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Undergraduate News

Undergraduate Student News

This page highlights recent accomplishments of our undergraduate students and features their appearances in Emory news publications. For information on undergraduate events, please visit our Events News page and click on the Undergraduate tab.

Emory Economics Team Advances to National Semifinals of the College Fed Challenge

Fed Challenge Team We are proud to announce that our Emory University Department of Economics team advanced to the national semifinals of the 2026 Federal Reserve College Fed Challenge—an impressive achievement in only the university's second year of participation!

The College Fed Challenge is a prestigious national competition in which undergraduate students simulate a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, analyzing U.S. economic conditions and presenting and defending monetary policy recommendations before Federal Reserve officials and economists. The competition is highly selective: in 2025, 139 universities participated nationwide, with only 18 teams advancing to the semifinals.

Fed Challenge TeamUnder the guidance of Professor Yuki (Xue) Wang, the team's faculty advisor and instructor of ECON 499RW: Fed Challenge, Emory students conducted extensive research on economic growth, inflation, labor markets, financial conditions, and monetary policy. Through their mock FOMC meeting and Q&A session, they demonstrated strong analytical, research, and communication skills while applying economic theory to real-world policy challenges.

Meet the Emory Fed Challenge Team:

Presentation and Q&A Team: Aditya Dutta, William Gu, Wayne Huang, Matthew Li, Samuel Jiang, and Freya Ni.

Alternates: Alex Chen, Khushi Goyal, Helen Kwon, Justin Lee, and Jiabao Lin.

Watch the Team's Mock FOMC Meeting:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdqU_Frkjg0

Congratulations to the entire Emory Fed Challenge team on this outstanding achievement! Their success highlights the department's commitment to experiential learning, undergraduate research, and real-world economic policy analysis.

Dylan LaBorwit Wins Best Undergraduate Poster at the Student Research Fair

The Department of Economics hosted its annual Student Research Fair on April 23, 2026 and congratulates honors student, Dylan LaBorwit, for winning Best Undergraduate Poster for his thesis on modeling volatility in prediction markets using jump-diffusion frameworks.

Undergraduate Students Recognized with Department Awards

The Department of Economics recognized the following undergraduate students for their outstanding academic achievements in an annual awards ceremony on April 6, 2026.

  • Sushmita Rajan - The W. Tate Whitman Prize in Economics
  • Yifeng Jin - The Jack and Lewis Greenhut Prize in Research
  • Katherine Kennedy - The Jack and Lewis Greenhut Prize in Research
  • Madeleine Smith - The Jack and Lewis Greenhut Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Award

Congratulations to all of this year's award winners! Learn more about these annual departmental awards on our Undergraduate Honors and Awards page.

Economics Students Selected for the Hatchery, Emory's Innovation Center

In the 11/20/2025 edition of the Emory Report*, three Economics students were among the Emory students highlighted for participating in the Hatchery, Emory's Innovation Center.

The Economics students featured are Annie He, Hunter Pearson DeCristo, and Phillip Head. 

*Meet student founders in the 2025-26 Hatchery Incubator cohort, by Christina Steiner, Emory News Center, 11/19/2025.

Economics Students from Econ 112 and Econ 411 Visit The Atlanta Fed

Visit Atlanta Fed Nov 2026On Friday, November 7th, Emory Economics students in Prof. Yuki Wang's Econ 112 and Econ 411 classes visited the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta for an engaging and informative session on the Federal Reserve’s functions and monetary policy.

The tour included a visit to the Fed museum, featuring exhibits on the history of money, interactive displays on the Fed’s role in the U.S. economy, and a behind-the-scenes look at the Bank’s automated vault and cash-processing operations. Students learned how the Fed conducts monetary policy, supervises and regulates banks, and provides payment system services that keep the financial system stable and the economy running smoothly. Many students mentioned that the visit deepened their interest in majoring in Economics. 

Thank you to Prof. Wang for organizing the visit and to our friends at The Atlanta Fed who supported the visit.

Two Economics Students Selected as Fox Center Life/Story Fellows

Life Story Fellows 2025The Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry announced their 2025-26 Fellows for their Life/Story theme year. The new cohort includes two Economics students among the 12 Undergraduate Humanities Honors Fellows.

Congratulations to Emory Economics students, Daniel Bell  (Public Men in Glass Houses: The Atlanta Police Department of Herbert Jenkins) and Thiên Thanh Nguyên (Making Them Known: The Lives of Working First-Generation College Students) for being selected as FCHI 2025-26 Life/Story Fellows. Learn more about the program here.

Davis Shelton Wins Omicron Delta Epsilon's National Award for Best Paper

Davis SheltonCongratulations to Emory Economics honors graduate, Davis Shelton, 25C on winning the prestigious National Award for best undergraduate paper from Omicron Delta Epsilon, the International Honor Society for Economics.

His thesis, "Fast Cars and Debutantes: Manufacturing-Induced Firm and Labor Outcomes in the South" provides a compelling analysis of how large-scale auto plant openings serve as anchors for local growth, significantly boosting firm density and employment in the American South. Honors committee members: Paloma Lopezdemesa Moyano (chair), Pedro Sant'Anna, and Krzysztof Karbownik.

We are incredibly proud of Davis's sophisticated research and this well-deserved national honor.