Krannert alumnus named the 2018 recipient of the Vernon L. Smith Ascending Scholar Prize

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

The chairman, directors, and officers of the International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economics take pleasure in announcing Dr. Roman Sheremeta, Department of Economics, Case Western Reserve University, as the 2018 recipient of the Vernon L. Smith Ascending Scholar Prize.

Sheremeta earned both his MS and PhD in economics at Purdue University's Krannert School of Management, where Smith also began his teaching career.

Named after Nobel Laureate Vernon L. Smith and made possible through the generosity of the Rasmuson Foundation and other contributors, the Smith Prize seeks to inspire early-career scholars to emulate Dr. Smith’s joyous zeal for scientific discovery. Set this year at $50,000, the Smith Prize is a “budding genius” award that recipients may use flexibly to advance social science in whatever manner they choose.

To many, Vernon L. Smith’s career epitomizes success as a social scientist. That career bespeaks commitment to exploring theoretical foundations in economics, social science, and science generally; quantifiable impacts in transforming economics into an experimental and more empirical discipline; collegiality in funding, mentoring, and collaborating with fellow scholars; and curiosity in looking beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries in search of truth. The Smith Prize hopes to inspire recipients, early in their careers, to set lofty goals for themselves as social-science theorists, practitioners, colleagues, mentors, and truth seekers.

Dr. Sheremeta’s prolific and influential scholarship have marked him as an exceptional early-career scholar. His research into behavior in contests and tournaments has broad application to promotion tournaments, R&D, patent races, military strategy, sports, and political campaigns. Dr. Sheremeta’s pioneering work has encouraged other social scientists to study tournaments and contests to the point that this topic is now mainstream within the field of experimental economics.

The “joy of winning” is among the many aspects of behavior that Dr. Sheremeta has studied. The International Foundation for Research in Experimental Economics takes joy in congratulating Dr. Sheremeta and looks forward to following his career in the years to come.