Ms. Mayra Pineda Torres, a first year Ph.D. student in the Department of Economics, will receive an award from ITAM (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México) for the best undergraduate thesis on education issues.  This award is “La Flecha al Aire 2016,” in memory of Javier Beristain, a former rector of ITAM who was concerned about education in Mexico. Her thesis advisor was Dr. Carlo Alcaraz Pribaz, a senior research economist at the Bank of Mexico.  Ms. Pineda Torres received an undergraduate degree from ITAM in 2013 and has worked at the Bank of Mexico beginning in March 2013.  She joined the Ph.D. program at Texas A&M University in August 2016.