Graduate Fellowships and Scholarships
The Economics department has a number of Fellowships and Research Scholarships that are awarded through a broad-based competition open to all PhD students in economics. The primary criterion for receiving a fellowship or scholarship is evidence of research excellence.
- Caves Dissertation Fellowship
- Christensen Dissertation Fellowship in Empirical Economics
- Christensen Scholarship in Empirical Economics
- Chulew Family Scholarship
- Culbertson Field Paper Scholarship
- David Edwin Davies Dissertation Fellowship
- Alice S. Gengler Fellowship
- JPGI funded Scholarships and Fellowships
- Donald D. Hester Dissertation Fellowship
- Susan B. Kocin Scholarship for Labor Economics
- Walter A. Morton Dissertation Fellowship
- Robock Scholarship in Empirical or Experimental Economics
- Shih Graduate Student Fellowship (Ko and Ying Shih Dissertation Fellowship)
- Richard E. Stockwell Fellowship
- Mary Sue and Mike Shannon Dissertation Fellowship
- Walker Family Dissertation Fellowship
- Richard A. Meese Dissertation Fellowship
Caves Dissertation Fellowship
This fellowship was established by Douglas W. Caves (PhD, Economics, 1980) and Sherry A. Caves to support graduate students in the Department of Economics at UW–Madison doing dissertation level empirical research in the doctoral program. The intent of this fellowship is to reward and distinguish excellence and scholastic merit in the doctoral program.
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Anya Tarascina
2025-2026 |
Michael Nattinger
2024-2025 |
Kensuke Sakamoto
2024-2025 |
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Hyunkeong Lim
2024-2025 |
Kevin Hunt
2023-2024 |
Tianli Xia
2023-2024 |
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2022-2023 |
2021-2022 |
2020-2021 |
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2019-2020
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2018-2019 |
Christensen Dissertation Fellowship
This fellowship was established by Lau Christensen. Lau was a faculty member at UW–Madison from 1967 to 1987. This fellowship is awarded to a student at the dissertation phase.
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Woosik Gong
2026-2027 |
Yuya Shimizu
2026-2027 |
Danny Gold
2025-2026 |
Kevin Hunt
2024-2025 |
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Luming Chen
2023-2024 |
Sarah Waldfogel
2022-2023 |
Cici McNamara
2021-2022 |
Sandra Spirovska
2020-2021 |
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Renata Gaineddenova 2019-2020 |
Christensen Scholarship in Empirical Economics
Lau Christensen established this scholarship. Lau was a faculty member here from 1967 to 1987. The purpose of this joint student-faculty award is to A) encourage and support research by PhD students doing empirical work with contemporary estimation methods, and B) to support faculty who serve as mentors for Ph.D. students doing dissertations.
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Caitlin Dutta
2026-2027 |
Alexis Smith
2025-2026 |
Manisha Jain
2024-2025 |
Kevin Hunt
2023-2024 |
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Hyun Lim
2022-2023 |
Long Hong
2021-2022 |
Minseon Park
2020-2021 |
Cici McNamara
2019-2020 |
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2018-2019 |
2018-2019 |
2017-2018 |
Chulew Family Scholarship
Culbertson Field Paper Scholarship
The Culbertson Scholarship was established with a generous contribution from Dr. Francis Culbertson, in memory of her late husband, UW Madison Economics Professor John M. Culbertson. The scholarship is for the PhD student who writes the best field paper.
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Arthur Erlendsson
2026-2027 |
Xuanjing Su
2026-2027 |
Mingxin Xie
2025-2026 |
Jack Collison
2024-2025 |
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Michael Nattinger
2023-2024 |
Xian Wu
2022-2023 |
Mengqi Wang
2021-2022 |
Katsuhiro Komatsu
2021-2022 |
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2020-2021 |
Alan Yang
2019-2020 |
2018-2019 |
2018-2019 |
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2017-2018 |
2017-2018 |
David Edwin Davies Dissertation Fellowship
The David Edwin Davies Dissertation Fellowship is based on outstanding research potential and overall research excellence. This fellowship was established by a trust created by Richard Davies (BA, Economics and Political Science, 1979).
