The Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences (CSSS) Awards 2022-2023 Blalock Fellowship to Four Outstanding PhD students

SEATTLE, WA – The Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences (CSSS) is proud to present the four deserving PhD students from the University of Washington (UW) who were awarded the Blalock Fellowship for the academic year 2022-2023.

Since 2001, the Blalock Fellowship has been awarded to over 50 incoming PhD candidates from a diverse range of departments at UW, including Anthropology, Geography, Nursing, Political Science, Sociology, and Social Work. Blalock Fellows are selected based on their passion for cutting-edge quantitative research in their respective fields within the CSSS tracks and their potential for exceptional teaching careers in quantitative social sciences.

The recipients of this year's award are Elizabeth Tong, Mark Nepf, Zachary Brown, and Juejue Wang.

Elizabeth Tong is a PhD candidate at the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance and is interested in U.S. urban policy and equitable climate adaptation. She has a bachelor’s degree in economics and computer science from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and has several years of experience as a research assistant at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Mark Nepf is also a PhD candidate at the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance. He has a bachelor’s degree in environmental policy and economics and a master’s degree in Marine Science. Before coming to UW, Mark was an ORISE Research Fellow at the US Environmental Protection Agency in Washington D.C.

Zachary Brown is a PhD candidate at the Department of Sociology. He holds a bachelor’s in Criminal Justice from Michigan State University and worked as a research analyst at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Juejue Wang is a PhD candidate at the Department of Statistics. She has taken courses and conducted research at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor for the past three years, first as an undergraduate and then as a master’s student in applied statistics.

“We are thrilled to welcome these four exceptional PhD students to the UW CSSS community where we are sure they can deepen and expand their interests in quantitative research in the social sciences through CSSS seminars, courses and other activities” said the CSSS Director, Elena Erosheva.

The CSSS congratulates this year’s Blalock Fellowship recipients and looks forward to their continued success in their research and teaching careers.

For more information, please contact CSSS Graduate Chair, Professor Adrian Dobra.