Economists rule the world, or so Fortune magazine declared in 1999. But if David Selover has his way, economists will conquer the universe as well.

Selover, assistant professor of economics at Old Dominion since 1998, has his sights set on conducting research on the economics of space exploration and possibly creating an academic course on the topic.

"I would like to show that there are some important economic reasons why we should be in space," said Selover.

Indeed, as he pulls out map after map of countries and continents in an office littered with cultural books, language tapes and travel photos, one realizes that Selover is a true explorer at heart.

Born and raised in California, he bounced in and out of college in the early 1970s before he and some friends boarded a bus and traveled south of the border. For the next nine months, Selover learned the land and the culture in places like Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia and many places in between.

"We took every mode of transportation you could think of - buses, trains, airplanes, boats, we even hitchhiked. We spoke English to each other, but we decided to travel apart and meet up again later in order to learn Spanish," recalled Selover, who had a good start with four years of Spanish in high school.

Wanting to become a physicist, Selover returned to the states in 1973 to resume his studies, but was drafted and joined the Air Force. In the military, he put his interest in physics to use by specializing in electronic warfare to detect and jam enemy radar.

"I made a resolution to learn the language of wherever I was stationed," noted Selover, who found a new hobby in studying languages when he was assigned to a base in Japan. "I bought a book, got some tapes, found a Japanese person on base to talk with, all before I left for Japan. Once in Japan, I took classes and spent time in coffee shops to talk with people."

He also found another interest in Japan - his wife, Takako Hanashiro.

When the couple returned stateside, Selover, who by then had become intrigued by the political issues of the country, went back to school. After earning a bachelor's degree in political science from San Diego State University in 1979, a professor suggested he pursue a graduate degree in economics. Although still interested in political science, Selover earned two master's degrees in economics, from San Diego State in 1982 and the University of California at San Diego in 1986, and a doctorate, with a specialization in econometrics, from UCSD in 1991.

"Economists have to pay attention to many different disciplines - sociology, political science, history, psychology and geography," said Selover, who served as assistant professor of economics at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., for eight years before joining Old Dominion. "Economists are trying to understand society and to do so you have to understand all its parts. You can't do it in isolation."

Economics affords him the perfect marriage of all his interests.

In 1992, he was awarded the Shimomura Fellowship of the Japan Development Bank to research the Japanese savings rate. As part of the fellowship, he delivered lectures - completely in Japanese - at various institutions and universities, including Hitotsubashi University and Yokohama National University.

"Languages will always be my hobby," said the multilingual Selover, who is now teaching himself Korean. This May, he'll lead a two-week study abroad program in China and Korea, where students will study Korean/Asian economies, business managerial practices and culture.

In addition to macroeconomics, international trade and finance, and the economy of Japan and the Pacific Basin, Selover's current research focuses on economic interdependence in Latin America and the notion of transmitting business cycles.

"I'm working on papers now exploring the idea of 'mode-locking' in economics. Mode locking comes from physics and says that a small, very weak linkage can bring about a synchronization of cycles. It ties back to my physics roots."

Of Selover's many academic pursuits, however, perhaps the most rewarding is the teaching.

"I get to interact with lots of people," said the explorer, who has spent a lifetime, in essence, as a student of humanity. "That is one of the reasons that I haven't gone off to do research at someplace like the International Monetary Fund. I like students and I like to teach about a lot of different things."

On his Internet home page, Selover includes a quote from noted science journalist and author Roger Lewin describing what he hopes his students will learn from his classes: "Too often we give our children answers to remember rather than problems to solve."

For Selover, the earth - and beyond - is full of problems just waiting to be solved.