Students learn by doing through business research

Economics graduate student Ernests Bisnieks shares about his research at the Graduate Student Showcase. Bisnieks also won a Showcase Award.

Boise State's Graduate Student Showcase and Undergraduate Research Showcase are symposium-style events featuring a combination of student research panels and presentations. The showcase grants students the opportunity to spotlight their work while building meaningful connections with faculty, forging relationships that often extend well beyond a single project. This year's College of Business and Economics (COBE) participants stood out.

Economics graduate students Ernests Bisnieks and Sarah Perry both earned Graduate Showcase Awards, underscoring the outstanding level at COBE research is being conducted. This success was facilitated by COBE faculty mentors including Kyle Allen, Kelly Chen, Christie Fuller, Lee Parton, Rafael Ribas, Shikhar Sarin and Andrew Smyth.

Earned experience

For some colleges, research has long been woven into the fabric of the student experience. At COBE, it often begins differently: less prescribed, more pursued. Students who step into research are often choosing to go above and beyond what is required of them in the classroom.

"When COBE students get involved with faculty research, it lets them both hone skills from their coursework and develop novel skills not covered in the classroom," said Andrew Smyth, assistant professor in economics. "I think that learning-by-doing is really powerful, and undergraduate research is a great way to facilitate it."

That learning-by-doing mindset shows up in the initiative students bring to the process. Even without the guarantee of grades, many still choose to commit their time and energy to research.

"I have been very impressed by the initiative taken by some of our students towards research," Smyth said. "Even when there's no formal credit or recognition to be had, some of our students work really hard at it."

Under the spotlight

For many students, the showcases are the first time their ideas are put on display for a broader audience. Posters line the room, conversations overlap, and what began as a question or a classroom concept becomes something to defend, explain and stand behind. It is where research shifts from private effort to public domain.

"I enjoy it," said Bisnieks, one of the economics graduate students. "If you're comfortable with it and you're kind of happy with the research you have on board, then I think you'd find yourself enjoying the experience."

That sense of ownership is evident across projects, but what stands out most is how grounded the work is in real-world application.

Ethan Mariner, a finance and accountancy student, shared data points from his research on consumer lending rates at the Undergraduate Research Showcase.

For finance and accountancy undergraduate student Ethan Mariner, that meant tackling a question that affects nearly everyone.

"I asked a really simple question," Mariner explained. "If you shop around, just a little bit when banking, will you save money?"

The answer, he found, was significant.

"On average, you're going to save $17,000 if you pick a credit union," he said. "But if you pick the worst option versus the best… on a $450,000 home, the exact same person is going to lose $80,000."

And over time, those differences compound.

"If you combine all those decisions… that's half a million dollars in savings," Mariner said. "It's a small bit of advice, but it's a big impact."

What makes that kind of research compelling is its accessibility. The numbers are complex, but the takeaway is not.

"Everyone understands that 6% is not as good as 5%," he said. "It's not overly complicated; it just takes a little extra time."

That balance between depth and relatability is a defining feature of COBE research. Many of these projects invite immediate understanding, allowing natural conversations.

Graduate showcase award winner Ernest Bisnieks followed this theme, researching the value of support functions in a company. Most companies don't know the value of their non-core revenue making functions. However, a recent rule change to cybersecurity incident reporting has made that value much more transparent. Bisnieks' research explores company behavior pre- and post-incident.

"You don't need pre-conceived knowledge," Bisnieks said. "People look at it and they're like, I know what a company is. I know what market returns are. So it's a much easier launch pad to communicate."

Bisnieks findings so far are surprising. "You'd expect the companies that had the capacity prior to the event to be rewarded," he said. "But it's the opposite; the companies that are reacting are being rewarded."

But for Bisnieks, this is just the beginning "It's an in-progress report," he said of his own work. "That's something we've worked on across the entire semester and it looks like that will extend into autumn as well."

That long term approach is part of what defines the showcases. Many of the projects presented are not finished products, but works in progress; snapshots of a longer research journey.

By Morgan Reah

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