ISET is pleased to announce the excellent achievements of our alumni, Nino Doghonadze (class 2012) and Saba Devdariani (class 2014). Having worked the last few years as researchers at the ISET Policy Institute, Nino and Saba decided to continue their education abroad. With their applications supported by ISET’s senior faculty Tornike Kadeishvili, Daniel Levy, Omer Moav, Motty Perry, and Avner Shaked among others, both have been accepted to a number of prestigious economics PhD program in Europe and the US.

Nino Doghonadze got accepted to Pennsylvania State University where she will be joining two other ISET alumni – Giorgi Mekerishvili (who also happens to be Nino’s classmate) and Roba Khubulashvili. The two are 4th and 3rd year PhD students, respectively.

 In fact, Nino, her daughter Nita and husband Akaki will be part of a small ISET colony at Penn State, also including Giorgi’s wife Salome Goglichidze (ISET class 2012), and their daughter Lile.

The financial aid package Nino received from Penn State was truly generous. It includes not only a full scholarship, but also a living stipend of $31,500/year, beating an alternative offer from the Stockholm School of Economics.

Unlike Nino, Saba Devdariani decided to expand ISET’s geographic reach by choosing to pursue an economics PhD at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech). Saba had had other offers as well, including those from Penn State and UC San Diego, but decided to spend the coming years in Los Angeles, CA. Like Nino, Saba received the full financial aid package (including $31,000 annual living stipend).

We are proud of our graduates and are confident in their future success as academics!