THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Student Awards
Every year, MAPSS students win awards for outstanding research.
The Johnson Thesis Prize
The Earl S. and Esther Johnson Thesis Prize is awarded annually to the MAPSS student whose MA paper best combines high scholarly achievement with concern for humanistic aspirations and the practical applications of the Social Sciences. The prize was established in the memory of Earl S. Johnson, who served as chair of the program from 1944 to 1959.
Students who earn an A on their thesis from both their primary reader and preceptor are automatically considered for the prize.
Recent Winners:
2026 | Bingjie Hsieh, “Global Babies, Local Science–Transnational Reproductive Migration for Lesbian Families in Taiwan.”
2026 | Abdulaziz AlHothi, “Through Moral Lens: How Moral Convictions Influence Visual Attention and Deliberation.”
2026 | Nikola Stamenković Diez, “Feeling Like a Problem Body: Affective Ontologies, Brownness, and the Racialized Spectacle of U.S. Immigration Law.”
2026 | Elena Tiedens, “The Nuclear Icebreaker at the Top of the World: ‘Infrastructural Repurposing’ in the Russian Arctic.”
2025 | Stayce Camparo, “Who is Responsible for My Child’s School-Readiness? Parental Educational Efficacy Shapes Kindergarten Preparedness in the Home.”
2024 | Katherine Shah, “Traversing the City: Examining the Impacts of Extended Commute on Student Wellbeing & High School Experience in Chicago.”
2023 | Keshav Kundassery, “Biopolitical Revival: Love, Care, and Subject (Re)formation Inside the Chicago Recovery Alliance.”
2023 | Mike (Youchuan) Ma, “The Effects of Bilingual Experience on the Development of Executive Function in Early Childhood.”
The Fogelson Thesis Prize
The Raymond D. Fogelson Thesis Prize annually honors the best MAPSS thesis in the ethnological and historical sciences. The prize was established in honor of Raymond D. Fogelson, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology and the College and longtime stalwart of MAPSS governance and program development.
Students who earn an A on their thesis from both their primary reader and preceptor are automatically considered for the prize.
Recent Winners:
2026 | Tian Jin, “Two-Sided Marriage: Intergenerational Bilateralism and Egalitarian Family Practices in China.”
2026 | Zachary Wallis, “Metabolic Explosion, Settler Colonialism, and the Ambivalence of Ecology in Pākehā New Zealand, 1868–1899.”
2025 | Maya Vasdani, “‘We Deserve to Have Our Bodies Repaired:’ ‘Mommy Makeovers’ and the Pathologized Postpartum Body.”
2024 | Bek Erl, “Develop, Heal, Sustain, Decolonize: Indigeneity and Environmental Justice.”
2024 Honorable Mention | Cristian Quiroga, “Co-opting the Countryside: Comparing Campesino-Government Relations in Postrevolutionary Mexico and Bolivia.”
2023 | Annika Hirkme, “Building in Process: Environmental Design in Montana.”
The MAPSS-QMSA Thesis Prize
This thesis prize is awarded annually to two MAPSS-QMSA students by the Committee on Quantitative Methods in Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences.
Recent Winners:
2026 | Eira Boralkar, “Public Attention Elasticity to Air Pollution in Toronto.”
2026 | Freya Mao, “Large Language Models in Financial Accounting Research: Measuring Firm Fundamentals from Narrative Disclosures.”
2025 | Ruhi Baichwal, “Characterizing Effect Heterogeneity in Multi-Site Trials: An Application to the Evaluation of Charter Schools”
2025 | Lu Tong, “Status in Motion: How Visa Transitions Shape Public Attitudes Toward Migrants”
2024 | Jack Vasilopoulos, “A Comprehensive Examination of Public and Private Risk Measures for Distinct Commercial Real Estate Asset Classes: Insights from Mixed-Effects Regressions”
2024 | Yuhan Chen, “Exploring the Associations of Being Exposed to Positive and Negative Body Talk with Self-Objectification, Appearance Comparison, Body Appreciation, and Emotion Status: Application of a Location-Scale Mixed Model”
The MAPSS Capstone Prize
This prize is awarded to MAPSS capstone students in recognition of outstanding scholarly achievement in quantitative, qualitative, or applied social science research.
MAPSS students graduating in Spring and Summer 2026 were the first cohort eligible for the capstone prize.
Winner:
2026 | Emerson Jeffery, “Born or Made: More-Than-Human Becomings with Pottery.”
Stone Center Thesis Award in the Social Sciences
This award, given by the Stone Center for Research on Wealth Inequality and Mobility at the Harris School of Public Policy, recognizes exceptional scholarly achievement of graduate students at the University of Chicago who conducted empirical social science research on inequality in cross-cultural or U.S. contexts.
Recent Winners from MAPSS:
2026 | William Penne, "Shaping the Field of Contestation: Institutional Alignment and Governance in the Hyperscale Data Center Industry."
2025 | Watson Lubin, “Teaching Beyond the Screen: How Do Teachers Combat Online Misogyny Amongst Adolescent Boys?”
2024 | Maggie Rivera, “Sanctuary in the Schoolyard? The Case of the Wadsworth Migrant Shelter”
2024 | Joseph Spada, “Employment Effects of Minimum Wage Increases: Evidence from New Jersey”
The CEAS M.A. Prize in Japan Studies
This prize is supported by the CEAS Committee on Japanese Studies to showcase the high caliber of master’s work at the University of Chicago related to Japan.
Recent Winners from MAPSS:
2025 | Takanori Kashino, “Trust Broken, Logic Switched: Sexual Harassment and the Strategic Shift in Rationality for Entrepreneurs”