The Robert L. and Amelia Louise Rivers Scholarship is a monetary scholarship awarded to up to two undergraduate Economics majors on the basis of merit. This scholarship was established in 2005 by a gift from Amelia Louise Rivers as a memorial for her husband, Robert L. Rivers, who died at the age of 83 in November, 2003. Robert Rivers received an M.S. and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois in 1947 and 1957, respectively. He retired as the UPS Professor of Transportation at North Carolina A & T State University.

Please read eligibility for this scholarship before you apply

Eligibility: The student must be a declared Economics major; have completed at least 60 hours of coursework, including at least 18 hours of economics, attained a minimum 3.0/4.0 grade point average in all UIUC economics/statistics courses, and attained a minimum 3.0/4.0 grade point average overall.

Application: Submit the online scholarship application, a résumé/CV, and a brief essay (250-500 words) addressing the question, “What distinguishes you as a student of economics?” Discuss why you find the subject of economics particularly compelling and the steps that you have taken beyond your classes to further your studies.


Click here for information on all available scholarships.

Past Recipients
2024 Madhumitha Shetty & Abhiram Tamvada
2023 Clayton Haase & Jiayi Pan
2022 Jordan Brown & Matheus Pradnyatama
2021 Jack Haefer & Xiaorui Wang
2020 Lexi Chen & Kyra Sadovi
2019 John Compton & Daniel Stumpf
2018 Max Rainer & Kyebum Jeon
2017 Huiyi Chen & Collin Schumock
2016 Yitian Tang & Yao Xiao
2015 Aishwarya Gautam & Robert Moss
2014 Megan Lindgren & Douglas Lavey