Award
Celebrating the 2024 SFU Economics graduate award winners
Congratulations to our graduate students whose outstanding academic performance and passion for economics has earned them this year's Department of Economics student awards.
Lang Wong Memorial Endowment Scholarship
Named in memory of Lang Wong who devoted over 50 years of his life to the cause of international development, this award is presented to an outstanding international graduate student who has demonstrated academic excellence.
2025 - Eric (Hau Pang) Chow
I joined Simon Fraser University as a PhD student in Economics in Fall 2023, after completing my MS in Economics at the Australian National University. My research interests lie in understanding how micro-level heterogeneity among agents shapes macroeconomic distributional outcomes. In particular, I aim to study how inattention, learning, and expectations influence the distributional effects of macroeconomic policies. I am also interested in using experimental methods, where appropriate, to test theoretical insights and behavioral mechanisms within a macroeconomic framework. Looking ahead, I plan to pursue an academic career that allows me to continue developing this research agenda.
2025 - Xinhao Dong
I’m Xinhao (Jack) Dong, a PhD candidate in Economics at Simon Fraser University. I joined the MA program in 2022 and entered the PhD in 2023. My interests lie in macroeconomics and monetary policy, with a broad curiosity about how banks and financial markets shape policy transmission and real activity. I’m also drawn to the macroeconomics of demographics and families—how fertility, education, and pensions interact with growth, inequality, and long-run welfare. Methodologically, I enjoy work that bridges theory and evidence, from clean identification to structural modeling and calibration. In teaching, I especially enjoy microeconomics: strong microfoundations make for better macro models, and I like helping students connect individual behavior and market structure to the aggregate outcomes we study.
SHIVA AND ELIZABETH NANDA GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP IN ECONOMICS
Established in 2021 with a generous gift from Shiva and Elizabeth Nanda, the fellowship is intended to provide financial support to students pursuing their doctoral degree at Simon Fraser University's Department of Economics.
2024 - Uzair Azmat
Uzair joined Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) Department of Economics in 2020 as part of the PhD program after completing his Master’s degree at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Pakistan. He has also cleared all levels of the Charted Financial Analyst (CFA) desgination (USA). His research interests lie in financial economics and macroeconomics, with a special focus on how housing markets respond to alternative mortgage contracts. He has presented his research on reference dependence behavior in risk-sharing mortgages and its impact on default rates at multiple conferences in Canada, the UK, and France.
In addition, Uzair has published a paper in the Journal of Real Estate Research. He is currently investigating debt-averse borrowers and their influence on interest rates, prepayment rates, and contract selection. Beyond his research, Uzair takes great pride in teaching economics, where he enriches his classes by incorporating his research and fostering critical thinking.
Meiyu Li Memorial Scholarship in Economics
Created in the memory of PhD candidate Meiyu Li, this entrance scholarship will go toward supporting outstanding international graduate students, like Meiyu, who are pursuing research in the Department of Economics.
2025 - Merve Intisah
Merve Intisah joined Simon Fraser University as a PhD student in Economics in 2025. She completed both her B.A. and M.S. in Economics at Middle East Technical University (Türkiye) before completing a second Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Manitoba (Canada). Her research focuses on experimental and behavioral economics, and she has already contributed to the field with a published paper in an economics journal. Merve has also shared her work at several academic conferences, engaging with the broader research community. Looking ahead, she plans to continue her career in economics, with the goal of advancing knowledge in her field and making lasting contributions to the academic community.
Peter Kennedy Memorial Graduate Fellowship
Named after the late professor Peter Kennedy, this award is presented to the outstanding graduate student who has demonstrated academic and teaching excellence.
2025 - Jeff Hsieh
Jeff Hsieh earned his BA and MA in Economics from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan, and began his PhD in Economics at Simon Fraser University in 2020. His research focuses on consumer demand, econometrics, and machine learning, with a particular interest in modelling consumer behaviour to study welfare issues such as resource distribution within households and cost-of-living analysis. Over the past five years, Jeff worked as a teaching assistant, where he developed a passion for helping students engage deeply with economic concepts. He emphasizes critical thinking, logical reasoning, and clear communication as essential skills for both academic success and professional growth. After completing his PhD, Jeff plans to continue his career in academia, contributing to research and teaching the next generation of economics students.
Herbert G. Grubel Award
This award is given to the graduating MA student with the highest cumulative grade point average (CGPA) obtained in the MA required courses during the preceding Fall and Spring terms.
2025 - Collyn Gagne
I joined SFU as an undergraduate, where my interest in economics began after taking introductory microeconomics. I was fascinated by how economic models can be used to answer questions beyond what most people typically associate with the field. This sparked my curiosity and motivated me to continue my studies in the Master’s program at SFU.
During my MA, I discovered a strong interest in applied econometrics and industrial organization. What I like about these fields is that we can answer policy-relevant questions that directly affect people’s lives and well-being. I also enjoy the challenge of understanding the intuition behind complex econometric models and applying them to real-world data.
Looking ahead, I plan to pursue a PhD in economics. I hope to continue developing as a researcher and apply my skills to projects that make a meaningful impact.
Once I finish my studies at SFU I look forward to exploring diverse areas of work and joining a PhD program in the future.
James Dean Award
Named after the late emeritus professor James Dean, this award is given to the student with the best ECON 900 paper.
2025 - Eric Fortier
Eric Fortier is a PhD candidate in economics at Simon Fraser University. His research interests lie in applied macroeconomics, with a particular focus on monetary policy. His awarded working paper investigates the transmission channels of monetary policy in Canada. Beyond his own research, Eric works as a research assistant for Professor Luba Petersen in the SFU Experimental Economics Lab, and he currently serves as a teaching assistant for the Economics Technical Workshop, where he helps students develop programming skills.”
Richard G. Lipsey Award
Given to the continuing PhD student with the best comprehensive exam results at the end of their first year, this award is named after emeritus professor Richard Lipsey.
2025 - Hossein Jalili
I started my graduate studies in Economics at SFU in Fall 2023. Before that, I completed a master’s degree in economics and a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering. My background in engineering gave me solid quantitative skills, but over time I realized that what really interested me was understanding how economies work and how policies affect people’s everyday lives.
I’m especially drawn to macroeconomics because it shows how individual choices can add up to shape the long-run growth and stability of societies. I also enjoy econometrics since it gives me the tools to connect theory with data in a meaningful way. Right now, my research focuses on how different policies can influence economic growth and development.
At SFU, I work as a teaching assistant and enjoy helping undergraduate students in their economics courses. Before coming here, I worked as a policy analyst in my home country, where I saw firsthand how research can inform real policy debates. That experience deepened my interest in linking academic research with practical issues.
After graduation, I hope to continue this path in academia or in a policy institution, contributing to economic development in a way that makes a positive impact.
Shiva and Elizabeth Nanda Graduate Scholarship in Economics
Offered annually to students pursuing a graduate degree in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in the Department of Economics, who are in excellent academic standing, have demonstrated academic excellence and show promise of outstanding achievement with particular emphasis on research ability and originality.
2024 - Niloufar Eslah
I graduated with my master's degree from the University of Calgary, and joined SFU’s Department of Economics in the fall of 2024. I am currently a PhD student passionate about pursuing research. Macroeconomics, and economics as a whole, are about studying real life. I enjoy using economic tools in research to uncover the unknown. For me, macroeconomics offers a broader, clearer view of the real world through a wide lens. Following graduation I plan to continue my journey in research, deepening my understanding of the world we live in.