NYU Abu Dhabi student research into how people and societies behave earned standout honors at the annual United Arab Emirates Undergraduate Research Competition (URC) in Abu Dhabi.

URC encourages universities from around the country to promote undergraduate scientific research work. It also aims to enhance career opportunities for young students and foster entrepreneurial mindsets and attitudes in education, research, and innovation.

In the Accounting, Finance and Economics category, Alex Matters, Class of 2018 economics major, won top prize for his project that questions whether “self-competition” closes the gender gap in competitiveness more effectively than performance feedback.

In the Arts and Sociology category, Mina Kim, also an economics major in the Class of 2018, won top prize for her research into gender inequality in returns to migrations, while classmate Ahmed Meshref won second prize for his research on the level of democracy and quality of governance using an instrumental variable approach.

Meshref said he's thankful for Professor Ronald Rogowski’s great support, and added the achievement is “a great boost” for someone like him to continue writing papers for research.