AWARD WINNING STUDENTS IN THE ECONOMICS PH.D. PROGRAM
Sushant Acharya received the Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship from the Graduate School for Academic Year 2011-2012. He was awarded a Dissertation Internship at the Federal Reserve
Board for Fall 2011. He will receive his Ph.D. this year and will begin working as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Jeffrey Borowitz received the Vernon E. Jordan Doctoral Research Fellowship from the
Economic Club of Washington for Academic Year 2012-2013. He spent Academic Year 2011-
2012 as a staff economist for the Council of Economic Advisors in Washington, DC. He will receive his Ph.D. this year and begin working at Giant Oak LLC, a consulting firm.
Lisa Dettling received the Vernon E. Jordan Doctoral Research Fellowship from the Economic
Club of Washington for Academic Year 2012-2013. Her paper “House Prices and Birth Rates,” joint with Professor Melissa Kearney, has been revised and resubmitted for publication to the
Journal of Public Economics at the editors’ request. She also participated in the Western
Economic Association International Graduate Student Dissertation Workshop in Summer 2012.
She will receive her Ph.D. this year and will begin working as an economist at the Federal
Reserve Board in Washington, D.C.
Alan Finkelstein-Shapiro received the Roger and Alicia Betancourt Fellowship in Applied
Economics for Academic Year 2012-2013. He also won a Graduate School Summer Research
Fellowship in 2011, and won a Research Grant from the Inter-American Development Bank in
2012. He will receive his Ph.D. this year and will begin working in Fall 2013 as an Assistant
Professor of Economics at Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia.
Teresa Fort received the University of Maryland Distinguished Dissertation Award in Spring
2013 for her thesis entitled “Firms’ Organization of Global Production: Theory and Evidence.”
She received her Ph.D. in 2012 and is currently an Assistant Professor at the Tuck School of
Business at Dartmouth University.
Alvaro Pedraza received a Graduate Dissertation Internship from the Americas Center at the
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta in Summer 2013. He will also participate in the Western
Economic Association International Graduate Student Dissertation Workshop in Summer 2013.
Alvaro is currently in his fourth year in the Ph.D. program and is on track to complete his Ph.D. in 2014.
Orhan Torul received the Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship from the Graduate School for
Academic Year 2012-2013. He also won the Economics Department’s Third Year Paper prize in
Spring 2011, and was also the Hilda Moskowitz Graduate Fellow in Economics in Fall 2011. He will receive his Ph.D. this year and will begin working in Fall 2013 as an Assistant Professor of
Economics at Bogazici University in Istanbul Turkey.

Shu Lin Wee received a Dissertation Internship from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City for Summer 2013. She is currently in her fourth year in the Ph.D. program and is on track to complete her Ph.D. in 2014.
Ben Zou received a Research Papers Program Award from the U.S. Employment and Training
Administration in Spring 2013. Ben is currently a fourth year student in the Ph.D. program and is on track to complete his Ph.D. in 2014.