A current MFE student and a student who recently completed the program were recognized with awards at the 2024 Berkowitz Lecture on March 7th.
Joseph Hunter won the Varouj Aivazian Award. The award is named for Professor Aivazian, a former director of the MFE program, who teaches Economics at all three of the university’s campuses. The prize has been awarded to the first-year MFE student with the highest academic performance in the fall term since 2014. The 2024 winner is Joseph Hunter who is currently completing his internship with Sales and Trading at BMO Capital Markets.
“Joseph is the only person in his cohort that has earned a perfect 4.0 cGPA with 5 A+ grades to his name,” said Jeff Ferrer, Assistant Director of the MFE program.
“It’s such an honour to receive this award and to be recognized here at the Berkowitz Lecture,” Hunter said. “Thinking back to a year ago when I was accepted into the MFE program, I had no idea this would happen. It’s been hard work, but I expected to put in the time when doing a program like the MFE.”
Doris (Jiayuan) Pan won the Michael Berkowitz Prize given to the graduating MFE student with the highest academic standing. The award was endowed by members of the Berkowitz family and colleagues of the late Professor, a former chair of the Department of Economics and founder of the MFE program.
“Doris was a standout member of her cohort, always there to lend a hand to her peers in math and econometrics,” said Professor Jordi Mondria, Director of the MFE program. “Her positive attitude made learning fun for everyone. Professors often praised her for her intelligence and active participation in class.”
Priority-setting and time management are the two skills Doris brought to the program that helped her achieve so much.
“Identify the most important tasks and deadlines, and make plan to tackle them first,” Pan advised incoming students.
Pan also won the Varouj Aivazian Award in her first year. She completed the program in December 2023 with a perfect 4.0 cGPA all five semesters and interned with iA Financial Group on their Asset Allocation team during the program. She will be joining the group as an analyst. Her team is focused on asset allocation in the investment department.
“The greatest rewards I experienced from the MFE program are the training to develop professional skills and opportunities to expand my network,” Pan remembered. “I made connections that can open doors to future career opportunities and collaborations. Meanwhile, attending professors lectures provided profound insights into the field of finance.”
Return to the Department of Economics website.
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