Research and Graduate Studies @ KU

KU graduate student wins Kauffman Foundation dissertation fellowship

Shane Moser, a doctoral student in KU’s School of Business, is one of 16 recipients nationwide of a $20,000 dissertation fellowship from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

The fellowships are awarded to current Ph.D. students who are engaged in the study of entrepreneurship at U.S. universities.  A presentation ceremony was held Jan. 4 in New Orleans in conjunction with the American Economic Association’s annual meeting.

Moser was one of 101 applicants nationwide.  The title of his dissertation is "Does Diversity Among Co-Investing Venture Capital Firms Add Value for Entrepreneurial Companies?"

"An increasing number of doctoral students are choosing a dissertation topic related to entrepreneurship," said Robert Strom, director of entrepreneurship research and policy at the foundation. "The purpose of the Kauffman Dissertation Fellowship Program is to recognize excellence among a select group of the nation's future entrepreneurship scholars."  

Including the current class of fellows, the foundation has made 78 awards since the program was created in 2002. "The students are writing dissertations in a variety of academic disciplines," said Strom. "For the foundation, we think that's important because entrepreneurship is cross-disclipinary."

Other recipients this year included students from Michigan, Berkeley, Wisconsin, MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Cornell and Chicago.