Education

8/16 - present Ph.D. in Economics, Economics Department, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.

Advisor: Dr. Gabriel Picone (Expected graduation: Spring 2022)

08/14 - 08/16 M.A. in Economics, Economics Department, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.

09/08 - 09/11 M.A. in Economics, Planning and Analysis of Economic Systems, Economics and

Finance Department, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran.

09/03 - 09/07 B.A. in Economics, Economics Department, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran.


Research Interests

Behavioral Economics, Drug Abuse, Racial/Gender Disparities, Mental health, Income Inequality, Labor Economics

Work Experiences

05/21 - present Researcher Assistant /Proxy PI to Dr. Micah Johnson, University of South Florida, Department of Mental Health Law and Policy,.

  • Working as an RA, project coordinator, and data analyst under ESPRESSO project (Examining the Stress Processes Relating Ethnicity and Sex to Substance Misuse and Services Outcomes). Responsibilities: Data analysis for the quantitative research developments to investigate health and behavior outcomes utilizing the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice dataset (also writing methodologies, results’ interpretation, and discussions), Proxy for PI, and writing a new grant.

  • Introductory STATA (as a mentor to the scholars in SMART lab (Substance Misuse and Addiction Research Traineeship

08/20-05/21 Visiting Instructor/Faculty Intern , Florida Polytechnic University, Data Science and Business Analytics Department.

  • Statistics, Principles of Microeconomics, Engineering Economics


12/17-07/2020 Instructor , University of South Florida, Economics Department.

  • Principles of Microeconomics


12/16-06/17 Researcher Assistant to Dr. Joshua Wilde, University of South Florida, Economics Department.

  • Assisting Dr. Wilde in the project “Developing the Canning-Karra-Wilde Model Estimates for African Countries” granted by Population Reference Bureau (PRB) – PopPov Communicating Research Grant.


08/14 -11/16 Graduate Teacher Assistant at University of South Florida, Economics Department


05/12 - 05/14 Economic Researcher at Atinegaar Think Tank, Atinegaar Think Tank, Tehran, Iran.

  • Major colleague in preparing Economical Uncertainties Report of Markazi province.


05/11 - 01/12 Researcher Assistant to Dr. Adel Jalili, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Tehran, Iran.

  • Assisting Dr. Jalili in gathering and analyzing data using Minitab for the report Iran’s Rare and Endangered Habitats and Plant Species.


01/11 - 05/11 Economic Researcher at Rahbord Andisheh Apama, Rahbord Andisheh Apama, Tehran, Iran.

  • Analyzed employment data: Prepared the employment chapter of Economic Report for two provinces of West Azerbaijan and Kerman.


Honors and Awards

Vernon Griggs Scholarships, by University of South Florida, Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 .

Dr. Bijan Vasigh Scholarship for Political, Economic and Legal Advocacy, Persian American Society of Tampa Bay PASTB), 2017.

Howard Dye and Vernon Griggs Scholarships, Fall 2015 and Spring 2016, University of South Florida.

Graduate Fellowship, Fall 2015 and Spring 2016, University of South Florida.

Best paper in International Conference on Tourism: with particular emphasis on Economics & Management Aspects of Tourism Activities, Tehran, Iran, 2011.

Publications

Journal Papers

- A. Abounoori, Z. Akbari , M. Ghavamipour. International Tourism and Its Role in Economies,

Social Science Bulletin, vol. 1, no. 14, 2014, pp. 5-22.

- Z. Akbari, A. Abounoori, Classification of Factors Affecting Economic Indicators of International Tourism, Geography and Development, vol. 12, no. 34, Spring 2014, pp. 33-55.

Papers Under Review

- Johnson, M.E., Akbari, Z., Vroom, E.B., Bristol, S.C., and Rigg, K.K. "Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Substance Misuse among Justice-Involved Children", Submitted to Substance Use and Misuse 08/2021.

- Johnson, M.E., Bristol, S.C., Akbari, Z., and Vroom, E.B., "The Effects of Neighborhood Characteristics, Race, and Sex on Opioid Misuse Among Justice-Involved Adolescents", Submitted to Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 06/2021. 2

- Vroom, E.B., Massey, O.T., Akbari, Z., Bristol, S.C., Cook, B., Green, A.L., B. Levin, B.L., Tyson, D.M., and Johnson, M.E. "Exploring Perceptions of Implementation Practice Capacity in Community-Based Behavioral Health Organizations", Submitted to Journal of Community Psychology 08/2021.

Papers in Progress

- Akbari, Z., "Causal Effects of Retirement on Life Satisfaction, a Regression Discontinuity Design Approach", In the progress of submission to The Journal of the Economics of Ageing.

- Zaidi, F., Johnson, M.E., Akbari, Z., Vroom, E.B., and Bristol, S.C. "Sex differences in the Association of Adverse Childhood Experiences on past 30-day opioid misuse among Florida justice-involved children", In the progress of submission to Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment.

Refereed Conference Papers

- “The effects of place, race, and sex on alcohol use among justice-involved adolescents.”, College on Problems of Drug Dependence, June 2021

- “Causal Effects of Retirement on Life Satisfaction: A Regression Discontinuity Design Approach ”, Southern Economic Association, SEA 2020.

- “Income Differences and Health Inequalities Among Siblings”, Southern Economic Association, SEA 2017.

- “A Study of the Impact of Easing in Starting a Business on Total Factor Productivity: Case Study of OECD Countries”, Eurasia Business and Economics Society, EBES 2012.

- “A Study of Macroeconomic and Political Factors’ Effects on International Tourism”, International Conference on Tourism: with particular emphasis on Economics & Management Aspects of Tourism Activities 2011.

-“Political Stability in the Persian Gulf and International Tourism”, 7th national conference of Persian Gulf, May 2011.

Graduate Courses

Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Public sector economics, Econometrics, Mathematical Economics, Labor Economics, Health Economics, Dynamic Systems, Linear Algebra, Antitrust and Regulation.


Skills


Statistical and Economic Software: STATA, R, SAS, Python, Eviews, Vensim, Minitab.

Language Skills : English, Persian, Azerbaijani, Turkish