Please note that additional awards are forthcoming and will be added as they are finalized.
ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES PROGRAM
The 2025 Association for Asian American Studies Conference Travel Grants went to Paige Chung and Stephanie Sang.
DEPARTMENT OF ASIAN STUDIES
The Asian Studies Summer Study, Research, and Service Travel Grants went to Siena Fershtman (Taiwan), Sharon Liu (Taiwan), Luke Chang (Korea), May Tun (Thailand), Isaac Bloomgarden (Taiwan) and Jennifer Ayala Guzman (Taiwan).
The Tina Han Su Cooper ’66 Award in support of outstanding undergraduate engagement in the study of Chinese cultural areas went to Nicholas Vega.
The Robert J. Smith/Russell Mann Gift for top beginning and intermediate Japanese language students was awarded to Brodie Raj, Angelina Zhou and Adelynn Wu.
The Korean Language Program Award for three years of outstanding work went to Dara Gonzalez, Jane Jennings, Sabrina Raichoudhury and Lindsay Tyler Williams.
DEPARTMENT OF ASTRONOMY
The Cranson and Edna B. Shelley Graduate Research Award, given to a graduate student to recognize outstanding accomplishment in astronomical research, went to Charlie Detellich.
The Cranson and Edna B. Shelley Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, given to a graduate student in recognition of outstanding performance as a teaching assistant, went to Elijah Mullens.
The Eleanor York Prize, given to a graduate student to reward service to the community as well as academic achievement, went to Alexia Kubas.
The Professor Yervant Terzian Scholarship Award went to Laine Havens ’25.
The Cranson and Edna B. Shelley prize for Undergraduate Research went to Abra Geiger and Abigail Bohl.
The Barry Goldwater Scholarship went to Abra Geiger.
The West Undergraduate Fellowship went to Ian Branigan.
CAPS (THE BRITTANY AND ADAM J. LEVINSON CHINA AND ASIA-PACIFIC STUDIES PROGRAM)
The Sherman Cochran Prize was awarded to Michelle Song and Waverly Shi.
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL BIOLOGY
The ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry Undergraduate Award was presented to Ryan Pinard.
The American Chemical Society (ACS) Cornell Section Undergraduate Research Award was presented to senior Zayim Jamil.
The Royal Society of Chemistry Certificate of Academic Excellence was presented to seniors May Cayzer and Jack Nothnagel.
The ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Undergraduate Award was presented to senior Cameron Muniz.
The ACS Cornell Section Graduate Teaching Awards were presented to Phuong Nguyen, Madison Neukirch, Isobelle McClements, Joseph McAuliffe and Minh Triet Vu.
The ACS Division of Physical Chemistry Undergraduate Award was presented to senior Lewis Sisler.
The Bauer Scholarship Award was presented to Bayu Ahmad, Reagan Dreiling, Yihuan Lai, Emma Lueders, Tianzhang Qiao, Zhoufan Shen, Leslie Trigoura, Jason Wu, Samson Zacate and Ju-an Zhanga.
The George C. Caldwell Prize was awarded to seniors Jinwoo Jung and Megan Xu.
The GSR Catalyst Safety Prize was awarded to Julian Kellner-Rogers.
The Darryl H. Wu Memorial Prize was presented to junior Tyler Huang.
The A.W. Laubengayer Prize was presented to Jing Wu (CHEM 1560), Christopher Lekaj (CHEM 2070), Nicholas Letendre (CHEM 2090) and Sophie McAtee (CHEM 2150).
The Harold Adlard Lovenberg Prize for juniors was presented to junior Ruchira Hariharan.
The Leo and Berdie Mandelkern Prize for seniors was presented to seniors Clea Crane and Julia Pitolaj.
The Chemistry Department Fellowship was presented to Anja Minty.
The Frank and Lynnet Douglas Fellowship was presented to Yafet Negash.
The Gerald and Kathleen Hill Fellowship for Undergraduate Research was presented to sophomore Oliver Lambert.
The J. Emery Morris Fellowship for Undergraduate Research was presented to senior Nicole Yatskar and junior Daniel Salter.
The Robert Work Fellowship for Undergraduate Research was presented to junior Abbey Robinson.
The Howard Neal Wachter Memorial Prize for graduate students was presented to Siyu Bu and Kiser Colley.
The Tunis Wentink Prize for graduate students was presented to David Bain, Kaitlyn Keasler, Julian Kellner-Rogers, Mihail Krumov, Tristan Pitt and Robert Voland.
DEPARTMENT OF COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
The Edgar Rosenberg Travel Grant for students majoring in comparative literature, to support intensive language study outside the U.S., was awarded to Sophie Gross to travel to France to study French with the Alliance Française and to Cristobal Ramirez to travel to Mexico to study Spanish at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).
DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY & EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
The Robert H. Whittaker award, given in recognition of the best oral presentation made by a graduate student at the Annual Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Graduate Student Symposium, was presented to Jacks Phillips.
The Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Book Award, given in recognition of the best oral presentation by a beginning ecology and evolutionary biology department/field graduate student at the Annual Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Graduate Student Symposium, went to Moey Rojas.
The Department TA Award for excellence in teaching was given to Hannah Monti.
