One Fellowship, Five Offers

Margaret Xiao was at a restaurant when her phone buzzed with an email that would change everything.

"It didn’t really register," she said. "I was in disbelief."

The email informed her that she had been named a recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship — one of the most prestigious and competitive awards available to early-career researchers in the United States. For a University of Minnesota undergraduate still finishing her degree, the accomplishment placed her among an elite group of emerging scholars.

In April, the NSF awarded 2,500 fellowships nationwide for the 2026-27 academic year from a pool of nearly 14,000 applicants representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

"I knew it was very competitive," Xiao said. "I did not think I would win it."

What made her achievement even more remarkable was that she was competing not just against undergraduates, but against graduates with master’s degrees and predoctoral research experience already built into their portfolios.

The next morning, Xiao went straight to Ellen McGrattan, the economics professor she worked for as a research assistant through the Heller-Hurwicz Economics Institute for the past two years.

"Margaret is in a very select group of students that were awarded the NSF while still working toward their undergraduate degree," McGrattan said. "Most awards went to people working as pre-doctoral research assistants."

From One Offer to Five

The fellowship's impact was immediate. Before the NSF announcement, Xiao held one graduate school offer and sat on two waitlists. Within hours of notifying programs of her award, everything shifted.

She had five offers.

The two programs that had waitlisted her sent acceptances. A program that had never contacted her extended an invitation. Another reconsidered and welcomed her into its program.

"Many graduate programs are eyeing the results," Xiao said. "Getting an award can have a great impact on your program outcomes."

She chose Northwestern University, drawn by faculty who genuinely care about student well-being and the program's emphasis on technical skill-building across disciplines.

A Pipeline Built Earlier

The standard path to a top economics PhD has traditionally run through a pre-doctoral research assistant position — full-time roles supporting faculty research that typically last two years, often at a Federal Reserve bank, think tank or university lab. According to PREDOC, a national consortium that includes the Federal Reserve system and top universities, most students don't enter PhD programs directly after undergraduate study. 

What Minnesota's Heller-Hurwicz Economics Institute has done is move that experience into the undergraduate years.

"Instead of doing it in the couple of years after you graduated, Maggie had the chance to do that as an undergraduate," said Christine Cumming, who retired from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in June 2015 after serving as first vice president and now an adjunct professor at Columbia University. 

A PhD alumna of the University of Minnesota, Cumming mentored Xiao through the department's Women in Economics program. "If you're in admissions to graduate school, the number one thing you're going to care about is whether that person is really ready to spend a lot of time doing research," she said. 

Over two years, Xiao worked with McGrattan and professor Jo Mullins on two substantial projects. She analyzed entrepreneurship trends in U.S. census data and helped develop tools to measure intangible assets — the hard-to-quantify components of business value such as organizational knowledge and brand equity. She and fellow research assistant Isaiah Dalzell built interactive websites to make both projects accessible beyond academic journals.

"Margaret has an innate sense of what needs to be done next and just does it," McGrattan said. "She was like Radar O'Reilly in the popular sitcom 'MASH.'"

The work shaped more than her skills — it shaped her sense of purpose.

"Working with Ellen and Jo, I realized that there's still a lot of room for economics research to make an impact on the world around us," Xiao said. "I look forward to continue working on research projects that have a real impact on our communities."

A Village of Support 

Xiao credits a network of faculty and mentors with preparing her for this moment.

"Professor McGrattan and Professor Mullins were two of my biggest supporters when it came to building skills and confidence as an independent researcher," she said.

Through the Women in Economics program, she found another crucial mentor in Cumming, who has mentored in the program for six years. Cumming described the program as addressing a persistent feature of the profession.

"You can end up being the only woman in the room, or one of just two or three women," Cumming said. "It's really building that confidence of knowing that you are good at what you do and that you have something interesting to say."

Rather than pushing Xiao toward a doctorate, Cumming offered emotional support and honest insight into what life after a PhD looks like — helping Xiao build confidence as a researcher and in her broader career decisions. 

Anmol Bhandari, the UMN’s economics department director of graduate admissions, played a pivotal role as well.

"He gave me valuable insight into what programs really look for," Xiao said. "He was also a big reason why I ended up applying for the NSF.” 

Different Background as Advantage

Xiao's undergraduate profile was unusual — a triple major in economics, computer science and data science. At Northwestern, she sees that interdisciplinary background as leverage.

"I have a different background from other students," she said. "That's not something that sets me back. It can be my competitive advantage."

The NSF fellowship will exempt her from most teaching and research assistant duties, giving her room to enter independent research earlier than most peers.

As she prepares for the next chapter, Xiao is clear about what made the difference.

"One of the biggest learnings I had throughout the process was to have more trust in myself and my goals, to take the leap and take the risk even when facing uncertainty," she said. "It's the people at the University of Minnesota that have had the greatest impact on me and my plans for the future."