Undergraduate Awards

The Economics Department awards three prizes annually:

1. The Tate Whitman Prize in Economics
2. The Jack and Lewis Greenhut Prize
3. Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Assistant

This award is for the ability to present clear, cogent analysis of complex issues, extraordinary personal integrity, and wise leadership in the classroom and department.

2025 Recipient is Tianqi Zhang

Tianqi Zhang is a graduating senior and Economics Major who exemplifies the characteristics of character, cogent analysis of complex issues, personal integrity, and wise leadership.

Tianqi wrote a thesis on “Social Networks in AID Allocation” that contributes to a recent literature that uses advances in machine learning to solve complex problems about the tradeoffs between distributional preferences and program effectiveness. He has also served as President of the Economics Student Society, and he will be enrolling in the Ph.D. program in Economics at the University of Southern California. 

Congratulations to Tianqi Zhang!

This prize is awarded to a graduating senior who has demonstrated the highest degree of excellence in classwork, research, and scholarly activities.

2025 Recipient is Jessie Zhu

Jessie Zhu is a joint Economics/Mathematics and Music double major. Using staggered difference-in-differences methods, she wrote a thesis on the effects of funding towards crisis lines on their access, performance, and effectiveness in suicide prevention. She is co-president of the Emory Economics Review and senior advisor for the Economics Leadership Club. 

Congratulations to Jessie Zhu!

This award celebrates the spirit of both Prof. George Benston and Prof. Richard Muth, whose strong commitment to research and reputation for excellence helped facilitate Emory’s change to becoming the world class research institution it is today. In their honor, we give this award to the student who demonstrates exemplary intellectual curiosity, passion, and skill in economic analysis.

Note: 2024 was the final year the Economics Department awarded this prize. 

This award recognizes undergraduate students who have served as exceptional teaching assistants in our Economics classes.

2025 Recipients are Oyinlola (Lola) Olawoye and Rebeca Savaris-Branco

Oyinlola (Lola) Olawoye and Rebeca Savaris-Branco served as undergraduate TAs for our largest section of Econ 101, which involves many responsibilities, including holding office hours, review sessions for exams, and help sessions for homeworks. According to the course instructor, their ability to connect with others, sense of duty, professionalism, and devotion to student learning were truly admirable.

Congratulations to Lola and Rebeca!