awards
NARSC
The North American Regional Science Council
THE BENJAMIN H. STEVENS 2009-2010 GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP IN REGIONAL SCIENCE

Graduate students enrolled in Ph.D. programs in North America are encouraged to apply for the Benjamin H. Stevens Graduate Fellowship in Regional Science, administered by the North American Regional Science Council of the Regional Science Association International (NARSC-RSAI). This Fellowship, in support of thesis research in Regional Science, is awarded annually in memory of Dr. Benjamin H. Stevens, an intellectual leader whose selfless devotion to graduate students as teacher, advisor, mentor, and friend had a profound impact on the field. Regional Science is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the theory and method of urban and regional phenomena. Regional Scientists use theoretical frameworks and methods of the social and other sciences, as well as develop new ones specifically for regional analysis and policy.

Eligible students should have completed all degree requirements except for their dissertation by the time the Fellowship commences. A requirement of the Fellowship is that the recipient has no duties other than dissertation research during the Fellowship, though the recipient may hold other fellowships concurrently. Applications from students working in any area or any Ph.D. program are welcome as long as their dissertation research addresses a question in Regional Science.

The Fellowship consists of a stipend in the amount of $28,000 (U.S.), paid over a twelve-month period. Applications for the 2009-2010 Fellowship should be addressed to the selection committee chair, Professor Edward Feser ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) by February 16, 2009. An application consists of the following materials:

1. A curriculum vita of no more than two (2) pages in length.

2. A statement in ten (10) pages or less explaining the questions and issues to be addressed, the approach to be used, and the product expected from the thesis research, preceded by a summary (1-page maximum) describing the intellectual merit of the proposed research, and the broader impacts that may result. The 10-page limit is inclusive of references, but exclusive of tables and figures. This text should be in 12 point or larger font, double-spaced, with one-inch margins; references may be single-spaced.

3. The candidate’s transcripts for all graduate study. Unofficial copies are acceptable.

In addition, the thesis supervisor shall provide a confidential letter sent separately from her/his email account with the student’s name in the subject line to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . In the letter the supervisor should assess the quality and significance of the proposed dissertation research, specify the current state of progress toward the candidate’s degree and provide a commitment by the thesis supervisor to obtain a tuition waiver for the candidate for the year of the Fellowship. A condition of the Fellowship is the granting of a tuition waiver for the year of the Fellowship by the university, or equivalent payment of the student’s tuition.

Applications should be sent by February 16, 2009 to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Questions may also be sent to Professor Feser at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . For information about NARSC, go to http://www.narsc.org/. For information about RSAI, go to http://www.rsai.org.

 

PREVIOUS WINNERS OF THE BENJAMIN H. STEVENS GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP IN REGIONAL SCIENCE

The Fellowship is awarded in memory of Dr. Benjamin H. Stevens, an intellectual leader whose selfless devotion to graduate students as teacher, advisor, mentor, and friend continues to have a profound impact on the field of Regional Science. Fundraising efforts to increase the Fellowship's endowment are ongoing. Donations should be sent to: The Stevens Fellowship Fund, Busey Wealth Management, P.O. Box 260, Champaign, IL 61824-1260 USA. Checks should be drawn to The Stevens Fellowship Fund.

The 2008-09 Stevens Fellowship competition was judged by a selection committee consisting of: Brigitte Waldorf, Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, chair; Edward Coulson, Economics, Penn State University; Edward Feser, Urban and Regional Planning, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Bruce Newbold, Geography and Earth Sciences, McMaster University; and Cynthia Rogers, Economics, University of Oklahoma. The Stevens Fellowship is administered by a committee on behalf of the North American Regional Science Council; David Boyce serves as Secretary and Michael Lahr as Treasurer. The Committee thanks all students who entered the competition this year, as well as their doctoral supervisors. Faculty members at all North American Ph.D. programs are asked to encourage their best students to apply for the Eighth Annual Stevens Graduate Fellowship, which will support the winning student's thesis research in the field of Regional Science for the 2008-2009 year. The application deadline is February 16, 2009.

Paavo Monkkonen, a doctoral student in city and regional planning at the University of California, Berkeley, has been selected as the winner of the Ninth Annual Benjamin H. Stevens Graduate Fellowship in Regional Science. The Fellowship will provide a $27,000, one-year stipend to support Monkkonen in his research entitled, “Mexico’s Emerging Suburbia: Local Impacts of National Housing Finance Policy.” Paavo’s research will assess the impact of the expansion of mortgage lending on three aspects of urban development in Mexico: patterns of urban growth, the segregation and sorting of households, and the planning and regulation of land use. The research will contribute to debates over housing policy and empirically test several theories of urban economics in the context of a developing country. His research is supervised by Professor David E. Dowall of the Department of City and Regional Planning.

