NEWS

Graduate Student receives prestigious Dissertation Fellowship

April, 2009

Zhe Li, one of our graduate students has been awarded one of the prestigious Dissertation Fellowships, by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. This center, funded by the Social Security Administration to foster policy relevant work on retirement and social insurance programs, has historically supported the most promising young researchers in this area.

"This is a great success for Zhe Li, and our graduate program,'' says Zhe Li's co-advisor, professor Hugo Benitez-Silva, who received a Sandell Grant from the CRR in his first year as an assistant professor, and was the advisor of another graduate student, Na Yin, who received this honor two years ago and who is now an assistant professor at Baruch-College. "This kind of grants has usually been reserved for students coming from departments at top 10 institutions or those directly affiliated with the Center. We broke that ceiling two years ago with Na, and thanks to Zhe's research efforts we have done it again. We are very excited about the Center's decision to support Zhe's work on private pensions, at a time when good ideas need all our attention and support. There is little doubt Zhe's work will prove useful in many dimensions for practioners and the society." continues Zhe Li's advisor. Professor Benitez-Silva, who is also the Director of Graduate Studies of the Department of Economics, also argued that "This again comes to show that our graduate students are competitive at the highest level, and that this is a great department for students looking to be exposed to the latest research and the best oppportunities our country has to offer."