Economics PhD student Wei Zhao recently won a Gamma Alpha Gamma Dissertation Year Fellowship.  She is one of only six winners of any dissertation year fellowship across the University of Missouri.  Her advisor, Dr. Kaplan, wrote a recommendation letter for her application that extolled her dissertation research as well as her teaching and other department service like recruiting/welcoming new PhD students.  Earlier this year, Wei coauthored a paper published at The Econometrics Journal and presented a sole-authored research paper at the Midwest Econometrics Group conference.  Wei has two other research papers that have been or will be soon submitted for journal review.  Wei balances her deep work ethic with a great sense of humor and love of basketball.  Wei is a first-generation college student who grew up in a rural part of China and remits a portion of each paycheck to help support her parents.  The official award letter tells Wei, "You and the other fellowship winners are exceptional students conducting promising dissertation research from disciplines across campus. You should feel proud of the scholarship that you are contributing to your field."