Peter Kennedy Undergraduate Award in Macroeconomics

The Peter Kennedy Undergraduate Award in Macroeconomics (valued at $4,000) is named after the late emeritus professor Peter Kennedy, and recognizes students not only for academic excellence but also for expressing strong interest in a particular macroeconomics-related subject area.

The award was offered between 2016 to 2020. Since its inception, the Peter Kennedy Undergraduate Award in Macroeconomics has been awarded to eight outstanding economics students.

2020 - Ella Rose Fernandez

I am in my fourth year at SFU completing a Joint Major in Business and Economics, and am particularly interested in statistical analysis and taking advantage of technology to generate meaningful findings and visual representations of data. I am also drawn to the subjects of poverty, overpopulation, and the formation of slums, specifically the impact of economic policies on these overcrowded communities. After graduation I hope to use my economic and finance skills gained at SFU to improve the lives of those living under the poverty line around the world.

2020 - Andrew Hicks

When I first studied macroeconomics, it was not my favourite – but as I began to learn more about how an economy dynamically changes over time and responds to shocks and human behaviour, I began to understand how vital macroeconomics is to policy. Of course, SFU’s economic professors helped a lot with that. They challenge us to model and test and truly understand how we think about different economic situations while training us on how to approach these problems and incorporate new insights – suffice to say I am grateful to study here.

As an undergraduate student, I have really enjoyed assisting Dr. Kevin Schnepel and Dr. Anke Kessler in research projects and it has taught me a lot about the research process and improved my research skills. My own interests tend to revolve around policy and include examining how monetary policy’s effectiveness is affected by behavioural factors, recessionary fiscal policy design, and applied microeconomics and development economics. After graduation, I hope to pursue graduate studies in economics to understand more about these fields and how they can shape policy.

2020 - Tanya Kuriyedath

I joined SFU in 2017 as an Economics and Political Science joint major student. I decided to major in these two fields because I hope to develop a well-rounded understanding of the effects of government action on the economy as well as the individual. I am particularly interested in environmental economics and how sustainability and economic growth can occur together. After graduation I hope to contribute to the advocacy for climate action using an economic background.

Past winners

2019: Jordan Hutchings

Jordan Hutchings is a recent honors economics graduate from SFU. He was recruited from Ontario to come play golf on the varsity men’s golf team by the late John Buchanan in 2014. It wasn’t until after taking the Principals of Microeconomics that Jordan learned he had a deep interest in studying economics. Alongside playing on the SFU golf team, Jordan’s main focuses included working as a research assistant for Professor Hendrik Wolff and writing his honours thesis that quantified the impact Yelp ratings have on restaurants. Jordan is currently working at the Bank of Canada within the Canadian Economic Analysis division, and he will be pursuing his M.A. at the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia this fall. His research interests include applied microeconomics, econometrics and environmental economics. Jordan would like to thank his professors, especially his thesis supervisor Professor Shih En Lu, for their constant support throughout his undergraduate experience.

2019: Bryce H. Balanuik

2018: Grace Kim

Fourth year economics student Grace Kim is one of two recipients of the Peter Kennedy Award in macroeconomics. Grace's particular area of interest is in labour economics, and how it is affected by immigration. Coming from an immigrant family herself, Kim is keen to explore the implications of immigration on the economy, and what it means for immigrants to start from the ground up in a new country. In her free time, Kim is a foodie who enjoys trying new, delicious cuisines and restaurant-hopping all over Vancouver.

2018: Tingyu (Kira) Dong

2016: Deven Azevedo

In Memoriam

Peter Kennedy

The late Professor Emeritus Peter Kennedy was an accomplished scholar who taught at SFU's Department of Economics for 40 years and retired in 2008. He was a passionate teacher who received numerous teaching awards. In 1987 he received a 3M National Teaching Fellowship for teaching excellence at the university level, one of only a few SFU professors to have received this prestigious award. He was also an inaugural recipient of the SFU Excellence in Teaching Award in 1983.

Economics