Though he was born and raised in Braintree, Massachusetts, the doctor of economics found himself living and working in his ethnic land and making lifelong connections.
Mark Kosmo grew up in Braintree, Massachusetts, but his professional life brought him to a world that his grandparents left behind on his behalf.
Kosmo’s grandparents left Korçë, Albania, for the United States in 1915, in search of a better life their grandchildren. They worked at various factories in several small cities, like Worcester and
New Bedford, Massachusetts, so that Kosmo and his brothers could be among the first generation of Albanian Americans to attend college in the land of opportunity. Kosmo earned his undergraduate degree in Economics and Mathematics at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Then he proceeded to obtain a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, and launched a career that primarily focused on international economics, with an emphasis on energy, environmental policy, and research.