Academic Accolades

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2 Pitt students were elected to the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association Student Advisory Board

Joe Chen and Shay Roth, both students in Pitt’s School of Pharmacy, were elected to serve on the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association (PPA) Student Advisory Board.

Graham Hatfull

Hatfull earns lifetime achievement award from the European Society of Mycobacteriology

Phage researcher and clinical pioneer Graham Hatfull is this year’s recipient of the prestigious Gardner Middlebrook Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the study of tuberculosis and related diseases.

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Graduate student awarded for her doctoral dissertation research

Alex Silver, a graduate student studying cognitive psychology in Pitt’s Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC), received one of two 2022-23 Doctoral Dissertation Research Excellence Awards from the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (FABBS).

Lorraine Blatt

PhD candidate wins National Academy of Education fellowship

Lorraine Blatt, who is studying developmental psychology in Pitt's Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC), was named a 2023 NAEd/Spencer Dissertation fellow.

Ho wins the 2023 Kerry Stoner Award

Ken Ho, associate professor in the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine, won the 2023 Kerry Stoner Award, which honors a Pittsburgh person annually for their work with HIV.

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Pitt is supporting these 35 undergrads in their summer research

Thirty-five undergraduate students at the University of Pittsburgh will receive $4,000 each and other support for their summer research as 2023 Brackenridge fellows.

Marci Lee Nilsen

Nilsen earns $3 million grant to study the impact of head and neck cancer treatment

Pitt Nursing and Medicine assistant professor Marci Lee Nilsen earned a $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to research the effects of head and neck cancer treatment.

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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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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.