Carnegie Mellon University

Tepper Quad

April 07, 2025

Tepper School Honors Exceptional Doctoral Students at 2025 Awards Ceremony

By Leah Schmidt

Caitlin Kizielewicz

Each year, the Tepper School of Business recognizes the achievements of its doctoral students whose work reflects the rigor and innovation at the core of the school’s mission. At this year’s Ph.D. Awards Ceremony—held in the PNC Rooms of the Tepper Quad—top honors were awarded across disciplines for research that is shaping the frontiers of knowledge.

The Tepper School congratulates all award recipients for their exceptional achievements and continued contributions to research and scholarship!

Egon Balas Award for Best Student Paper in Operations Research/ACO

Sebastián Vásquez Llorente was selected for his paper, “Mixed-Integer Bilevel Programs with Multiple Noncooperative Followers.” Established in 2004, the award honors the legacy of Egon Balas (1922–2019), a trailblazer in operations research and long-time faculty member at the Tepper School from 1967–2019 holding the Thomas Lord Professor of Operations Research chair.

Award Committee: Karan Singh (Chair), Emily Diana

Dipankar and Sharmila Chakravarti Doctoral Fellowship Award in Recognition of Outstanding Contributions to Research to Marketing

Liying Qiu was recognized for outstanding contributions to research in marketing. The award, established in 2014, is endowed by Tepper School Ph.D. alumnus Dipankar Chakravarti (Ph.D. ’79) and Sharmila Chakravarti.

Award Committee: Tim Derdenger (Chair), Alan Montgomery

Paul S. Goodman Doctoral Dissertation Award

Jenny Oh received the Goodman Award, which honors excellence in organizational behavior and theory. Established in 2016, the award commemorates Paul S. Goodman (1937–2012), a scholar, author, and filmmaker who held the Richard M. Cyert Professorship of Organizational Psychology at the Tepper School.

Award Committee: Denise Rousseau (Chair), Gerard Beenen, Rangaraj Ramanujam

Alexander Henderson Award for Excellence in Economic Theory

Nicholas C. Hoffman was honored with this prestigious award, established in 1954 in memory of Alexander Henderson. The fellowship recognizes exceptional research in economic theory. Four past recipients of this award have gone on to receive the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Award Committee: Stephen Spear, Laurence Ales, Ali Shourideh, Ariel Zetlin-Jones

Carnegie Mellon Presidential Fellowships, 2024–25

The Presidential Fellowship program at Carnegie Mellon University was established by then-President Subra Suresh in 2014 to provide one year of financial support to doctoral students who have contributed an impactful body of work to their field of research.

Tepper School recipients for the 2024–25 academic year include:

  • Henry J. Gailliot Presidential Fellowship: Liying Qiu, 5th Year, Business Technologies
  • Presidential Fellowship in the Tepper School of Business: Aidin Niaparast, 4th Year, Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization
  • Tata Consultancy Services [TCS] Presidential Fellowship: Behnam Mohammadi, 6th Year, Marketing
  • Paul and James W. Wang – Sercomm Presidential Graduate Fellowship: Xiaohang (Flora) Feng, 5th Year, Marketing

Liying Qiu

Liying Qiu

Aidin Niaparast

Aidin Niaparast

Behnam Mohammadi

Behnam Mohammadi

Xiaohang (Flora) Feng

Xiaohang (Flora) Feng