Since 2000, the Benjamin H. Stevens Graduate Fellowship in Regional Science has been awarded to the following researchers:

  • 2000 - Michael J. Greenwald (University of California, Irvine; Marlon Boarnet, advisor)
  • 2001 - Rachel Franklin (University of Arizona; Brigitte Waldorf, advisor)
  • 2002 - JungWon Son (University of California-Los Angeles; Leobardo Estrada, advisor)
  • 2003 - Alison Davis Reum (North Carolina State University; V. Kerry Smith, advisor)
  • 2004 - Nicholas Nagle (Univ. of California-Santa Barbara; Stuart H. Sweeney, advisor)
  • 2005 - Xiaokun Wang (University of Texas at Austin; Kara Kockelman, advisor)
  • 2006 - Jushua Drucker (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Harvey Goldstein and Edward Feser, advisors)
  • 2007 - Alvin Murphy (Duke University; Patrick Bayer, advisor)


THE WILLLIAM ALONSO MEMORIAL PRIZE FOR INNOVATIVE WORK IN REGIONAL SCIENCE

The William Alonso Memorial Prize for Innovative Work in Regional Science was established by the Council of RSAI in 1999. The objective of the Prize is to recognize the recent innovative research contribution of Regional Science scholars in the spirit of Dr. William Alonso. The Prize is awarded biennially to one or more scholars who have published innovative academic work (in English language). The First Alonso Prize was awarded to Masahisa Fujita and Paul Krugman in November 2002, the Second Prize to Jacques Francois Thisse in November 2004, and the Third Prize to Luc Anselin and Ann Markusen in November 2006 in Toronto, Ontario.

Announcement for the Fourth Alonso Prize

Nominations Invited:

Any member of RSAI may nominate a scholar who has produced one or more eligible works during the recent past. The nomination will be accompanied by a short statement giving the reasons of nomination as well as the nominated academic work itself. Nomination for the Fourth Alonso Prize should be made on or before May 15, 2007 to any of the members of the Alonso Prize Committee (see below). The awardee for 2008 will be announced in November 2007, and the award will be given in November 2008.

Selection Process of the Award:

Eligibility - Any scholarly work that has been published in a refereed journal or book in the English language in the recent past, regardless of the country of residence of the author or the location of the publisher, is eligible for consideration of the Prize. Publication through the Internet will be considered if there is a refereeing process. A Ph. D. dissertation, before its publication in its entirety or in part in refereed medium, is not eligible. The recent past will be interpreted as the past 3-10 years. Selection is based on the following criteria:

1. Innovativeness - The work introduces an innovative concept or an approach for understanding of human or organizational activity or behavior in space.
2. Expected Impact on Future Academic Development - The extent of the impact the work will likely have on the development of the academic studies in the respective field.
3. Completeness - The work should be completed as an academic work in the sense that meaningful conclusions are derived.

William Alonso Memorial Prize Committee

The selection will be made by the Prize Committee comprising:

Professor Andrew Isserman, Chair, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Professor Luc Anselin, Treasurer, Arizona State University, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Professor Roger Bolton, Williams College, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Professor Amy Glasmeier, Pennsylvania State University, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Professor Kyung-Hwan Kim, Sogan University, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Professor Ann Markusen, University of Minnesota, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Professor Koichi Mera, Secretary, University of Southern California, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

THE DAVID BOYCE AWARD FOR SERVICE TO REGIONAL SCIENCE

This award honors Professor David Boyce, a prominent figure in Regional Science who promoted the Regional Science Association for a number of years and was instrumental in its long term success. The award acknowledges the service contributions that members have made to Regional Science organizations.

Randy has been a tireless supporter and promoter of regional science in his current role as Director of the Regional Research Institute at West Virginia University, and recent service as 2006 Chair of the North American Regional Science Council. In addition to serving as a council member for RSAI, North American Regional Science Council, the Southern and Western Regional Science Associations, Randy has served the Regional Science Association International by establishing and maintaining its primary Internet web site and acted as editor of the Association's Newsletter. His most recent promotion relates to the Regional Science Research Forum, an online forum for those interested in regional science topics and information, and Randy has continued the efforts started by Scott Loveridge on the Web Book of Regional Science. Randy has served on
numerous editorial boards of journals including: Geographical Analysis, Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Papers in Regional Science, International Regional Science Review, Australasian Journal of Regional Science, Journal of Regional Science, and others. He has served on numerous National Science Foundation panels devoted to urban and regional issues, and has been involved in organizing national and international conferences devoted to input-output methodology and practice.

