Honors Program
The honors program challenges students of exceptional achievement to do extended original research during senior year. Honors students usually spend the first term of their senior year engaged in research and the second term writing and revising their papers. The final step in the process is an oral examination conducted by the adviser and two other examiners. Successful completion of an honors project is noted on the student’s transcript following graduation.
2026 Honors Day Schedule
2026
Maia Lemov ’26 (Delmar, NY), “Losses and Labor: Experimental Insights into Effort supply and Behavioral Biases”
Bailey Lengfelder ’26 (Seattle, WA), “From Coverage to Care: Evaluating the Effects of ACA Medicaid Expansion on Birth Outcomes”
Sean Maxfield ’26 (Washington, D.C), “Studying the Impact of Monetary Policy Announcements on Trading Reactions to Earnings Reports”
Adaye S. Yvan N’guettia ’26 (Abdijan, C么te d’Ivoire), The Lottery You Do Not Want to Tin: The Role of Local Institutional Quality in Brazil’s Fight Against the Persistent Transmission of Poverty”
Linh Nguyen ’26 (Dak Lak, Vietnam), Intrahousehold Allocation of Domestic Work Between Mothers and Daughters: Evidence from a Cash Transfer Program in Malawi”
Anna Settels Palacios ’26 (Washington, D.C.), “Investigating Non-Farm Enterprises in Nigeria: What Influences Their Survival and Function in the Face of Droughts?”
2025
Mathilda Barr ’25 (Los Angeles, CA), “Did the Minnesota Buffer Law Improve Water Quality?
Faye Dingle ’25 (Manchester, MA),
Gavin Engelstad ’25 (Denver, CO),
Minseo Kim ’25 (Woodbury, MN),
Owen Lindstrom ’25 (Hanover, MN),
Giovanny A. Martinez Rodriguez ’25 (Caracas, Venezuela),
Minh Nguyen ’25 (Hanoi, Vietnam), “Peer Effects in Electric Vehicle Adoption: Evidence from the State of Washington”
Bram Nutt ’25 (Portland, OR),
Christine Oduor ’25 (Saiya, Kenya),
Ashlyn Ryan ’25, (Seattle, WA),
Christina Spicher ’25 (Eden Prairie, MN),
Samina Stack ’25 (Minneapolis, MN), “An Overlapping Generations Approach to the Burden of Knowledge”
2024
Ghaicha Aboubacar Ahe ’24 (Niamey, Niger), “Crisis Unearthed: Unraveling Resilience in the Face of Natural Disasters – Impact on Global and Domestic Firms in India”
Anna Durall ’24 (LaCrosse, WI), “
Minnesota Economics Association Undergraduate Student Paper Contest Award Winner
Senior Thesis: Second Place
Mahmoud Majdi ’24 (Morocco), “What Is the Impact of an Anti-Poverty Program on Resilience to Negative Shocks? Evidence from Bangladesh.”
Minnesota Economics Association Undergraduate Student Paper Contest Award Winner
Senior Thesis: First Place
Bobbie Pennington ’24 (Mbabane, Eswatini),
Mateo Useche ’24 (Quito, Ecuador), “What is the Effect of Mental Health on Labor Outcomes? Evidence from Colombia”
Zak Yudhishthu ’24 (Portland, OR), “Supply and demand in my backyard: how new affordable housing affects nearby rental prices”
Minnesota Economics Association Undergraduate Student Paper Contest Award Winner
Senior Thesis: Third Place
2023
Mason Bosley ’23 (Amery, WI),
Xueyan (Liz) Cao ’23 (Hefei, China),
Ryan Dodds ’23 (Arlington, VA),
Cheikh Fall ’23 (Dakar, Senegal), “Desert Locust Invasions and Farmers鈥 Adaptation”
Minnesota Economics Association Undergraduate Student Paper Contest Award Winner
Senior Thesis: First Place
Jonah Klein-Collins ’23 (Naperville, IL),
Abbie Natkin ’23 (Hummelstown, PA),
