Hillsdale College Senior Duncan Voyles Named Young Scholar Award Winner
Scholarship award supports outstanding undergraduate research
Hillsdale, Mich. – Hillsdale College proudly announce that Duncan Voyles, a Hillsdale senior studying applied mathematics and economics, has been selected as a recipient of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Values & Capitalism 2017-2018 Young Scholar Award. Voyles is the third consecutive Hillsdale student to receive the annual prize.
“What an honor to be chosen from so many qualified students for this opportunity,” said Voyles. “It’s a testament to Hillsdale’s intellectual rigor and faculty support that I’m but one of multiple Hillsdale students to have received this award from AEI.”
AEI’s Values & Capitalism initiative awards six undergraduates a $5,000 scholarship and an invitation to defend their research findings before an expert panel at the AEI Washington, D.C., headquarters. The completed research projects are also published on the Values & Capitalism website.
Voyles’s research examines the displacement of small-scale farms by larger farming operations, seeking to identify the drivers behind it. Is the traditional assumption true that technological advantages are helping large-scale farms outpace their smaller competitors? Or are government regulations and legal challenges placing a greater financial burden on the small farm than on larger, wealthier enterprises? Voyles will explore these questions through interviews with Hillsdale-area farmers and statistical analyses, ultimately aiming to propose policy solutions to the problem.
Serving as faculty advisor to Voyles during his year of research is Charles N. Steele, Herman and Suzanne Dettwiler Chair in Economics and associate professor at Hillsdale College. “I’m extremely pleased that Duncan was selected for this award. He’s a particularly sharp student and unusually hardworking and self-disciplined,” said Dr. Steele. “Duncan has developed a timely and important research topic, and his preliminary work is promising. This will be a valuable and interesting project.”