We would like to thank Randall Jackson for his untiring support with the David Boyce Award for distinguished service to regional science.

Past recipients of this prestigious award include the following regional scientists:

 

THE GEOFFREY J. D. HEWINGS AWARD

 At the annual North American Conference of the RSAI, the NARSC Council bestows the Geoffrey J.D. Hewings Award. The award is named in honor of Professor Hewings, who over the years introduced numerous graduate students to regional science and mentored them as young scholars. The award recognizes distinguished contributions to regional science research by scholars who have recently completed doctoral studies.

Past recipients of his prestigious award include the following regional scientists:

 
1995 Brigitte Waldorf
1996 Jean-Claude Thill
1997 Harvey Miller
1998 Serge Rey
1999 Ayse Can Talen and Hesham Abdel Rahman
2000 Maureen Kilkenny
2001 Edward Feser
2002 Philip McCann
2003 Amitrajeet Batabyal
2004 Alan Murray
2005 Diego Puga
2006 Kara Kockelman

 

THE WALTER ISARD AWARD FOR SCHOLARLY ACHIEVEMENT

The Walter Isard Award for Scholarly Achievement is named in honor of Walter Isard, founder of the Regional Science Association. The award was presented at the 1994 North American Regional Science Association meeting by the NARSC Council. The award pays tribute to regional scientists who have made significant theoretical and methodological contributions to the field of regional science throughout their careers.

Past recipients of this presitgious award include the following regional scientists:

1994 Walter Isard
1995 Charles Leven
1996 Ann Markusen and Karen Polenske
1997 Arthur Getis and Peter Nijkamp
1998 Masahisa Fujita and Jean Paelinck
1999 Britton Harris and Tony Smith
2000 John Quigley and Andrei Rogers
2001 Carol Taylor-West
2002 Michael J. Greenwood
2003 Geoffrey J.D. Hewings
2004 Niles Hansen and Harry Richardson
2005 Luc Anselin
2006 Ron Miller and Charles ReVelle

 

THE BENJAMIN H. STEVENS 2008-2009 GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP IN REGIONAL SCIENCE

Graduate students enrolled in Ph.D. programs in North America are encouraged to apply for the Benjamin H. Stevens Graduate Fellowship in Regional Science, administered by the North American Regional Science Council of the Regional Science Association International (NARSC-RSAI). This Fellowship, in support of thesis research in Regional Science, is awarded annually in memory of Dr. Benjamin H. Stevens, an intellectual leader whose selfless devotion to graduate students as teacher, advisor, mentor, and friend had a profound impact on the field. Regional Science is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the theory and method of urban and regional phenomena. Regional Scientists use theoretical frameworks and methods of the social and other sciences, as well as develop new ones specifically for regional analysis and policy.

Eligible students should have completed all degree requirements except for their dissertation by the time the Fellowship commences. A requirement of the Fellowship is that the recipient has no duties other than dissertation research during the Fellowship, though the recipient may hold other fellowships concurrently. Applications from students working in any area or any Ph.D. program are welcome as long as their dissertation research addresses a question in Regional Science.

The Fellowship consists of a stipend in the amount of $27,000 ( U.S.), paid over a twelve-month period. Applications for the 2008-2009 Fellowship should be addressed to the selection committee chair, Professor Brigitte Waldorf (address below), and dated by February 15, 2008. An application consists of five sets (5 sets) of the following materials:

1. A curriculum vita of no more than two (2) pages in length.

2. A statement in ten (10) pages or less explaining the questions and issues to be addressed, the approach to be used, and the product expected from the thesis research, preceded by a summary (1-page maximum) describing the intellectual merit of the proposed research, and the broader impacts that may result. The 10-page limit is inclusive of references, but exclusive of tables and figures. This text should be in 12 point or larger font, double-spaced, with one-inch margins; references may be single-spaced.

