Category: PhD

Economics Awards and ODE Honorees

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On April 22, 2025, the Economics Department recognized our amazing undergraduate and graduate students for being in inducted in to the SMU Chapter of Omicron Delta Epsilon (ODE). Over twenty-four students were recognized for their outstanding achievements in Economics as well as excellence in overall scholastic attainment.

Additionally we acknowledged and awarded four amazing students for being the ultimate overachievers among their peers in the department. We are honored to have such amazing students willing to go over and beyond for others.

  • Javier Gonzalez Rodriguez (The Melody Rice Award)
  • Andrew Farhat (The Wallace F. Lovejoy Memorial Award)
  • Michael Khoury (The Josef Hadar Award)
  • Nikolas Powers (The Award for Excellence)

Congrats Javier, Melody Rice Award!!!!

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Javier Gonzalez Rodriguez received the Melody Rice Award by garnering the respect of his peers and by improving the quality of the PhD program along a number of dimensions. Firstly, as an active contributor to PhD student workshops, Javier elevates the intellectual rigor by disseminating findings from his own research, and through offering valuable feedback to his peers. Secondly, he has been instrumental in planning social events that engage both the PhD students and faculty, resulting in fruitful exchanges of ideas and collaboration.

Congratulations Javier, you deserve it! 🙂

2025 Texas Camp Econometrics

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SMU Faculty and PhD students attended the 2025 Texas Camp Econometrics on February 22nd and 23rd at Canyon of the Eagles near Austin. The conference is a mix of theory and applied work in both macro and microeconomics. Assistant Professors Alipio Ferreria and Wookun Kim, and PhD student Shuo Qi presented their research. The conference was attended by faculty and students  from UT, A&M, Rice, Houston, Dallas Fed and Stata Corp.

Dissertation by SMU PhD graduate Seth Emblem was featured in Australian media

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The dissertation by Seth Emblem, a recent PhD graduate from SMU economics department, was featured by Inside Story, an Australian magazine featuring analysis, commentary and reporting by leading writers and researchers!

By surveying 300 Americans in late 2021, Seth’s dissertation shows that political partisan gaps tended to be smaller than people expected and that monetary incentives tended to diminish partisan gaps where they existed. 

See the Inside Story article here.

PhD student Fangzhou Sha is a recipient of this year’s Outstanding Graduate Student Instruction Awards!

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PhD student Fangzhou Sha is one of the three recipients of this year’s Outstanding Graduate Student Instruction Awards! The awards are sponsored by the Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies and the Office of Student Academic Engagement and Success. As part of the award, the recipient will receive a $1,000 prize. There will also be an award ceremony during the spring semester to honor the recipient.

Congratulations, Fangzhou!