The Order of Merit is awarded annually to approximately 2% of the Social Sciences graduating class. Students are recognized for their academic excellence, original research, leadership activities, and service contributions to the School of Social Sciences, UCI campus, or community. We are especially pleased that this marks our 39th year in which we can honor our very best and most accomplished students. Also receiving special recognition are 19 students honored with individual scholarships and awards.

ORDER OF MERIT

Nicole Barajas
Chicano/Latino Studies and Political Science

Yailin Cervantes Rios
Psychology

Hong (Ariel) Chan
Sociology

Dean Choi
Psychology

Erin Conghuyen
Psychology

Karyssa Courey
Psychology

Adrian Devoe
Psychology

Quang Binh Duong
Political Science and Economics

Madeleine Gam
International Studies and Political Science

Daisy Hernandez
Political Science

Andy Huynh
Language Science

Natasha Jain-Poster
International Studies and Spanish

Yu Jin
Business Economics

Mackenzie Kephart
Cognitive Sciences

Julia Kim
Social Policy & Public Service and Education Sciences

Rachel Lee
Political Science

Haohan Liu
Quantitative Economics and Mathematics

Tingyao Liu
Social Policy & Public Service

Angie Lo
Sociology and Political Science

Wenjun Luo
Business Economics

Phuong Linh Nguyen
Business Economics

Siyi Peng
Business Economics and Psychology

Victoria Perez
Chicano/Latino Studies and Sociology

Phillip Pham
Business Economics

Meredyth Pray
Social Policy & Public Service

Iris Reyes
Sociology and Psychology

Victoria (Zhiqi) Rong
Business Economics, Business Administration and Informatics

Cesar Rosales
Language Science and Psychology

Haowen Rui
Economics and Mathematics

Reema Saad
Sociology and Political Science

Mikayla Scott
Psychology

Annette Skowron
International Studies

Shelby Smith
Social Policy & Public Service

Audrey Sugimoto
Language Science

Yidan Sun
Business Economics

Serena Teolis   
Political Science and Criminology, Law & Society

Vanessa Torres
Chicano/Latino Studies

Bethany Urbano
Political Science and Education Sciences

Yijia Wang       
Quantitative Economics

Tian Wang
Economics and Art

Rui Zhang
Psychology

Yiheng Zhang   
Business Economics

Yao Zhao         
Psychology 

UNDERGRADUATE AWARDS

Quang Duong, Political Science and Economics
Recipient of the Alice B. Macy Outstanding Undergraduate Paper Award
“Limited Arenas and Political Immobility in the Israel-Palestine Conflict”

Mackenzie Kephart, Cognitive Sciences
Recipient of the School of Social Sciences Outstanding Honors Thesis Award
“Research Unlocks Doors: Bayesian Cognitive Modeling of Metaphor”

Vanessa N. Torres, Chicano/Latino Studies
Caesar D. Sereseres Award

Joshua Swank, Political Science
Recipient of the Elena B. and William R. Schonfeld Scholarship

Alicia Drevdahl, International Studies
David Sanusi, International Studies
Recipient of the David Rosten International Education & Community Service Scholarship

Yara Bojorquez, International Studies and Political Science
Francesca Nicole Sassoon, Psychology
Recipient of the Outstanding Community College Transfer Student Scholarship

Melissa Jimenez, Sociology
Recipient of the School of Social Sciences Alumni Academic Excellence Scholarship

Camille Edwards, Sociology and Political Science
Michelle Wei, Social Policy & Public Service and Education Science
Black Lives Matter Scholarship

GRADUATE AWARDS

Mark Hup, Economics Ph.D. Student
Recipient of the Charles A. Lave Paper Prize Award
“Labor Coercion and Trade: Evidence from Colonial Indonesia”

Neak Loucks, Anthropology Ph.D. Student
Outstanding Service

Aydin Mohseni, Logic & Philosophy of Science Ph.D. Student
Pin-Chun Chen, Cognitive Sciences Ph.D. Student
Outstanding Scholarship

Nathan Chan, Political Science Ph.D. Student
Kathy Alberti Prize

Daniel Firoozi, Economics Ph.D. Student
Katelyn Malae. Sociology Ph.D. Student
Kimball Romney Award

Aaron Tester, Sociology Ph.D. Student
Etel Solingen Award for Outstanding Paper in International Relations