{"id":193021,"date":"2022-12-07T09:05:11","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T14:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=193021"},"modified":"2023-06-27T12:57:52","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T16:57:52","slug":"nair-named-uconns-first-schwarzman-scholar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2022\/12\/nair-named-uconns-first-schwarzman-scholar\/","title":{"rendered":"Nidhi Nair &#8217;23 Named UConn&#8217;s First Schwarzman Scholar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>University of Connecticut undergraduate Nidhi Nair &#8217;23 (CLAS) has been named the first Schwarzman Scholar in the history of the institution.<\/p>\n<p>The vision of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.schwarzmanscholars.org\/\">Schwarzman Scholars<\/a> is to bring together students from around the world to explore and understand the economic, political, and cultural factors that have contributed to China\u2019s increasing importance as a global power, and train them to forge effective links between China and the rest of the world.\u00a0\u00a0The program was established in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Nair is just one of 151 Schwarzman scholars who will study at the Tsinghua University in Beijing in 2022-23 in pursuit of a one-year master\u2019s degree. Nearly 3,000 students applied to the program. The scholars come from 36 countries and 121 universities from around the world.<\/p>\n<p>Nair, an Honors student majoring in economics and mathematics-statistics, grew up in India and now resides in Farmington. She is passionate about boosting socioeconomic mobility through the lens of public economics and educational disparities.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LOiynK2eG2w\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to congratulate Nidhi on being named UConn\u2019s first Schwarzman Scholar,\u201d says UConn President Radenka Maric. \u201cHer dedication and passion for her work in studying economic mobility is to be greatly admired. I also want to thank and recognize all the faculty members who have supported Nidhi in reaching this milestone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Scholars chosen for this highly selective program have demonstrated exemplary leadership qualities and the potential to understand and bridge cultural and political differences. The scholars attend lectures, workshops, and discussion groups; are mentored and advised by leaders across sectors; and travel to develop a better understanding of China.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am looking forward to meeting some of the best leaders from all across the world and am excited to meet people my age who are motivated to be change-makers,\u201d says Nair.\u00a0 \u201cAll the Schwarzman scholars live together in a cohort, and everything is done together so you build strong bonds with everyone in the program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat fascinates me about this program is that it will give me the chance to study economic mobility in both the U.S. and China, as both countries have comparable levels of inequity and immobility.\u00a0 Economic immobility is causing a great deal of resentment and anger that is fueling populism. There is a lot of room for improving economic policy that is more localized to states and communities that is likely to produce positive returns.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nair is the president of the UConn Economics Society and the founder of the Invisible Hand Speaker Series. She has been named a United Nations Millennium Fellow, a Werth Innovator, and a UConn Co-Op Legacy Fellow for her research and advocacy efforts in financial literacy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny time one of our students becomes \u2018the first\u2019 to receive a prestigious award like this, it speaks volumes about their talent, ambition, and commitment, and Nidhi is no exception,\u201d says Vin Moscardelli, Director of UConn\u2019s Office of National Scholarships and Fellowships. \u201cNidhi earned this award based on the remarkable record of research and engagement she has built during her time here at UConn.\u00a0 She also put as much thought and care into her application as any student with whom I\u2019ve ever worked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nair has advocated for economic inclusion at the <a href=\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2021\/11\/cop26-a-uconn-perspective-on-the-climate-change-summit\/\">United Nations COP26 conference<\/a> in Scotland, and is a member of the 2022 Leadership Legacy Cohort.<\/p>\n<p>She has engaged in three research projects at UConn focused on economic history; equity in athletics; and purpose and well-being. Nair has also interned at several research and advocacy organizations like the Brookings Institute, the Cato Institute, and the UC Berkeley Labor Center.<\/p>\n<p>She credits much of her success at UConn to professor of sociology Bradley Wright and professor of economics Richard Langlois, who is her honors advisor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy work as a research assistant in Dr. Wright\u2019s lab on purpose and well-being helped me explore my interest in academic research,\u201d says Nair. \u201cDr. Langlois has also been a source of support and has provided invaluable advice on carving out a strong career in economics that advances my interests in socioeconomic mobility and microeconomic analysis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nair plans to pursue a doctorate in economics in the future and would like to work for the federal government as an economic advisor and conduct policy research.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onsf.uconn.edu\/\">Office of National Scholarships &amp; Fellowships<\/a> (ONSF) at UConn is a resource for students interested in learning more about the Schwarzman Scholarship and other prestigious scholarships and fellowships that support study in all fields. ONSF is part of Enrichment Programs and is open to all graduate and undergraduate students at the University, including students at the regional campuses. For more information about the Schwarzman Scholarship and other prestigious, nationally competitive awards, please visit ONSF at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.onsf.uconn.edu\/\">www.onsf.uconn.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chosen from over 3,000 applicants, the economics major will join 150 fellow scholars in Beijing <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":193024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2275,2429,2226,88,2193,156,2235,2306,2227,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2113],"class_list":["post-193021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-affairs","category-awards-scholarships","category-clas","category-global-affairs","category-hartford-county","category-profile","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-voices","category-uconn-edu-homepage","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-18 05:45:31","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193021"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":193063,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193021\/revisions\/193063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/193024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193021"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=193021"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=193021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}