A Hungarian professor who conducted research at West Virginia University before becoming an international expert on the impacts of development policy tools will return to Morgantown to share his experiences this month.

Attila Varga, chair of the Department of Economics and Regional Studies at the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Pecs in Hungary, is the featured speaker at the Regional Research Institute’s Seminar Series at noon, Thursday, Sept. 29 in the Rhododendron Room of the WVU Mountainlair. The event begins with a light lunch to be followed by Varga’s presentation at 12:30 p.m. The RRI Seminars are approximately 40 minutes long followed by a question and answer session.

The seminar is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are encouraged by contacting Caigan McKenzie at Caigan.McKenzie@mail.wvu.edu, or by calling 304-293-2897.

The topic of Varga’s program is “From the Geography of Innovation to Development Policy Impact Analysis.” One of his major research areas has focused on the role of universities in regional economic development. His papers are among the most frequently cited works internationally in that research field.

Varga is also involved in policy impact modeling. His research groups has developed the Geographic Macro and Regional model to study the way different development policy instruments impact communities in which they are implemented.

The GMR system has been used in policy impact studies for the Hungarian government as well as the European Commission.

Fifteen years ago, Varga was a doctoral student in the WVU Department of Economics and a research assistant at the WVU Bureau of Business and Economics Research. He was also a research assistant professor at the WVU Regional Research Institute. He received his Ph.D. from WVU and his Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Economics in Budapest.

Varga will be recognized with the RRI’s Outstanding Alumni Scholar Award during a banquet and reception in his honor during his visit.
RRI Seminars are held on campus and are attended by a cross-section of researchers focused on resource economics, economics, and geography.

-WVU –

gg/09/14/11

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CONTACT: Caigan McKenzie, 304-293-2897