RISE DAY
On April 24, 2018, the Rice Economics Department held its third RISE Day Award Luncheon, its annual celebration that recognizes
outstanding achievements by undergraduate and graduate students and exemplary teaching by Economics faculty. Dean of the
School of Social Sciences Antonio Merlo and Director of Undergraduate Studies George Zodrow presided over a catered lunch and
ceremony for award winners and invited guests, including many alumni and community leaders.
2018 RISE Day Undergraduate Award Winners
Gaston Rimlinger Prize (best research paper written by a
graduating ECON or MTEC major in any ECON course): Evan
Flack for his paper “Participation in the Women, Infants, and
Children Program and Early Childhood Development”
Peter Mieszkowski Prize for Honors Program Research (best
research papers written in our honors program sequence (ECON
498/499)): Seung Jae Han for a research project entitled “Direct
Response, Gender, and the Effects of Health and Mental Health
on Labor Force Participation: The Case of Korea,” and Victoria
Johnson for her paper “Investigating Potential Growth Effects of
the Corporate Income Tax”
Ronald Soligo Public Policy Essay Prize (best undergraduate
policy-related research paper): Rafael Butiong for his paper
“Examining Credit Spillovers to Health, Education, and
Consumption via Household Businesses”
Tax Executives Institute Undergraduate Tax Scholar Award
(outstanding research related to tax policy): Victoria Johnson
RISE Day Luncheon
Malcolm Gillis Prize in Economics (graduating senior majoring in ECON with highest major GPA): Mengia Liu
Malcolm Gillis Prize in Mathematical Economic Analysis (graduating senior majoring in MTEC with highest major GPA): Seohee
Kim
Michael D. Maher RISE Award in Economics (rising senior majoring in ECON with highest major GPA): Mai Pham
RISE Award in Mathematical Economic Analysis (rising senior majoring in MTEC with highest major GPA): Yan Li
New Members of Omicron Delta Epsilon
Six students were inducted into the Economics Honor Society, Omicron Delta Epsilon, which is one of the world’s largest academic
honor societies with nearly 700 chapters around the globe. They are: Rafael Butiong, Floria Gu, Agnes Jiang, Victoria Johnson, Siyu
Geng, and Win Soon.
2018 RISE Day Undergraduate Teaching Award
Congratulations to Professor Yunmi Kong for winning the Malcolm Gillis Award for Distinction in
Undergraduate Teaching. Yunmi has been teaching our Applied Econometrics course, ECON 209, to rave
reviews since she arrived at Rice in 2016 after receiving her Ph.D. from New York University. Her research interests
include empirical industrial organization and applied microeconometrics and applied microeconomics. Her
latest work focuses on the empirical analysis of auctions including applications relating to the leasing of oil and
gas tracts.
DeNicco Wins Two Awards for Outstanding Teaching
Congratulations to Dr. James DeNicco who was presented with two university teaching awards last May –
the Nicholas Salgo Distinguished Teaching Award, which is voted on by current junior and senior students
and is Rice’s oldest teaching prize, and the Sarah A. Burnett Teaching Prize in the Social Sciences. Jimmy has
been the Director of the Principles of Economics Program since his arrival at Rice in 2015 and his Principles of
Economics (ECON 100) course has been one of the most popular classes on campus since its inception. His
research interests are in macroeconomics and applied macroeconomics, especially the relationship between
GDP growth and labor dynamics. Jimmy is also a faculty associate at Baker College, where he was named
Outstanding Faculty Associate in 2016 and received the Garside Award for Service last year.
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