Maria Bejan is a Senior Lecturer and a faculty associate for Will Rice College at Rice University. She received her Ph.D. from University Carlos III, Madrid (Spain) and she has post-doctoral studies from European University Institute, Florence (Italy). Before joining the Rice faculty in 2013, Dr. Bejan held positions at ITAM (Mexico) and Missouri Southern State University where she taught at undergraduate and graduate level and she received several prizes for teaching excellence. Her research focuses on issues in International Trade and Business Cycles and part of it has been published in the Review of Economic Dynamics.