Cornell held its commencement celebration for 5,500 seniors and advanced degree recipients on May 27, 2018 in Schoellkopf Stadium. It was an especially rainy day and the celebration marked Cornell’s sesquicentennial, the 150th, commencement ceremony.
Economics majors Linfeng Shen ’18 and Robin Wang ’18 led the College of Arts degree candidates into the stadium as banner bearers. To watch the 150th Cornell University Commencement Ceremony click here.
Immediately following the Schoellkopf Stadium event, the Department of Economics held its annual ceremony under a tent on the Arts Quad. This year, the faculty presented certificates to 15 Ph.D. graduates, 2 M.A. graduates, and 202 economics major graduates.
Lawrence Blume, Goldwin Smith Professor of Economics and Donald C. Opatrny ’74 Chair of the Department, started the ceremony by describing the diverse set of opportunities of graduates were pursuing. He used results from a senior survey to share a few memories and favorite professors of our economics majors.
To view the 2018 senior survey results click here.
Senior Lecturer, Gregory Besharov, announced the undergraduate Prize winners. He started by recognizing Karna Malaviya ’18 as the Uri M. Possen Memorial Award winner for the best undergraduate honors thesis. Professor Besharov joked that he could potentially elongate the ceremony by reading Karna’s 50 plus page thesis.
Ph.D. and M.A. certificates were awarded by Ernest S. Liu Professor of Economics and International Studies Director of Graduate Studies, Yongmiao Hong. Undergraduate certificates were award by Senior Lecturer and Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies, Jennifer Wissink.
Professor Blume concluded the ceremony by calling on graduates to stay connected with their Alma Mater. He remarked, “Just as you have memories of us, we have memories of you. Please keep those memories alive by staying in touch, dropping your favorite professor a line from time to time to let us know what you're up to.”
To view our professional photographer's ceremony photos and family portraits, please click here.
2018 Undergraduate Prizes
The Uri M. Possen Memorial Award for the best undergraduate honors thesis went to Karna Malaviya.
The Tapan Mitra Economics Prize for Development Economics went to Daniel Holod.
The Tapan Mitra Economics Prize for Health Economics went to Robin Wang.
The Tapan Mitra Economics Prize for the Economics of Networks went to Pulkit Kashyap.
The Tapan Mitra Economics Prize for Labor Economics went to Destin Royer.
The Excellence in Coursework Award went to Linfeng Shen.
The Competition Law and Policy Award went to Miles Morgan.
The Industrial Organization Award went to Ziqian Tao.
The Law and Economics Award went to Wei Nicholas Teng.
The Microeconomics Award went to Vendela Norman.
The Public Economics Award went to Caroline Sierks.
The Service to Department Award went to Destin Royer and Robin Wang.
Graduates Prizes
These prizes were awarded during the academic year.
The L.R. "Red" Wilson M.A. '67 Excellence in Economics Medal to support thesis proposal, research, and writing was awarded to graduate students Jorgen Harris and Matthew Thirkettle.
The Louis Walinsky Fund in Economics Outstanding Teaching Award in Honor of Professor Herbert Joseph Davenport went to graduate students Sun Woo Lee and Fikri Pitsuwan.
The Ernest Liu Family Outstanding Teaching Award went to graduate students Flavio Stanchi and Lin Xu.
The Howard and Abby Milstein Graduate Teaching Assistanceship Award went to graduate students Abhishek Ananth and Derek Lougee.
The Anindya (Bappu) Majumder '98 Memorial Prize for Excellence in Teaching was awarded to graduate student Luoyi Su.
The Ernest Liu ‘64, Ta-Chung and Ya-Chao Liu Memorial Fellowship, which funds graduate student tuition, stipend, and health insurance for a full academic year, was awarded to graduate student Amanda Eng.
The Labor Economics Small Grant Awards went to graduate students Katelyn Heath and David Jaume.
