Academic Accolades

Panther statue

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

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

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.

Sam Podnar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Caitlin Bruce

Bruce awarded a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

Caitlin Bruce, associate professor in Pitt’s Department of Communication, was awarded $60,000 from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in support of her Hemispheric Conversations: Urban Art Project (HCUAP).

Katie Currie and her twin sister

Pitt senior and her twin won $88K on ‘Wheel of Fortune’

Katie Currie, a senior studying finance and supply chain management in Pitt’s College of Business Administration, won big on “Wheel of Fortune” during the game show’s 50th anniversary week.

Tao Han

Han won a Humboldt Research Award

Tao Han, Distinguished Professor of High Energy Physics at the University of Pittsburgh, won the Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany.

Birds eye of campus

PhD student won a CCCC Scholars for the Dream Travel Award

Cody Hmelar, a doctoral student in the Department of English within Pitt’s Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, has won a 2025 Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) Scholars for the Dream Travel Award.

Birds eye of campus

A podcast by 2 Pitt professors is among the year’s best, according to the New York Times

A podcast by Jeanne Marie Laskas, Distinguished Professor of English, and Erin Anderson, audio producer and assistant professor, was included on the New York Times’ list of best podcasts of 2024.

Cathedral of Learning

5 Pitt students received Gilman Scholarships

This semester, four Pitt students received the award, designated to support undergraduate students receiving Federal Pell Grants with up to $5,000 while they pursue study abroad opportunities.

Joy Priest

Priest won an Advancing Black Arts Award

Joy Priest, assistant professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh, has won an Advancing Black Arts Award from The Pittsburgh Foundation for her poetry anthology, “The Black Outside.”

James Huguley

Huguley supports Black parents with an innovative program

James Huguley has transformed his scholarly work on race and human development into Parent Heart Inc., an evidence-based company supporting African American parents.

Tony Carey

Carey won an American Political Science Association mentor award

Tony E. Carey Jr., associate professor and director of graduate admissions and placement in the Department of Political Science, was named a winner of the American Political Science Association’s Adaljiza Sosa-Riddell Mentor Award.

Researchers in labcoats

Pitt students were honored at a Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association meeting

Four University of Pittsburgh students were honored with scholarships and awards at the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association Western Regional Meeting.

A person looking through a microscope

9 projects earned funding from the Dietrich Innovation Initiative

Nine projects earned funding through the Dietrich Innovation Initiative (DI2), a new program for faculty and staff in Pitt’s Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and College of General Studies.

Pitt flag on a lampost

A PhD student presented at the American Public Health Association annual meeting

Jenn Lee, a doctoral student at the School of Social Work, presented her research at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association in Minneapolis.