Hoosier Banker 13 College Fed Challenge, which is a team competition for undergraduate students. This long-standing event attracted 90 teams from colleges around the country, with the final competition hosted by the Board of Governors (virtually in 2020 and 2021). Teams analyze economic and financial conditions and formulate a monetary policy recommendation, modeling the Federal Open Market Committee. • We continue to do outreach for Exploring Careers in Economics, Fed Challenge and other economic education events to diverse universities and colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). • We also do considerable outreach to attract diverse candidates in our recruiting of staff. This includes participating in minority recruitment events at HBCUs, HSIs, and Hispanic professional conferences and career fairs. Our outreach is particularly notable, as we hire recent college graduates as full-time research assistants, a position which can be an important step toward a career in economics. • The Fed also co-sponsors with the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the FDIC the annual community bank research conference where we feature the winning undergraduate team from CSBS’ community bank case study competition. This annual competition provides students an opportunity to partner with a community bank to develop an original case study. Indiana colleges and universities have competed in the competition in most years. Several of my Federal Reserve colleagues even serve as competition judges. The winning case study is presented during the annual research conference, and the team’s research is published in CSBS’ Journal of Community Bank Case Studies. Indiana bankers interested in partnering with a student team should contact CSBS to get more information on which Indiana schools have expressed interest in the 2022 competition. In recent months, you have often referenced optimism about economic recovery. What do you foresee for 2022 regarding the U.S. economy? U.S. businesses and households have demonstrated great resilience as the economy continues to open, and I remain optimistic about the ongoing expansion. The economic activity reflects not just the incredible resilience of U.S. households and businesses, but also very supportive monetary and fiscal policy. I continue to be concerned about the difficulties small businesses are experiencing around the country, particularly with employment and supply chains. I am also closely monitoring inflation pressures across the economy. • On the price stability side of our mandate, as we have all seen, inflation has been running well above our 2% goal, and I suspect supply-and-demand imbalances are playing an important role in the rise in inflation this year. As the supply Rob Nichols, president and CEO of the American Bankers Association, engaged in an onstage chat with Gov. Bowman at an ABA community bankers conference in 2019. Gov. Michelle Bowman (left) joined with Rebeca Romero Rainey, president and CEO of the Independent Community Bankers of America, for a virtual ICBA summit last December.
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