Paige Stevenson ’23, (Raleigh, NC),
Sariya Stowers ’23 (Ponder, TX), “Power without Borders: Analyzing the Interplay of State Trading, Renewable Portfolio Standards, and Electricty Prices”
Yike Zhou ’23 (Hangzhou, China),
2022
Nicholas Di ’22 (Saratoga, CA),
Alexander Hopkins ’22 (Boston, MA/Randburg, South Africa),
Jared Jaegler ’22 (Barrington, RI),
Minnesota Economics Association Undergraduate Student Paper Contest Award Winner
Senior Thesis: Third Place
Kian Sohrabi ’22 (Dubai, United Arab Emirates),
Xinyi Wang (Nanjing, China) ’22,
2021
Federico Chung ’21 (Buenos Aires, Argentina),
Coco Li ’21 (Shanghai, China), “College Enrollment Decisions: An International Perspective”
Minnesota Economics Association Undergraduate Student Paper Contest Award Winner
Senior Thesis: Third Place
Tianrui Liu ’21 (Beijing, China), “The Effect of Agricultural Productivity in Labour Migration: Evidences from Indonesia”
Liam Purkey ’21 (Portland, OR), “Gentrification and Neighborhood Employment Outcomes”
Aidan Toner-Rodgers ’21 (Sebastopol, CA), “Collective Bargaining and Police Use of Force”
Hannah Whipple ’21 (Corvallis, OR),
Minnesota Economics Association Undergraduate Student Paper Contest Award Winner
Senior Thesis: First Place
Kaichong Zhang ’21 (Guangdong, China),
2020
Camillle Baker ’20 (Chicago, IL),
Minnesota Economics Association Undergraduate Student Paper Contest Award Winner
Senior Thesis: Second Place
Andra Boca ’20 (Galati, Romania),
Claire Buehler ’20 (Houston, TX),
Jasmine Davidson ’20 (Redwood City, CA),
Jennifer Eng ’20 (San Francisco, CA),
Vincent Mougin ’20 (Seattle, WA),
William Sandy ’20 (Shorewood, WI),
Esther Swehla ’20 (Claremont, CA),
2019
Jed Buchholz ’19 (McFarland, WI),
Euijin Kim ’19 (Seoul, South Korea),
Harrison Mitchell ’19 (Knoxville, TN),
Khadidja Ngom ’19 (Kaolack, Senegal), “
Minnesota Economics Association Undergraduate Student Paper Contest Award Winner
Senior Thesis: Third Place
Ji Sue Song ’19 (Seattle, WA),
Matthew Steele ’19 (Newton, MA),
Jensen Vu ’19 (Hanoi, Vietnam), “
Alice Qingyu Zhu ’19 (Nanjing, China), “
Noah Zwiefel ’19 (Rochester, MN),
Minnesota Economics Association Undergraduate Student Paper Contest Award Winner
Senior Thesis: First Place
2018
Genevieve Gregorich ’18 (Boulder, CO),
Van Anh Le ’18 (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam), “
Nadia Mezic ’18 (Huntington, NY), “
Trung Nguyen ’18 (Hanoi, Veitnam), “Are Female-owned Enterprises More Targeted for Bribery Than Male-owned Ones?
Nicoletta Peters ’18 (Mason City, IA),
Annalivia Robinson ’18 (Brookline, MA),
James Spector-Bishop ’18 (Northbrook, IL),
Ellen Tyler ’18 (Genesee Depot, WI), “
2017
Nicole Caicedo `17 (Clinton Township, MI), 鈥
Megan Davitt `17 (Albany, NY),鈥
Ibrahima Dieye `17 (Dakar, Senegal), 鈥
Stefan Faridani `17 (Philomath, OR), 鈥
Minnesota Economics Association Undergraduate Student Paper Contest Award Winner
Senior Thesis: Third Place
Kevin Fortune `17 (Milwaukee, WI), 鈥
Eleanore Fuqua `17 (Bloomington, IL), 鈥
Yifan Gong `17 (Qingdao, China), 鈥
Natalie Kronebusch `17 (St. Cloud, MN), 鈥
Karlyn Russell `17 (Madison, WI), 鈥
Jessica Timerman `17 (Stevens Point, WI.), 鈥
Chunyu Yi `17 (Jinan, China), 鈥
2016
Lauren Beatty 鈥16 (Kennebunk, ME), 鈥
Benny Goldman 鈥16 (Goldens Bridge, NY), 鈥
Minnesota Economics Association Undergraduate Student Paper Contest Award Winner
