.

“I decided to apply for this award partly because of my great advisor and supporting professors who have always believed in me and my work, and partly because I just couldn’t not try,” says Marc. “I was surprised in the best possible way when I received WAGS’ email! The nomination is a milestone in my professional life and career, and it’s already opening doors and exposing me to great opportunities. It is fueling my desire to research, to keep up the hard work and to become a better version of myself. It’s made me more excited about the future and for pursuing my goals. This achievement was a team effort and I am beyond grateful for all my supports at WAGS and Cal State Fullerton who made this possible. All glory to God!”

When asked what might have impressed reviewers to recognize her research, Marc points to the relevance of her study and the emerging methodologies used.

“The Fed always draws attention, and people care about what happens with interest rates and inflation,” Marc explains. “The novel elements were also weighting factors, such as the methodology involving ChatGPT and neural networks, the big data collection and analysis, and the new dataset of analysts’ opinions.”

Thomas May, assistant professor of economics and faculty advisor to Marc’s research, says little was known about how Federal Reserve statement wording impacted market expectations. “Denisa’s thesis develops a new machine learning methodology to understand this critical link. These contributions extend past the academic literature and will be impactful in government policymaking and financial analysis,” he says. “With a bright and ambitious student like Denisa, my main role was to enable the success of her vision. Using my past monetary policy experience at the Federal Reserve Board, I helped her ensure her methodology and results were policy-relevant. My secondary role was to help her stay excited about her project and confident in her own abilities to accomplish her research goals.”

Since graduating in May 2024, Marc has been growing as a business professional with an associate role at Fieldman, Rolapp & Associates, Inc. A year prior, Marc first interned with the company while completing her graduate studies.

“Interning with Fieldman for a year allowed me to transition very smoothly into my new role. The end of 2024 has brought me one of my biggest highlights. In December, I passed the challenging Series 50 exam and became a registered municipal advisor. My duties now have become more complex, and I enjoy more responsibilities,” she says. “Another highlight is getting to work alongside a hard-working, knowledgeable & dedicated team at Fieldman. The people are the ones who make the job even better, and I am grateful to have their support in what I do!”

Like so many of our Business Titans, Marc credits her Cal State Fullerton economics education for her success thus far in her academic and career journey. “It equipped me with the ability to understand an ever-changing economic context, macroeconomic indicators, and financial market reactions,” she says. “I was able to understand from day one how things operate, because I learned it there and possessed a strong theoretical background. On top of that, my masters developed my quantitative skills which I use on a daily basis in working with bonds, analyzing scenarios, working with large datasets, and complex financial modeling. Mathematics and macroeconomics are intertwined in my current position.”

For more on the M.A. in Economics program at Cal State Fullerton, visit our webpage dedicated to this specialized master’s program, one of the many grad programs serving our business community.