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Jonathan Kroah
2026-2027 |
Cassi Kirkland
2024-2025 |
Jingnan Liu
2023-2024 |
April Meehl 2022-2023 |
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Rosemary Kaiser
2021-2022 |
2020-2021 |
2019-2020 |
2018-2019 |
Alice S. Gengler Graduate Fellowship
The late Alice Gengler received her BA in Economics from the University of Wisconsin in 1927. The Alice Gengler Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowship is made possible by the generosity of Alice Gengler and her family. It is awarded for excellence in research.
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Fernando de Lima Lopes
2026-2027 |
Stefano Lord-Medrano
2026-2027 |
Jinxin Tian
2026-2027 |
Duong Dang
2024-2025 |
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Zaure Aitulova
2023-2024 |
2022-2023 |
2022-2023 |
2021-2022 |
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2019-2020 |
2018-2019 |
2018-2019 |
JPGI funded Scholarships and Fellowships
The JPGI honors UW–Madison alumna Juli Plant Grainger. The following fellowships and scholarships are made possible by a substantial investment in the Department by David W. Grainger and the Grainger Foundation.
JPGI Summer Fellowships
These fellowships are funded by the Juli Plant Grainger Institute for Economic Research. They are awarded to students with unusually promising research proposals. (Previous Winners)
JPGI Teaching Assistant Scholarships
These scholarships are funded by the Juli Plant Grainger Institute for Economic Research. They are awarded to students with exceptional classroom performance as a teaching assistant in any Economics course, either graduate or undergraduate. (Previous Winners)
JPGI Outstanding Dissertator Fellowship
These fellowships are funded by the Juli Plant Grainger Institute for Economic Research. They are awarded to students with exceptionally promising dissertations. (Previous Winners)
Donald D. Hester Dissertation Fellowship
This fellowship is named after the late Donald Hester, a UW Madison Economics Professor from 1968 to 2000. Preference is given to students who excel in teaching and conduct research in labor/macroeconomics.
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Asha Bharadwaj
2026-2027 |
Nisha Chikhale
2023-2024 |
Wentao Zhou 2022-2023 |
Mark Rempel
2021-2022 |
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2020-2021 |
2019-2020 |
Susan B. Kocin Scholarship for Labor Economics
This scholarship, funded by the Kocin family, is awarded to promote the field of labor economics.
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Asha Bharadwaj
2025-2026
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Alexis Smith
2025-2026
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Zhiyang Feng
2024-2025
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Angela Jiang
2023-2024
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Hoyoung Yoo
2022-2023
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Hyunkyeong Lim
2021-2022
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Jingnan (Jane) Liu
2020-2021
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Minseon Park
2019-2020
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Sandra Spirovska
2018-2019
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2017-2018 |
Ralph W. Marquis Field Paper Scholarship
Walter A. Morton Dissertation Fellowship
This fellowship supports a meritorious doctoral student in the Department of Economics and was created through a fund established in 1984 by Rosalie Morton (BS 1928), widow of late UW Economics Professor Walter Morton (Ph.D. 1927), and her son Stephen D. Morton (Ph.D. 1962).
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Sharada Dharmasankar
2023-2024 |
Chen Lyu
2022-2023
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Andrey Zubanov
2020-2021
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Mary Claire Aschenbrener Phipps Dissertation Fellowship
This fellowship was established by Charles Phipps in honor of his late wife, Mary Claire Phipps (BA ’51, Economics). This award for dissertation support is to be given to a graduate student in the Department of Economics.
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Caitlin Dutta
2026-2027 |
Angela Jiang
2025-2026 |
Andrea Franco Hernandez
2024-2025 |
Shannon Sledz
2023-2024 2024-2025 |
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Sarah Waldfogel
2023-2024 |
Elise Marifian 2022-2023 |
Lois Miller 2021-2022 |
2020-2021 |
Dorothy Rice Dissertation Fellowship
The Dorothy Rice Dissertation Fellowship was created in memory of health care economics pioneer and UW Alumna Dorothy Rice (Ph.D. 1941) who left a lasting legacy on the Federal Health Care Policy. Her research paved way for the creation of the Medicare program. The fellowship is awarded to an outstanding doctoral student in the Department of Economics.
