Academic Accolades

Rory Cooper

Cooper wins a Distinguished Eagle Scout Award

Rory Cooper, distinguished professor in Pitt’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, was presented with a Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.

4 incoming Pitt students are 2023 Stamps scholars

Four Pennsylvania high school seniors are among the winners of the 2023 Stamps Scholarship, which supports around 250 students each year who excel academically and are focused on leadership and community service.

Alison Linares Mendoza

Pitt student earned a Vertical Flight Foundation scholarship

Alison Linares Mendoza, an industrial engineering student, earned the Franklin D. Harris Scholarship, making her the first Pitt woman to receive a scholarship from the Vertical Flight Foundation.

Meyer Pitt’s first Berlin Prize recipient

English Professor Michael Meyer won a 2023-24 Berlin Prize Fellowship — and became the first Pitt faculty member to receive the award.

Cathedral of Learning

15 Pitt students named Gilman scholars

The Gilman scholarship supports undergraduates receiving Federal Pell Grants with up to $5,000 as they study abroad.

Pitt flags

10 Pitt students and alums named 2023-24 Fulbright winners

Ten Pitt students and alumni have joined an esteemed group of scholars who have received one of the world's most lauded and prestigious awards from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

Pitt panther statue

2 Pitt people earned a Heinz History Makers Award

The Heinz History Center will recognize one current and one former Pitt faculty member at its annual History Makers Award Dinner, which honors individuals in Western Pennsylvania who have profoundly contributed to the region’s innovative history and collective heritage.

The Cathedral of Learning

8 faculty won Pitt’s 2023 Innovation in Education Awards

The Provost’s Advisory Council on Instructional Excellence recognized eight full-time and part-time faculty for projects that enhance teaching at the University and foster new instructional techniques to advance student learning. 

Campus

4 Pitt students earned Boren Awards to study language abroad

The awards, funded by the U.S. Department of State, give up to $25,000 for language-focused study abroad programs, particularly in critical languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese and Swahili.

Anna Li

Li named Pitt’s first-ever recipient of a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans

Anna Li is the University’s first-ever recipient of The Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans, an annual award that provides $90,000 over two years to immigrants and first-generation students pursuing graduate education.

Bopaya Bidanda

Bidanda wins dual Fulbright award

Bopaya Bidanda received the prestigious 2023-24 Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award.

Grace Fleury

Pitt student wins Goldwater Scholarship

Grace Fleury, a junior Pitt chemistry major, is now a Goldwater Scholar, which is the most prestigious scholarship aimed at STEM students and covers a year of tuition, books, fees and room and board.

Cathedral of Learning

6 Pitt graduate students won NSF research fellowships

Six University of Pittsburgh graduate students won research funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Adam Lowenstein

Lowenstein named a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow

Adam Lowenstein, a professor of English and film and media studies at Pitt, is among the latest class of Guggenheim Fellows.

Doctoral student wins CCRRJ Student Scholar Award

Doctoral student Bianca De Bellis has been selected as part of the inaugural cohort of Student Scholars for the Center for Civil Rights and Racial Justice. 

Yu-Ru Lin

Lin receives a Foundational Integrity Research award from Meta Platforms

Yu-Ru Lin, associate professor in Pitt’s School of Computing and Information, earned a Foundational Integrity Research award.

Ryan MacElroy

Undergraduate student wins the 2023 George Washington Prize

Ryan MacElroy, a senior majoring in chemical and petroleum engineering at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, was the recipient of this year’s Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania’s George Washington Prize.

Campus

Waldeck earns $7.5 million grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research

Waldeck, a professor in Pitt’s Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, earned a $7.5 million Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) from the U.S. Office of Naval Research.

Joseph Samosky

Samosky recognized as ESWP Higher Educator of the Year

Samosky, associate professor of bioengineering, received the Higher Educator of the Year Award from The Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania (ESWP).

Pitt researchers earn EPA grant to study the health impacts of increased rainfall

Three Pitt faculty members are on a team that earned an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant to study the health impacts of increased rainfall among residents in predominantly Black, low-income neighborhoods.

Cathedral of Learning

4 Pitt students named 2023 Critical Language scholars

Four University of Pittsburgh students have been named 2023 Critical Language scholars, an immersive summer opportunity for American college students to make rapid language gains and essential intercultural fluency. Each will spend 8-10 weeks abroad.

Michael Baker

Pitt student awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship

Michael Baker earned a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, which will fund his studies toward a Master of Philosophy degree in clinical neurosciences from the University of Cambridge in England.

Santucci appointed to President Biden’s Intelligence Advisory Board

 President Biden announced the appointment of Julia Santucci, GSPIA Senior Lecturer in Intelligence Studies, to the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.  

Beckman, Bilec earn $750,000 grant to study circular economies

Eric Beckman and Melissa Bilec, professors in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering, will be co-principal investigators on a study of circular economies that earned a $750,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant.

Ruth Mostern

Mostern wins book prize from the Association for Asian Studies

Ruth Mostern, professor in Pitt’s Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, won a book prize from the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) for her history of China’s Yellow River.

Pitt Law student named a 2023 Presidential Management Fellow

Kaleigh Dryden, a third-year student in Pitt’s School of Law, was named a finalist for the Presidential Management Fellow (PMF) program.

Jennifer Lingler

Lingler earned $2.1 million to study patient reactions to Alzheimer’s diagnoses

Jennifer Lingler, vice chair for research in Pitt’s School of Nursing, will lead a study to advance understanding of real-world patient and family member reactions to biomarker-informed Alzheimer’s disease diagnoses.

Campus

Cui, Pearlman inducted to National Academy of Inventors

University of Pittsburgh Professor of Bioengineering Tracy Cui and Associate Professor of Rehabilitation Science and Technology Jonathan Pearlman, have been named Senior Members of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

The Cathedral of Learning

Pitt named a top producer of Fulbright U.S. students for 2022-23

This year’s Fulbright scholars include two Pitt doctoral students, one undergraduate student and six recent graduates.

Chan elected to Association of University Cardiologists

Stephen Chan, a professor in Pitt’s School of Medicine, was elected for induction into the Association of University Cardiologists (AUC).