These scholarships are awarded during the spring semester to Economics majors at Purdue University. Selection is primarily based upon academic excellence with some specific eligibility requirements.
Alan Hess Award
This award was created through the generosity of Dr. Alan C. Hess to recognize the outstanding academic performance of top students enrolled in Economic Honors Seminar (ECON499).
2020 Recipient: Charlie Whipple
I am from the suburbs of St. Louis. I love strategic thinking and problems. That, paired with five years of experience with policy debate, drove me to study economics. I am also people-oriented and want a profession where I can directly or indirectly help people. I was originally drawn to Purdue because there was something about the people here that just seemed so welcoming and friendly. After four years, I can definitively say I was right!
While at Purdue, I am the President of the Purdue Economics Association and have been in various leadership positions since its formation during my freshman year. Since joining, I have helped discover and shape the mission and goals of the club. Our meetings consist of discussions and activities with an economics focus, and we also provide professional development and peer networking opportunities. I am confident the club will continue to thrive and grow once I graduate.
I have also been active in Purdue’s orientation program, Boiler Gold Rush. During the weeklong program, we lead new students around campus prior to the start of classes. I've been a Team Leader twice, and last fall, I had the honor of being a Team Supervisor, responsible for training Team Leaders and facilitating the program. It has been the most impactful part of my Purdue journey. I have grown immensely from the experience as it challenges everyone to be more inclusive, vulnerable, and to confront our biases and weaknesses. I have never encountered such passionate, encouraging, and welcoming people before, and I treasure my experiences with them.
I have been fortunate to have interned as a quality control programmer with Cota Enterprises. They work with statistical data from clinical trials and bring it up to FDA standards for review. Last summer, I was a virtual premier college intern at the Air Force Civilian Services. I was in the contracting career field and received training in fair pricing and acquisition regulations. While I'm not considering this as a career, I found the experience very insightful and educational about government work.
In the future, I plan to pursue a PhD in economics, so I added a statistics and math degree to gain more relevant experiences. The two career paths I'm considering are in academia or with the government. I would like to be able to conduct experiments or research using practical applications. I am interested in behavioral economics, game theory, and public policy. Over the past year, due to many uncertainties, I have decided to delay pursuing a graduate degree for a year and instead am looking for research experience and opportunities to expand my skill set.
2019 Recipient: Mateo Morales
Since May 2019, I have served as a junior consultant with Winnovart, a funding advisory firm based in London. I am also a consultant with Purdue Solutions and an undergraduate research assistant with the Purdue University Research Center in Economics. I have participated in the Hispanic / Latinx Possibilities Summit with Goldman Sachs, and have also held an internship in Colombia with Merquellantas.
2019 Recipient: Jacob Townsend
Jacob will graduate in May with a degree in Economics and minors in Political Science and Statistics. Jacob is a Fulbright Semi-finalist, a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society, Purdue Student Government, President of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, Purdue Student Supreme Court President and Executive Board member of SMERF ( School of Management Employers Forum). After graduation Jacob plans to study global development and policy. He would like to help countries understand the economic and social impact of immigration. He would like to develop better processes for immigrant integration that utilize cultural exchange and the arts.