Woodman Scholar Accomplishments

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 Scholarschosen 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 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.

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.
  • TJ Zuo, “Municipal and Cooperative Internet on Broadband Entry and Competition,” advised by Michelle Connolly, won Best Honors Thesis (in Spring 2021).
  • 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.
  • Thomas Colicchio, Qi Xuan Khoo, Richard Lombardo, Michelle Zhao, William Zhao, and TJ Zuo are graduating with High Distinction in Economics.
  • Eli Levine is graduating with Distinction in Economics.

The Duke team of four veteran Scholars – Ian C. Bailey, Marcos Catao, Richard Lombardo, and William Zhaoplaced 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.