Senior Thesis: Second Place
Caroline Johns 鈥16 (Mattapoisett, MA), 鈥
Kim Eng Ky 鈥16 (Sisophon, Cambodia), 鈥
Kyoko Sakai 鈥16 (Tokyo, Japan), 鈥
Cory Stern 鈥16 (Chicago, IL), 鈥
Minnesota Economics Association Undergraduate Student Paper Contest Award Winner
Senior Thesis: Third Place
Quinnie Yuzhu Xiang `16 (Lanzhou, China), 鈥
2015
Pukitta Chunsuttiwat 鈥15 (Nonthabun, Thailand), 鈥淒id the Change in the Minimum Wage Decrease the Share of Formal Employment in Thailand?鈥
Marko Martinovic 鈥15 (Belgrade, Serbia), “
Clemens Pilgram 鈥15 (Munich, Germany), “
Charmaine Runes 鈥15 (U.A.E./Philippines), “
Iris Vrioni 鈥15 (Tirana, Albania), “Marriage and Money: Do Women Earn More When they Marry?鈥
Yingtong Xie 鈥15 (Chengolu, China), “Does `Lumpiness` Affect the Skill Intensity of Exports?鈥
2014
Vidarith Chan 鈥14 (Pursat, Cambodia), 鈥
Kyle Coombs 鈥14 (Scotia, NY), 鈥
Alison Goodrum 鈥14 (Bloomington, MN), 鈥淭rading on the Margins: To What Extent Do Developing Countries Benefit from WTO Membership?鈥
Disa Hynsjo 鈥14 (Lerum, Sweden), 鈥淒oes Bilingual Education Improve Peruvian Indigenous Students鈥 Academic Achievement?鈥
Minnesota Economics Association Undergraduate Student Paper Contest Award Winner
Senior Thesis: First Place
Anna Jacob 鈥14 (Chicago, IL), 鈥
Jiaying Wang 鈥14 (Chengdu, China), 鈥
Olivia Warner 鈥14 (Little Falls, MN), 鈥
2013
Chioma Yvonne Chukwumah “13, 鈥
Natalie Camplair ’13, 鈥樷橠o Wind Turbines Affect Property Values?鈥欌
Minnesota Economics Association Undergraduate Student Paper Contest Award Winner
Senior Thesis: First Place
Hao Ding ’13, 鈥
Sasha Indarte ’13, 鈥樷
Emma Kalish ’13, 鈥
2012
Devon Kristiansen ’12 (Dousman, WI), 鈥
Rosamond Mate ’12 (Champagne, IL), 鈥
Minnesota Economics Association Undergraduate Student Paper Contest Award Winner
Senior Thesis: Third Place (tie)
Yan Huang ’12 (Shanghai, China), 鈥
Adam Freedman ’12 (Glencoe, IL), 鈥
Minnesota Economics Association Undergraduate Student Paper Contest Award Winner
Senior Thesis: First Place
Jose Ricardo Rubio ’12 (Quito, Ecuador), 鈥
Molly Frean ’12 (Bedford, MA), 鈥
Wanyi Li ’12 (Shanghai, China), 鈥
Evan Hewitt ’12 (Mound, MN), 鈥
Lauren Martinez ’12 (Redmond, WA), 鈥
Qianyi Yang ’12 (Nanjing, China), 鈥
2011
Jimerson J. Asencio Ferrufino ’11 (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) “
Minnesota Economics Association Undergraduate Student Paper Contest Award Winner
Senior Thesis: First Place
Needham B. Hurst ’11 (Needham, IN), “
Minnesota Economics Association Undergraduate Student Paper Contest Award Winner
Senior Thesis: Second Place
Benjamin Langworthy ’11 (Tuscon, AZ), “
Elizabeth K. Vermann ’11 (Bronx, NY), “
Nina Wellander ’11 (Mt. Vernon, WA), “
2010
Alice M. Anigacz ’10 (Brooklyn, NY), “
Joseph Glatman Zaretsky ’10 (New York, NY), “
Erica B. Graboyes ’10 (Thiensville, WI), “
Simeng Han ’10 (Bejing, China), “
Rudy Herrera M谩rmol ’10 (Guatemala City, Guatemala) “
Zachary McDade ’10 (Boulder, CO), “
Iryna Postolovska ’10 (Kyiv, Ukraine), “
Jeremy Roth ’10 (Nyack, NY), “
Hao Zou ’10 (Suzhou, China), “
2009
Todd Copenhaver ’09 (Wellesley, MA), “
Benjamin Torres Galick ’09 (Oakdale, MN), “
Jayant Gokhale ’09 (Pune, India), “
Colin Hottman ’09 (Arden Hills, MN), “
Yuen Ting Liu ’09 (Hong Kong, China), “
Nick A. Marchio ’09 (West St. Paul, MN), “
Maximilian Sirianni ’09 (Mahwah, NJ), “
Cael Warren ’09 (Stevens Point, WI), “
Keaton C. White ’09 (Denver, CO), “