Three seniors in the Altman Program received an Altman Scholarly Engagement Grant to fund a research excursion to Havana, Cuba. Harley Jackson, Kaila Lopez, and Michael Swanson (all Altman Class of 2016) spent a week in the capital city studying the inner workings of the political, economic, and social environment of the Communist country.

The students utilized knowledge of their fields (with majors in Economics, Political Economy, Finance, Management, and History) to frame their study of the economic and cultural implications of burgeoning ties between the United States and Cuba. The group conducted research through interviews with Cuban academics, political players, and ordinary Cuban citizens. The majority of the trip was focused on examining the history of the informal economy and looking forward to expectations for the future.

Their findings on such topics will be presented to the Tulane academic community in April.