The American Economic Association is proud to announce the recipients of the following honors and awards who were recognized at the AEA award ceremonies held during the 2026 ASSA Meeting.

AEA Distinguished Service Award

The recipient of the 2025 AEA Distinguished Service Award is Elizabeth Asiedu, Howard University, for her significant contributions to economics through numerous leadership roles. Fellow economists have praised her scholarship and impactful, enduring work to mentor young researchers from underserved groups. Much of this work has taken place through the Association for the Advancement of African Women Economists (AAAWE), which Dr. Asiedu founded in 2012 using her own resources. Visit https://www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/honors-awards/distinguished-service-award for more information.

AEA Distinguished Economic Education Award

The recipient of the 2025 AEA Distinguished Economic Education Award is KimMarie McGoldrick, University of Richmond. Professor McGoldrick’s three decades of work have shaped the scholarship, practice, and leadership of economic education. She is a prolific and award-winning scholar and teacher, recognized nationally for excellence in research, undergraduate teaching, and faculty mentoring. Visit https://www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/honors-awards/distinguished-economic-education-award for more information.

Committee on the Status of Minority Groups in the Economics Profession Awards

The 2025 Departmental Seed Grant for Innovation in Diversity and Inclusion was awarded to Syracuse University, Department of Economics. The department proposed the establishment of the Research Advancement & Impact in Syracuse Economics (RAISE) program—an initiative designed to broaden participation in the economics profession by providing structured, supported, and financially accessible research experiences to low-income and first-generation undergraduate students. For more information, visit https://www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/committees/csmgep/diversity-initiatives/dept-seed-grants.

The 2025 Professional Development Grant for URM Faculty was awarded to Muhammad Usman Taj from Midlands Technical College, whose research examines labor market dynamics through the lens of supply, demand, and market equilibrium, with a particular focus on reservation wages and how they are influenced by macroeconomic conditions, labor market structures, and policy interventions. The $2,000 grant is awarded to a junior economist based on an essay about how their research relates to economics education. For more information, visit https://www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/committees/csmgep/diversity-initiatives/urm-professional-development-grant.

The 2025 Andrew Brimmer Undergraduate Essay Prize winner is Risav Ganguly at Howard University. His essay, “The Suppressed Counter-Narrative: From Du Bois’s 1901 Economic Indictment to Modern Reparations,” provides a valuable discussion of the suppression of Du Bois’s 1901 study of sharecropping in Lowndes, the strong links of Du Bois’s ideas to modern stratification economics, and our updated understanding of the persistence of U.S. racial economic gaps. For more information about the essay prize, visit https://www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/honors-awards/brimmer-undergrad-essay-prize.

Committee on the Status of LGBTQ+ Individuals in the Economics Profession Award

The recipients of the 2025 CSQIEP Award for Outstanding Research Paper in LGBTQ+ Economics are Christopher S. Carpenter, Vanderbilt University, Donn Feir, University of Victoria, Krishna Pendakur, Simon Fraser University, and Casey Warman, Dalhousie University, for their paper entitled “Nonbinary and Transgender Identities and Earnings: Evidence from a National Census,” forthcoming in the American Economic Review: Insights. The authors used newly available data from the 2021 Canadian Census to provide new evidence on earnings disparities for transgender and nonbinary people. This award is given for the best published economics research paper in LGBTQ+ Economics. For more information, visit https://www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/committees/aealgbtq/csqiep-award.

Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession Awards

The 2025 Carolyn Shaw Bell Award recipient is Donna Ginther, University of Kansas. A leading scholar of labor economics, science policy, and inequality, Professor Ginther’s influential research has reshaped understanding of gender, race, and career dynamics in economics and STEM, informing policy debates and institutional change. She has provided distinguished leadership and service to CSWEP, the AEA, and other national bodies, including evaluative work demonstrating the effectiveness of structured mentoring through CSWEP’s CeMENT workshops. Widely respected as a mentor and advocate, Professor Ginther has advanced the profession through sustained guidance, sponsorship, and service that bridges rigorous research with policy and practice. For more information about the Carolyn Shaw Bell Award and for the full prize announcement, visit https://www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/committees/cswep/awards/bell.

The recipient of the 2025 Elaine Bennett Research Prize is Mira Frick, Princeton University. Professor Frick is a microeconomic theorist whose research advances understanding of how economic agents acquire, process, and use information, with a particular focus on decision-making and learning under model misspecification. The theoretical models that she has developed are able to capture important elements in real-world data and speak to ongoing empirical debates, emphasizing the empirical relevance of theory. Her research highlights the importance of dynamics in linking theoretical work to empirical evidence. For more information about the Elaine Bennett Research Prize and for the full prize announcement, visit https://www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/committees/cswep/awards/bennett.

The inaugural 2025 Janet L. Yellen Award for Excellence in Public Service was awarded to Janet Yellen, Professor Emerita at University of California, Berkeley, in recognition of her trailblazing career and lasting impact on the economics profession. The award honors leadership that advances the public good through service in government, university administration, or the private sector, and recognizes contributions that extend beyond scholarly research. For more information on this award, visit https://www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/committees/cswep/awards/yellen.

Spring Awards Recognized

In addition to the above awards, the 2025 John Bates Clark Medalist Stefanie Stantcheva; Distinguished Fellows Susan M. Collins, Barbara M. Fraumeni, Joseph P. Newhouse, and Timothy Taylor; and the AEJ Best Paper Award winners were recognized. These awards were announced in April as part of the Spring awards cycle. Visit https://www.aeaweb.org/news/press-release-awards-2025 for the announcement of these awards.

Please join the AEA in congratulating all these winners for their contributions to the economics profession. To view the 2026 AEA Awards ceremonies, visit 2026 AEA Excellence Awards and AEA 2026 Awards Ceremony. For more information on these awards and others, visit https://www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/honors-awards.