Faculty

Robert Merton has received MIT’s 2021-2022 James R. Killian, Jr. Faculty Achievement Award, which recognizes “extraordinary professional achievement by MIT faculty members” and is MIT’s highest faculty honor.

As “one of the founding architects of modern finance theory,” Merton’s work has “become an integral part of the global financial system”; the Killian Award citation notes his “profound commitment to innovation through scientific research and to advancing pedagogy in financial economics, as well as to serving as a highly valued mentor to graduate students and junior colleagues.” As the 2021-2022 Killian Award Lecturer, Merton will share about his professional activities and accomplishments with the MIT community.

More details on Merton’s receiving the award and on his career achievements can be found in this MIT News article.

 Leonid Kogan has won the NASDAQ Award from the Western Finance Association for the best paper on asset pricing.  Kogan’s winning paper, co-authored with Winston Dou (Wharton) and Wei Wu (Texas A&M), is entitled, “Common Fund Flows: Flow Hedging and Factor Pricing.”

S.P. Kothari is the recipient of a 2020 Padma Shri Award, one of the highest civilian honors offered by the Government of India for distinguished service in any field. Kothari’s Padma Shri Award (the fourth-highest civilian award in the country) is in the field of “Literature and Education,” and the citation notes “his valuable contribution in the fields of finance and academia.” Kothari is currently on leave from MIT Sloan, serving since March of last year as Chief Economist and Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

S.P. Kothari, the Gordon Y Billard Professor of Accounting and Finance and MIT Sloan former Deputy Dean, has been appointed Chief Economist and Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Read more about his appointment here.

Kristin Forbes and Simon Johnson have recently been appointed to the Congressional Budget Office's Panel of Economic Advisers. The Congressional Budget Office is the non-partisan organization that provides the formal analysis for Congress -- most importantly the estimates of the costs of different proposals that are then used as inputs for proposed legislation and the Congressional budget process.

Kristin Forbes was named a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a nonpartisan and independent national membership organization, think tank, and publisher. The CFR is dedicated to being a resource for policymakers and interested citizens to help them better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries.

Kristin Forbes has been named by Governor Deval Patrick as a member of the Governor's Council of Economic Advisors.

Kristin Forbes has received a Bicentennial Medal from Williams College. The award is given to a small number of alumni each year for distinguished achievement in their fields.

"The Trilateral Commission is a non-governmental, policy-oriented discussion group of about 350 distinguished citizens from Western Europe, North America and Pacific Asia formed to encourage mutual understanding and closer cooperation among these three regions on common problems."

Leonid Kogan has won the 2014 Amundi Smith Breeden Prize (first prize) for the best paper in The Journal of Finance, which is the official publication of the American Finance Association and one of the most widely cited academic journals in finance and economics. His winning paper (co-authored with D. Papanikolaou of Kellogg) is entitled “Growth Opportunities, Technology Shocks, and Asset Prices.”