Feature Stories 2014: Alumni Profile: Shane Dwyer

Feature Stories

Alumni Profile: Shane Dwyer

‌B‌y Tricia Breton '14

College of Arts & Sciences Newsletter, August 2014

Fresh out of the Ph.D. program at Clark University, Shane Dwyer '08 secured his first full-time job. In July, Citizen's Bank hired Shane as an Assistant Vice President in the bank's anti-money laundering risk department. The quantitative analyst works on building and/or improving statistical models that help detect suspicious activity in the banking system.

Shane, an Economics alum, successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation on May 29, 2014. He authored three chapters that focus on the financial system and its impact on the "real" economy.

He admits that the road to his Ph.D. was long and arduous. "Despite the hard road that a Ph.D. education can be, I survived and completed my degree," Shane said. "I feel it was definitely the right decision for me."   

Now Shane is transitioning from academia to professional life, and he recognizes that he is always transforming. "I definitely changed from being a semi-lazy high school student into a Ph.D. economist who is still constantly learning." He is concentrating on evolving into an effective and reliable professional while utilizing the skills he gained through Clark University's Ph.D. program.   

According to Shane, he owes a lot to his alma mater. "UMass Dartmouth really opened the door for me in a lot of ways," he said. "I strongly feel that if I had gone somewhere else, I may not have realized the potential that I ultimately unlocked through my education."