3. The candidate’s transcripts for all graduate study. Unofficial copies are acceptable.

In addition, the thesis supervisor needs to provide a confidential letter (plus four copies), sealed in one envelope and signed across the seal, to be mailed with the application. In the letter the supervisor should assess the quality and significance of the proposed dissertation research, specify the current state of progress toward the candidate’s degree and provide a commitment by the thesis supervisor to obtain a tuition waiver for the candidate for the year of the Fellowship. A condition of the Fellowship is the granting of a tuition waiver for the year of the Fellowship by the university, or equivalent payment of the student’s tuition.

Applications should be mailed by February 15, 2008 to: Professor Brigitte Waldorf, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, 403 W. State St., West Lafayette, IN 47907-2056. Applicants are strongly encouraged to send an e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it when they post their materials. Questions may also be sent to: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . For information about NARSC, go to http://www.narsc.org/. For information about RSAI, go to http://www.rsai.org.

THE BENJAMIN H. STEVENS GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP IN REGIONAL SCIENCE - PREVIOUS WINNERS

The Fellowship is awarded in memory of Dr. Benjamin H. Stevens, an intellectual leader whose selfless devotion to graduate students as teacher, advisor, mentor, and friend continues to have a profound impact on the field of Regional Science. Fundraising efforts to increase the Fellowship's endowment are ongoing. Donations should be sent to: The Stevens Fellowship Fund, First Busey Trust and Investment Company, P.O. Box 3309, Champaign, IL 61826-3309 USA. Checks should be drawn to The Stevens Fellowship Fund. The 2007-08 Stevens Fellowship competition was judged by a selection committee consisting of: Bruce Newbold, Geography and Earth Sciences, McMaster University, chair; Edward Coulson, Economics, Penn State University; Edward Feser, Urban and Regional Planning, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Janice Madden, Sociology, University of Pennsylvania; and Brigitte Waldorf, Agricultural Economics, Purdue University . The Stevens Fellowship is administered by a committee on behalf of the North American Regional Science Council; David Boyce serves as Secretary and Michael Lahr as Treasurer. The Committee thanks all students who entered the competition this year, as well as their doctoral supervisors. Faculty members at all North American Ph.D. programs are asked to encourage their best students to apply for the Eighth Annual Stevens Graduate Fellowship, which will support the winning student's thesis research in the field of Regional Science for the 2008-2009 year. The application deadline is February 15, 2008. Full submission guidelines may be found at http://209.200.67.135/narsc/bapp.html.

Alvin Murphy, a doctoral student in economics at Duke University, has been selected as the winner of the eighth annual Benjamin H. Stevens Graduate Fellowship in Regional Science. The Fellowship will provide a $26,000, one-year stipend to support Murphy in his research on housing market dynamics from the perspective of both builders and households. Entitled, “Housing Supply: A Dynamic Model of Construction and Sales in the Bay Area,” the research will contribute to the understanding of neighborhood choice among home buyers as well as providing methodological contributions in the analysis of neighborhood choice. His research is supervised by Associate Professor Patrick Bayer of the Department of Economics at Duke.

Since 2000, the Benjamin H. Stevens Graduate Fellowship in Regional Science has been awarded to the following researchers:

  • 2000 - Michael J. Greenwald (University of California, Irvine; Marlon Boarnet, advisor)
  • 2001 - Rachel Franklin (University of Arizona; Brigitte Waldorf, advisor)
  • 2002 - JungWon Son (University of California-Los Angeles; Leobardo Estrada, advisor)
  • 2003 - Alison Davis (North Carolina State University; V. Kerry Smith, advisor)
  • 2004 - Nicholas Nagle (Univ. of California-Santa Barbara; Stuart H. Sweeney, advisor)
  • 2005 - Xiaokun Wang (University of Texas at Austin; Kara Kockelman, advisor)
  • 2006 - Joshua Drucker (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Harvey Goldstein and Edward Feser, advisors)
  • 2007 - Alvin Murphy ( Duke University; Patrick Bayer, advisor)
NARSC Graduate Student Paper Award

The North American Regional Science Council (NARSC) is pleased to announce the finalists and winners of the first NARSC Graduate Student Paper Award contest. Results of the competition were announced at the 2006 annual North American meetings of RSAI held in Toronto, Ontario. Seventeen papers entered the contest and the following six finalists were selected by the review panels: Akio Kawazaki, Hua Kiefer, Thomas Light, Steven Poelhekke, Mauricio Ramirez-Grajeda, Brenda Zhou,  The winners of the 2006 competition are Thomas Light (Cornell University) and Steven Poelhekke (European University Institute). Winners and finalists received cash and in-kind prizes.  Stay tuned for information on the 2007 competition.