Nadine McCloud traveled to Germany in 2006, rubbing shoulders with Nobel laureates at the second Lindau Meeting in Economic Sciences.

"It was a very interesting and inspiring experience," she said. "It was good to meet people who were so accomplished and so humble."

McCloud was one of 50 economics students from U.S. universities chosen to attend the conference, which is held every other year. About 300 young economists from 40 countries participated.

McCloud grew up in Jamaica and is particularly interested in development economics.

"She's one of our best students," Professor Christopher Hanes said. "She's always making connections between the theory she's learning in class and real-world problems."

McCloud, who holds bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics from the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, came to Binghamton in 2003. She said she has never felt so academically challenged, in part because she didn't have much of a background in economics when she started.

"I don't believe in academic failure," said McCloud, who routinely starts her day at 5 a.m. "That's where the motivation for all the work comes from."

When she's in Binghamton, McCloud said, she's all business, focused exclusively on her studies and the classes she teaches. That leaves her free to spend vacations back home in Jamaica.

McCloud expects to receive her doctorate in 2008 and hopes to teach at an American university after that. She said studying economics has broadened her horizons.

"Now I enjoy reading so much," she said. "Before, if it didn't have a formula, it didn't interest me. I was very one-dimensional and I didn't like that."

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