Graduate Student Awards
Maria Esther and Carlos Linares First-Year Student Award
The Maria Esther and Carlos Linares First-Year Student Award recognizes the student with the best performance in first-year courses . The 2021 winner is Siwon Ryu .
Siwon Ryu ’ s first-year coursework at Rice has reaffirmed his passion for economics . While he learned many economic concepts as an undergraduate , they were often taught without rigorous proofs . As a first-year student , he learned how to formulate problems and prove their solutions formally , which completed the theories . He is interested in applying new econometric theories to explain economic phenomena . He focused on econometrics and labor and health economics during his master ’ s program . He has not yet decided his field of specialization but hopes to narrow down his field of interest this summer .
Siwon Ryu
Robin C . Sickles Econometrics Award
The Robin C . Sickles Econometrics Award recognizes the student with the best performance on the econometrics qualifying exam . The 2021 winner is Jintao Sun .
Jintao Sun is now a second-year Ph . D student at Department of Economics at Rice University . He holds an M . A . in Economics from Duke University and a B . A . in Journalism from Fudan University in China . His current research interests are in applied microeconomics and market design .
Rica and Tony Ligeralde Theory Award
Jintao Sun
The Rica and Tony Ligeralde Theory Award recognizes the student with the best performance on the economic theory qualifying exam . The 2021 winner is Dibya Mishra .
Dagobert L . Brito Recitation Award
The Dagobert L . Brito Recitation Award recognizes the student for the best performance by a recitation instructor . The 2021 winner is Dibya Mishra .
Dibya Mishra is a graduate student in Economics at Rice University . His research interests lie in Industrial Organization , Market Design , and Networks . He has an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and an M . Sc . in economics and mathematical economics . He is currently working on evaluating allocation mechanisms .
Dibya Mishra
John R . Kelly Graduate Student Teaching Award
The John R . Kelly Graduate Student Teaching Award recognizes the best graduate student teaching in Economics . The 2021 winner is Amir Kazempour Esmati .
Amir Kazempour is a doctoral student in the Economics Department at Rice University with an interest in Industrial Organization . He holds a master ’ s degree in Economics from the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna , Austria . Amir ’ s research focuses on the econometrics of two-sided matching markets with observed prices . His empirical work studies the effects of health insurance cost-sharing design on the prices for health care services . He was the instructor of the Statistics course for the incoming PhD students during the 2018- 2020 academic years .
Amir Kazempour
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