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Academic Accolades

Olivera Finn and others

June 24, 2025

Finn awarded the PNC Elsie Hillman Distinguished Scholar Award

Olivera J. Finn, Distinguished Professor of Immunology and Surgery at the School of Medicine, was presented with the 2025 PNC Elsie Hillman Distinguished Scholar Award for her decades of research in immunology and groundbreaking work on developing a vaccine to prevent several human cancers, including breast cancer. 

Panther statue

June 10, 2025

3 Pitt faculty named Fulbright scholars

Three University of Pittsburgh faculty members have received Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Awards from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Headshots of the 12 scholarship winners

June 10, 2025

Meet Pitt’s incoming class of Chancellor’s scholars

Pitt has awarded the Chancellor’s Scholarship, one of the University’s most prestigious undergraduate awards, to 12 incoming first-year students. The awardees, who hail from Wisconsin, Georgia, Maryland and beyond, will begin their studies in fall 2025.

Fountain in front of the Cathedral of Learning

June 3, 2025

Engel was honored by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Partnership for Aging

Ray Engel, an associate professor in the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southwestern Pennsylvania Partnership for Aging.

Paula Orozco-Espinel

May 29, 2025

PhD candidate received a Newcombe Fellowship

Paula Orozco-Espinel, a doctoral candidate in Department of History at the University of Pittsburgh Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, has been named a Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship recipient.

Cathedral of Learning

May 22, 2025

16 Pitt undergraduates were named Gilman scholars

This competitive national honor enables undergraduates with limited financial means to study or intern abroad, providing them with skills critical to the United States’ national security and economic prosperity. 

Christian Knox

May 22, 2025

PhD student received a Department of Energy research award

Christian Knox, a third-year chemistry PhD student in the University of Pittsburgh Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, has been selected to the Department of Energy’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program.

Graham Hatfull

May 20, 2025

Hatfull elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society

Graham Hatfull, Eberly Family Professor of Biotechnology and HHMI Professor in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society, the United Kingdom’s national academy of sciences and an organization of international scholars.

Nicola Foote

May 20, 2025

Dean Foote named an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa

Nicola Foote, dean of the University of Pittsburgh David C. Frederick Honors College, was named an honorary member of the prestigious academic honors society Phi Beta Kappa for her contributions since being named dean in 2021.

Hossein Nakhaei

May 13, 2025

PhD student won a Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship

Hossein Nakhaei, a PhD student in Pitt’s Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, has received a Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship.

Stain glass window

May 6, 2025

3 Pitt students earned Boren Awards

Three University of Pittsburgh students have earned 2025 Boren Awards for International Study, which will fund their study of critical languages abroad in support of their academic and career goals.

Panther statue

April 29, 2025

7 Pitt students won a nationally competitive research fellowship

Graduate Research Fellowships from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to perform graduate research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. 

James Coleman

April 24, 2025

Coleman won a Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation award

James Coleman, assistant professor of Italian in Pitt’s Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts, has won the Giles Constable Award from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. Only one U.S. applicant to the foundation’s Venetian Research Program is selected for the year each year.

Dara D. Méndez

April 24, 2025

Méndez was honored by Pittsburgh’s Professional Women’s Network

Dara D. Méndez, associate professor in the School of Public Health, won the Ladies Who Lead Award from Pittsburgh’s Professional Women’s Network.

Mark Nordenberg

April 24, 2025

Chancellor Emeritus Nordenberg named to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Nordenberg joins nearly 250 members elected in this year’s class, who have distinguished themselves in academia, the arts, industry, policy, research and science.

Sam Podnar

April 18, 2025

Pitt junior awarded a Truman Scholarship

Sam Podnar, a junior at Pitt, was awarded a 2025 Harry S. Truman Scholarship to pursue graduate studies in public service.

Connor Diaz

April 17, 2025

Pitt senior won a Newman Civic Fellowship Mini-Grant

Pitt senior Connor Diaz has been selected by Campus Compact for the Newman Civic Fellowship Mini-Grant, funded by The Allstate Foundation.

Satyaj Bhargava

April 15, 2025

Pitt junior won a Goldwater Scholarship

University of Pittsburgh bioengineering junior Satyaj Bhargava won a 2025 Goldwater Scholarship, one of the nation’s most prestigious awards for undergraduate researchers in the natural sciences, engineering and mathematics.

Fernando Tormos-Aponte

April 3, 2025

Tormos-Aponte won an early career award from the American Sociological Association

Fernando Tormos-Aponte, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Pittsburgh, has won an Distinguished Early Career Award from the American Sociological Association (ASA).

Claire Hopkins

April 1, 2025

Pitt’s newest Critical Language Scholar

University of Pittsburgh graduate student Claire Hopkins has been awarded a 2025 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS).

Cathedral of Learning

April 1, 2025

2 English faculty won a Spencer Foundation grant

Two faculty members in Pitt’s Department of English, Jialei Jiang and Xiqiao Wang, have earned a $60,000 grant from the Spencer Foundation.

Nancy McCabe

March 10, 2025

McCabe's ninth book to be released April 8

Nancy McCabe's ninth book and debut middle grade novel will be released on April 8. McCabe is the Director of Writing Program and a Professor of Writing at Pitt-Bradford.  

Birds eye of campus

March 4, 2025

Waldeck was honored by the American Chemical Society

David Waldeck, distinguished professor of chemistry and academic director of the Petersen Institute of Nanoscience and Engineering at Pitt, received the 2025 Award in Experimental Physical Chemistry.

Angie Cruz

February 27, 2025

Angie Cruz won 2 recent literary prizes

Angie Cruz, associate professor of English in Pitt’s Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, won the 43rd Dos Passos Prize for Literature and was named a 2025 United States Artists (USA) Fellow.

Birds eye of campus

February 27, 2025

Alavi named editor-in-chief of a new Nature Portfolio journal

Amir Alavi, associate professor and B.P. America Faculty Fellow in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the Swanson School of Engineering, has been appointed editor-in-chief of npj Metamaterials, a new Nature Portfolio journal.

Evan Schneider

February 19, 2025

Schneider named a Sloan Research fellow

Evan Schneider, assistant professor of physics and astronomy in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, earned a 2025 Sloan Research Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Cathedral of Learning with snow on the ground

February 17, 2025

Mauger won the 2024 PRACE Ada Lovelace Award

Nastasia Mauger, a postdoctoral researcher in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded the 2024 Ada Lovelace Award from the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE).

Panther statue wearing a beanie

February 13, 2025

Pitt senior won Campus Compact’s Student Leadership Impact Award

Simon Wang, a senior at the University of Pittsburgh, recently won Campus Compact’s Student Leadership Impact Award for his extensive leadership work in civic and community engagement spaces.

Birds eye of campus

February 12, 2025

11 Pitt people named to the Pittsburgh Business Times’ 30 Under 30 list

Three graduate students and one faculty member are among the 11 Pitt people on the list.

Fang Peng

February 11, 2025

Peng elected to the National Academy of Engineering

Fang Peng, RK Mellon Endowed Chair Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of the Energy GRID Institute at Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering, is among the newest cohort elected to the academy.