The Deloitte Foundation awarded $25,000 worth of grants to the ten top PhD candidates from its annual Doctoral Fellowships in Accounting program.

Bestowed to doctoral students that will continue academic careers after graduation, the award supports the final year of courses and the next year devoted to completing doctoral dissertations.

Each year, approximately 100 universities are invited to apply for the fellowship, and a selection committee of three accounting educators choose the recipients from those nominated by the school’s accounting faculty. The committee is composed of Professors Benjamin Ayers of the University of Georgia, Gregory Miller of the University of Michigan and Mark Peecher of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

"For nearly 60 years, the Deloitte Foundation has proudly awarded Doctoral Fellowships in Accounting to more than 1,000 Ph.D. candidates," said Shaun Budnik, Deloitte partner and Deloitte Foundation president, in a statement. "Since the grantees aim for careers in academia, the program plays a crucial role in contributing toward a pipeline of highly-skilled, qualified accounting faculty on campuses to educate our profession's next generation of talent and leaders. I congratulate all of the 2013 grantees."

This year’s recipients, and the schools they attend, are:

•    Matthew C. Cedergren, New York University
•    Brant E. Christensen, Texas A&M University
•    Emily E. Griffith, University of Georgia
•    Bret A. Johnson, The Ohio State University
•    Rebecca C. Lester, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
•    Jed J. Neilson, University of Michigan
•    Bryce A. Schonberger, University of South Carolina
•    Thomas D. Steffen, Duke University
•    Jenny Zha, University of California-Berkeley
•    Aaron F. Zimbelman, University of Illinois

"As a former recipient of the Deloitte Foundation Doctoral Fellowship, I am honored to serve on this committee, am grateful for the Deloitte Foundation's continued support of this program, and look forward to the great things that this year's recipients will accomplish,” stated professor Benjamin Ayers of the University of Georgia and outgoing member of the faculty selection committee.