Events and news
2025
Main Street Buena Vista
The Main Street Buena Vista partnership explores economic opportunities for the city, which is trying to brand itself as a regional outdoor destination. Kohl Agri-Food Finance Fellow, McKenzie Marker, will lead a team of students to use financial modeling, market analysis, and marketing concepts while leveraging advanced data analytics tools.
2024
Southern Regional Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge
Challenge: Mario A. Ortez recently participated as a finance mentor and panelist at the 2024 Southern Regional Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge, hosted by Virginia Tech in Radford, VA. The Challenge aims to develop future dairy leaders by promoting education, communication, and networking among students, dairy producers, and industry professionals. He shared insights with students from various schools across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic about financial tools for on-farm decision-making and career opportunities in the agrifood sector. The Centre's namesake, David Kohl was the keynote speaker.
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Causality and Machine Learning/AI workshop
Workshop: The Kohl Centre hosted a workshop in November to explore the vital connections between causality and machine learning/AI technologies. The day-long event attracted presenters and participants from Cornell University, Georgetown University, University of Chicago, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of Arkansas, UC Irvine, and from departments across Virginia Tech.
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Conference presentation
Conference: Le Wang, Professor and David M. Kohl Chair, shared insights on the functional quantile regression approach to estimating intergenerational mobility at a recent conference at the University of Chicago. The event focused on ‘Recent Advances in Inequality and Mobility’ and brought together top scholars in the field, fostering valuable dialogue and collaboration.
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Industry stakeholder meeting
Industry meeting: AAEC met with key stakeholders, Farm Credit, Virginia Agribusiness Council, Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Virginia Farm Bureau, Virginia Soybean Association, and Virginia State Dairymen's Association, to present the Kohl Centre leadership and to share updates on the department and Commodity Investment by Students organization projects. The focus was on fostering collaboration and enhancing experiential learning opportunities for our students.
