Awards & Honors

Lodieska Stockbridge Vaughn Fellowship

This award provides a fellowship for a graduate student whose record at Rice shows evidence of outstanding achievement and promise.

2014 – Xin Li


The John W. Gardner Award

The John W. Gardner Award is given annually to the best dissertation in the Social Sciences from a candidates nominated by each department.

2014 – Xin Li
2013 – Burcu Cigerli


The Jennifer and Purvez Captain Award for Outstanding Economics Dissertation

2023 – Omer Sozbir
2022 – Kirill Evdokimov & Andrea Salvati
2020 – Bolun Li
2019 – Paul Barton
2018 – Mark Agerton and Nick Frazier
2017 – Margaret McKeehan
2016 – Raul Bajo-Buenoestado and Binlei Gong


The Timothy and Katharine Gunning Award for Best Third-Year Economics Paper

2023 – Salpy Kanimian and Nicole Fleskes
2022 – Mingzi Niu
2020 – Hira Farooqi
2019 – Kirill Evdokimov
2018 – Bolun Li and Atara Oliver
2017 – Paul Barton
2016 – Nick Frazier


The George R. Zodrow Award for Best Performance in a Workshop

2023 – Mingzi Niu
2022 – Kuan Chen & Mingzi Niu
2020 – Kuan Chen
2019 – Amir Kazempour & Yakym Pirozhenko
2018 – Bolun Li and Atara Oliver
2017 – Mark Agerton
2016 – Paul Barton


The John R. Kelly Graduate Student Teaching Prize in Economics

2023 – Siwon Ryu
2022 – Ajinkya Keskar
2020 – Kirill Evdokimov
2019 – Mehreen Gul
2018 – Paul Barton
2017 – Atara Oliver
2016 – Mark Agerton


The Dagobert L. Brito Award for Best Performance by a Recitation Instructor in Economics

2023 – Yelda Gungor
2022 – Jintao Sun
2020 – Omer Sozbir
2019 – Shasha Liu & Ajinkya Keskar
2018 – James Chen
2017 – Nick Frazier
2016 – Margaret McKeehan


The Rica and Tony Ligeralde Fellowship Award for Best Performance in Economic Theory Qualifying Exam

2022 – Yelda Gungor
2020 – Mingzi Niu
2019 – Robert Idel
2018 – Hira Farooqi and Kelly Neill
2017 – Ibrahim Emirahmetoglu
2016 – Bolun Li and Atara Oliver


The Robin C. Sickles Award for Best Performance in Econometrics Qualifying Exam

2022 – Siwon Ryu
2020 – Leelok Min & Qiran Shao
2019 – Qinyou Hu
2018 – Hira Farooqi and Kelly Neill
2017 – Kirill Evdokimov
2016 – Mehreen Gul


The Maria Esther and Carlos Linares Award for Best Performance in Economics First-Year Courses

2022 – Kai Liao
2020 – Dibya Mishra & Giovanni Aiello
2019 – Mingzi Niu & Binyu Zhao
2018 – Sen Lu
2017 – Yakym Pirozhenko and Maksat Abasov
2016 – Kirill Evodokimov and Amir Kazempour


Tax Executives Institute Graduate Tax Scholar Award

2019 – Dario Biolcati-Rinaldi
2018 – Kelly Neill


Robin C. Sickles Award for Best Performance in the First-Year Econometrics Courses

2023 – Naiwen Pang


Rica and Tony Ligeralde Award for Best Performance in First-Year Theory Courses

2023 – Jun Zhang


John B Bryant Award for Best Performance in the First-Year Macroeconomics Courses

2023 – Burak Kucuk