2024-2025
Several graduating Scholars completed Honors theses in Economics during Spring 2025:
- Ian Bailey, "Radio Waves and Ballot Boxes: How Conservative Broadcasting Influenced Southern Electoral Behavior," advised by Grace Kim, won the Ed Tower Best Honors Thesis Award.
- Michelle Schultze, “Assessing Conflict-Driven Disruptions in the Kyrgyzstan-Russia Labor Pipeline via a Gradient Boosting Approach to Nowcasting,” advised by Charlie Becker, won a Craufurd Goodwin Distinction in Research Award and was the faculty choice for Outstanding Honors Poster.
- Lewis Zhu, “The Changing Impact of School Suspensions on Student Outcomes: Evidence from North Carolina Public Schools,” advised by Jason Baron and Duncan Thomas, also won a Craufurd Goodwin Distinction in Research Award.
- Nick Papavassiliou, “Evaluating Emissions Reductions through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative: A State and Plant-Level Analysis,” advised by Jeff DeSimone, was the student choice for Outstanding Honors Poster.
- Ian, Michelle, Lewis, and Nick, along with Isabella Antonio, Jack Duhon, Maggie Hu, and Audrey Wang, all graduate with High Distinction in Economics.
- Brendan Elliott graduates with Distinction in Economics.
The Duke team of Ian Bailey, Nick Papavassiliou, Nick Sortisio, and Lewis Zhu, all seniors who were among the original Fall 2022 class of Woodman Scholars, topped nearly 100 entrants to win Econometrics Game 2025 at the University of Chicago, April 4-6, becoming the first winners not from Harvard in the 10 years of the competition!
Aaron Lam, Michelle Schultze, and Eva Spektorov co-authored, along with faculty supervisor Charlie Becker and Peter Devine, the February 2025 report “Rebuilding Ukraine: Priorities and Strategies" for the Council on Foreign Relations: https://www.cfr.org/report/rebuilding-ukraine
Isabella Antonio, Ellen Feild, and Michelle Schultze each presented work from their DEAL projects -- studying effects of the minimum legal drinking age on sexual assault victimization, concealed handgun permit issuances on handgun-related deaths, and of a potential airport reopening on FDI in Ukraine, respectively -- at the Southern Economic Association annual meeting in Washington, DC on November 24, 2024.
Michelle Schultze and Eva Spektorov were co-presenters, along with faculty supervisor Charlie Becker, at the campus event Reconstructing Ukraine: An Incentive-Based Approach, hosted by the Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies, on October 1, 2024.
2023-2024
Several graduating Scholars completed Honors theses in Economics during Spring 2024:
- Marcos Hirai Catao, "Affirmative Action and Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from Brazil," advised by Jason Baron and Duncan Thomas, won the Ed Tower Award for Best Honors Thesis.
- Jakobe Bussey, “The Press and Peace, Examining Iraq War Coverage in Newspapers using BERT LLMs," advised by Peter Arcidiacono, was a finalist for Best Honors Thesis.
- Marcos and Jakobe, along with Jacob Hervey, Madeleine Reinhard, and Abigail Ullendorff, graduate with High Distinction in Economics.
- Alicia Gong graduates with Distinction in Economics.
Sanjit Beriwal was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue a master's degree in international relations from Royal Holloway, University of London.
Isabella Antonio, Natalie Katz, and Madeleine Reinhard each presented work from their DEAL projects studying effects of the minimum legal drinking age -- on sex-related offenses, sexually transmitted disease incidence, and fatal motor vehicle accidents, respectively -- at the Southern Economic Association annual meeting in New Orleans on November 18, 2023.
Michelle Schultze co-authored, with her faculty supervisor Charlie Becker and Iroda Akhmedova, “Healthcare Reforms and Achievements; Uzbekistan 1991-2022,” in Bakhrom Mirkasimov and Richard Pomfret, Eds. New Uzbekistan: The Third Renaissance, Taylor & Francis, 2023.
Jacob Hervey is one of five rising seniors named to Duke's third class of Nakayama Scholars, chosen for their strong academic & leadership records and demonstrated commitment to careers in public service (.edu, .gov, .mil, or .org organizations). The Nakayama Public Service Scholarship covers one-half of senior year tuition and is the only Duke-funded merit scholarship students can directly apply for in their junior year.
Marcos Hirai Catao has been named a Faculty Scholar, the most prestigious honor that Duke bestows on undergraduates. Intended to recognize rising seniors with "impressively high" academic achievement and potential for innovative scholarly careers, only three winners are selected each year.
2022-2023
Raghav Rasal was named one of approximately 150 Schwarzman Scholars, among the world’s most selective and prestigious fellowships, to attend a one-year master’s degree in global affairs program at Tsinghua University in Beijing designed to enable future leaders to engage with China.
Several graduating Scholars completed Honors theses in Economics during Spring 2023:
- William Zhao, “The Cost of Delay: Evidence from the Ethereum Transaction Fee Market,” advised by Campbell Harvey, won Best Honors Thesis and was the student choice for Best Honors Poster.
- Thomas Colicchio, “Bias in Fact Checking? An Analysis of Partisan Trends Using PolitiFact Data,” advised by Peter Arcidiacono, was the runner-up for Best Honors Thesis.
- Richard Lombardo, “Reconstruction following Destruction: Entrepreneurship in the Aftermath of a Natural Disaster,” advised by Duncan Thomas, was the faculty choice for Best Honors Poster.
- William, Thomas, and Richard, along with Qi Xuan Khoo, Michelle Zhao, and TJ Zuo -- who won Best Honors Thesis in Spring 2021 with "Municipal and Cooperative Internet on Broadband Entry and Competition," advised by Michelle Connolly -- all graduate with High Distinction in Economics.
- Eli Levine graduates with Distinction in Economics.
The Duke team of four veteran Scholars – Ian C. Bailey, Marcos Hirai Catao, Richard Lombardo, and William Zhao – placed third in The Econometrics Game competition at the University of Chicago on April 1-2, 2023.
Qi Xuan Khoo (a.k.a. Khoo) was named as Malaysia’s Rhodes Scholar for study beginning in 2023. A Karsh International Scholar, Khoo is a senior with a double major in economics and computer science and a minor in math. In the DEAL, Khoo works with Jimmy Roberts on a project investigating U.S. Medicare fraud. At Oxford, Khoo plans to pursue an M.Sc. in Social Data Science followed by an M.Sc. in Economics for Development.
Richard Lombardo presented "Wealth Evolution after a Natural Disaster: Evidence from the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami,” co-authored with Elizabeth Frankenberg, Cecep Sumantri, and Duncan Thomas, at the North East Universities Development Consortium (NEUDC) 2022 Conference, November 5-6, 2022.
TJ Zuo presented “The Impact of Municipal and Cooperative Internet Provision on Broadband Entry and Competition,” co-authored with Michelle Connolly, at TPRC, The 50th Research Conference on Communications, Information and Internet Policy, Washington, DC, September 17, 2022.