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Alexis Smith
2026-2027 |
Michael Fogarty
2026-2027 |
Sarah Bass
2025-2026 |
Xian Wu
2024-2025 |
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Xinyi Peng
2023-2024 |
Lois Miller
2022-2023 |
Anna Trubnikova
2021-2022 |
Annie Lee
2020-2021 |
Robock Scholarship in Empirical or Experimental Economics
The late Dr. Stefan Robock established this scholarship. Professor Robock received his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin in 1938. He did graduate work at Wisconsin and Harvard. The purpose of Dr. Robock’s gift is to support students and research by students and faculty in the Department of Economics, with preference being given to those doing empirical and/or field research or working in the field of experimental economics.
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Kai Gao
2025-2026 |
Andrea Franco
2024-2025 |
Sarah Bass
2023-2024 |
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Katsuhiro Komatsu
2022-2023 |
Jonathan McClure
2021-2022 |
2020-2021 |
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2019-2020 |
2018-2019 |
2017-2018 |
Shih Graduate Student Fellowship (Ko and Ying Shih Dissertation Fellowship)
May Shih and Willy Shih have honored their parents, Ko and Ying Shih, by establishing a fellowship in their names to assist graduate students in the Department of Economics. Ko Shih received his PhD in Economics (1950) and Ying Shih received her PhD in Applied Statistics (1952) at UW–Madison. Both Ko and Ying Shih were international students, so their children, May Shih and Willy Shih, would like the funds to be used for a dissertation fellowship with a slight preference given to international students.
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Mengqi Wang
2023-2024 |
Jason Choi
2022-2023 2021-2022 |
2020-2021 |
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2019-2020 |
2018-2019 |
2017-2018 |
Mary Sue and Mike Shannon Dissertation Fellowship
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Davi Doneda Mittelstadt
2026-2027 |
Michael Nattinger
2025-2026 |
Elizabeth Llanes
2024-2025 |
2023-2024 |
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2022-2023 |
Joel McMurry
2021-2022 |
Richard E. Stockwell Fellowship
This fellowship was established by a trust created by Richard E. “Archie” Stockwell. Archie received his B.S. in 1940 from the University of Wisconsin.
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William Zeng
2026-2027 |
Katsuhiro Komatsu
2023-2024 |
Shilong Sun
2022-2023 |
Natalia Serna
2021-2022 |
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2020-2021 |
2018-2019 |
Walker Family Dissertation Fellowship
This fellowship, offered by the Department of Economics, was established by a trust created by Willard T. Walker (BA Economics 1955) and Willard T. Walker Jr. (BA Economics 1984) and Molly Walker Allen (BA Journalism and Mass Communication 1989) to recognize outstanding research potential and overall research excellence. The annual one semester dissertation fellowship is designed to support a doctoral student in Economics.
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Nicholas Garvey
2026-2027 |
Frankie Lin
2026-2027 |
Andrea Franco
2025-2026 |
Philip Coyle
2024-2025 |
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Hoyoung Yoo
2023-2024 |
Cody Kallen
2022-2023 |
Cody Kallen
2022-2023 |
Shuhei Otani
2021-2022 |
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Nicolas Badaracco 2020-2021 |
Richard A. Meese Dissertation Fellowship
Richard A. Meese (Ph.D. 1978) established this fund to attract and support outstanding graduate students in the Department of Economics.
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Rachel Widra
2026-2027 |
Kensuke Sakamoto
2025-2026 |
Karla Hernandez
2024-2025 |
Teaching Assistant Scholarships
These scholarships are awarded to students with exceptional classroom performance as a teaching assistant in any Economics course, either graduate or undergraduate.
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Katelynn Lewallen
2025-2026 |
Jiaoyang Li
2025-2026 |
Lucas Marron
2025-2026 |
Austin Miller
2025-2026 |
Jared Miller
2025-2026 |
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Ranjana Sinha
2025-2026 |
Elizaveta Soboleva
2025-2026 |
Xuanjing Su
2025-2026 |
Christopher Tice-Raskin
2025-2026 |
Shikun Zheng
2025-2026 |
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Cutberto Frias Sarraf
2025-2026 |
Martha Kowalski 2025-2026 |
Heather Little 2025-2026 |
M McMain 2025-2026 |
Younoo Ok 2025-2026 |
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Xuanjing Su 2025-2026 |
Helen Vasquez Ramos 2025-2026 |
Chia-Min Wei 2025-2026 |
Mingxin Xie 2025-2026 |
Cenyu Zhang 2025-2026 |