TAMIU Students Win Top Awards at 29th Annual Western Hemispheric Trade Conference
Two Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) International Business Administration doctoral students and three undergraduate Business students won cash prizes for the Best Student Paper and Honorable Mention awards at the 29th Annual Western Hemispheric Trade (WHT) Conference, hosted in person and virtually by TAMIU's A. R. Sanchez, Jr. School of Business.
The Best Student Paper Award was presented to doctoral student Ayman Samak, who received a $400 prize for his paper titled, “Political Risk and Corporate Culture: Evidence from Firm-Level Dynamics.”
The first Honorable Mention Award went to doctoral student Nana Twum Owusu-Peprah for his paper, “Market Competition as a Disciplinary Mechanism: Does It Curb Managerial Myopia in Innovation Investments?" He won a $100 award.
The Best Undergraduate Student Paper Award went to Martha A. Rayo for her paper, “Mapping the Intellectual Landscape of The International Trade Journal: A Bibliometric and Topic Modeling Analysis.” She won a $200 prize.
The first Undergraduate Student Honorable Mention Award went to Natalie A. Esparza for her paper, “Understanding Factors in Internal Control Weaknesses.” The second went to Bulbul Zeynalova for her paper, “The Role of Green Loans in Promoting Corporate Sustainability: A Comparative Analysis between the Countries of the United States of America and the Republic of Azerbaijan.” Each won a $100 award.
Pictured from left to right are Dr. George Clarke, CSWHT director; Dr. William Megginson, WHT Conference keynote speaker; Nana Twum Owusu-Peprah, Student Paper Honorable Mention Award recipient; Dr. Luis Pérez-Batres, A. R. Sanchez, Jr. School of Business dean, Martha A. Rayo, Best Undergraduate Student Paper Award Recipient; Bulbul Zeynalova, Undergraduate Student Paper Honorable Mention Award Recipient; and Ayman Samak, Best Student Paper Award Recipient.
All winners also received free registration for the 2025 WHT Conference.
This year's Conference program featured 98 submissions in either abstract or paper form.
Attracting business leaders, experts, scholars, and students from throughout the world to TAMIU, the WHT Conference presents forums for discussions on perspectives focusing on international business and economics each year. It is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade in partnership with México's Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas (UAT) Facultad de Comercio, Administración y Ciencias Sociales and Universidad Tecnológica de Tamaulipas Norte.
For more information, contact Amy Palacios, associate director, Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade, at 956.326.2820 or cswht@tamiu.edu.
Additional information is available at https://www.tamiu.edu/cswht/.
Registration for TAMIU’s, Summer, and Fall 2025 is online via Uconnect.
For more on TAMIU’s story, visit its social media channels: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube, and online at tamiu.edu.
