Fourth-year wins prestigious honor for international economics research

A fourth-year in the College has been given one of the country’s most prestigious honors for undergraduate economics research.

Kenneth Ward, an economics and mathematics concentrator, has been named one of the top three contributors to Georgetown University’s 2004 Carroll Round, a conference devoted to spotlighting undergraduate research in international economics and policy.

Ward delivered his winning paper, “Toward a General Theory on the Existence of Pure and Mixed Strategy Nash Equilibria,” at the April conference, which is sponsored by Georgetown’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Though only in its third year, the Carroll Round has emerged as one of the nation’s leading forums for undergraduate economists. Ward, whose paper is closely related to Nobel laureate John Nash’s 1950 work, was introduced by Nash himself. “It was obviously a tremendous honor,” said Ward, “to be introduced by Dr. Nash and to have a chance to talk about my work in front of this group of people.”

Ward has been interested in Nash’s work since taking a seminar at the University of Minnesota during his senior year of high school. Even as a high school student, Ward said, he recognized that the existence of the Nash equilibria had an astounding range of applications. At Chicago, he continued to develop an interest in Nash’s work.

Spurred in large part by conversations with Philip Reny, Professor in Economics and the College, Ward wrote several papers on solution concepts explored in Nash’s earlier work. But Ward had no intention of submitting a paper to the Carroll conference until this February. “Like many results in math and economics, sometimes good ideas just happen,” said Ward, “and you have no choice but to write them down.”

Ward worked rapidly on the idea and submitted his paper earlier last month. The Carroll honor, however, was not solely based on the quality of his paper. He also was evaluated on his ability to communicate his research verbally and to manage a discussion of the work.

Based on his paper and presentation, Ward was selected by a panel of faculty and students as one of the conference’s top three contributors. Receiving an award for his presentation skills was particularly meaningful to him.

“People have become excited about my work,” said Ward, “and if I can get people excited about my work, I’ve done my job because ultimately my goal is to teach.”

Next year, Ward will begin a Ph.D. program in Economics at the University, and he plans to focus on mathematical economics, and auction and contract theory.

“Ken’s a highly motivated, enthusiastic student,” said Reny, his adviser. “He’s been a pleasure to advise, and we look forward to having him as an incoming graduate student in Economics next fall.”

Ward said he believes this honor reflects an exciting time for young economists. “I think that my receiving this award is a testament that there are many fields in economics that are ready to explode with new ideas.”

Ward will give a talk on his paper’s subject at 1 p.m. Friday, May 14, in the Social Sciences Tea Room, 1126 E. 59th St.