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
The following graduating seniors are receiving Excellence in Economics in Memory of Tapan Mitra awards: Vidya Balaji, Matt Chin, Emily Hong, Kevin Lu, Sophie Monroe and Sara Yoo.
The Frank H. Vedder Award for best paper in an economics course is awarded to Emily Hong and Sophie Monroe.
The Ernest Liu ‘64, Ta-Chung and Ta-Chao Liu Memorial Fellowship, which funds graduate student tuition, stipend and health insurance for one semester, was awarded to graduate students Yaling Xu and Zebang Xu.
The Labor Economics Small Grant Awards went to graduate students Lexin Cai, Senan Hogan-Hennessey, Kalie Pierce and Vaios Triantafyllou.
DEPARTMENT OF GERMAN STUDIES
The Goethe Prize is awarded annually for the best essays on any topic connected with German literature or culture. In the Freshman/Sophomore Category, first prize went to Yuhan Huang for “A Comparison of Immanuel Kant and Johann Fichte’s Accounts on the Immorality of Suicide”; second prize went to Maia Schlesiger for “A Student’s Take on Everyday Life and Gender in People on Sunday.” In the Junior/Senior category, first prize went to Myka Melville for “Mord, Manipulierung und Methoden: Eine Analyse der Methoden von Kommissär Bärlach in Der Richter und sein Henker” and to Rafaela Uzan for “‘Aimée und Jaguar‘: ein Film über die deutsche Vergangenheit und Gegenwart.” In the Graduate Category, first prize was awarded to Willow Ulrike Groundwater-Schuldt for “Mystery and Mourning: Hölderlin’s ‘Empedokles’ Project and the Mechanism of Tragedy”; second prize went to Tianyi Shou for “Kafka, Minor Literature, and Many Chinas: Remoteness as Modernist Method” and to Wei Wang for “Colossal Illusion — Problematizing the Necessity of Illusion with Kafka’s ‘Beim Bau der chinesischen Mauer’ and the Kantian Colossal.”
The Simmons Award in German is given to the student who has done the “best work in German” in the College of Arts & Sciences. This year’s recipient was Olivia Kim.
German Studies also has a direct exchange program with the University in Heidelberg and this year that scholarship was awarded to Myka Melville.
Book prizes are given to outstanding students nominated by their German instructors. The recipients were Celina Xu, Judah Alexander Mintz, Serin Myung, Aareeb Jamil, Daniel Zelich, Jared Viani, Charlie Rogers, Nia Jikia, Emma Pellecer, Kasper Atkinson, Harry Yu, Annie Koch, Angela Chang, Nina Maurer, Franklin Zheng, Grant Smith and Isabelle Braden.
The Language Certificate in German Language Study for having achieved an advanced level of language competence through course work at the 3000-level corresponding to the criteria set by The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (level B2+) was awarded to Isabelle Braden, Grant Smith and Franklin Zheng.
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
The 2025 Undergraduate Messenger Chalmers Prize for best thesis essay on research and thinking on human progress was awarded to Brando Sell and Rachel Sulciner.
The Cornelius W. DeKiewiet Prize to the outstanding history majors (junior) who have demonstrated unusual promise and excellence in the field was awarded to Ciara Flaherty and Nicholas Vega.
The Clyde A. Duniway Book Prize for the best junior in the College of Arts & Sciences was awarded to Aitan Avgar.
The Bernard and Fannie Lang Prize for the best honors thesis in U.S. history or American studies was awarded to Rachel Sulciner.
The Anne Macintyre Litchfield Prize to an outstanding woman graduating with a major in history was awarded to McKinley Copenhaver.
The George S. Lustig Prize, awarded to the outstanding senior who intends to continue the study of history at the graduate level, went to Kate Sullivan.
The Benard E. West Prize, awarded competitively to the most promising undergraduate research scholar specializing in American history, went to Kate Sullivan.
The 2025 Messenger Chalmers Graduate Prize for best dissertation essay on research and thinking on human progress was awarded to Emilio Ocampo and Sarah Meiners.
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY OF ART
The Sampson Fine Arts Prize, given to the members of the senior class who have consistently demonstrated academic excellence, commitment, and achievement, particularly in the field of the history of art, was awarded to Ashley Koca.
The Alumni Distinguished Leadership Award, given to a member of the senior class who in her or his time as a major has demonstrated outstanding leadership and commitment to the field of history of art, was awarded to Leah Han.
The Departmental Award for Advancing the Discipline of Art History, given to a member of the senior class who has advanced the discipline of art history through innovative research and creative projects, was awarded to Audrey Yin.
JOHN S. KNIGHT INSTITUTE FOR WRITING IN THE DISCIPLINES
Spring 2024 Awards:
The Adelphic Award went to Hedy Song for “Chaozhou Theatre Reform and China’s Cultural Diplomacy During the Cold War.”
The Writing in the Majors Prize was awarded to Valerie Hu for “Gentrification and Housing Inequality in the Land of Unicorns.”
The James E. Rice Prizes were awarded to Ian Branigan for “Causation and Dōgen’s Uji.” Honorable mention went to Ashley Ong for “Abortion and the Southern Baptist Church.”
The English 2880, Expository Writing Prize went to Alexis Huang for “A Criticism on Research on the Role of Women in Insurgent Movements in the MENA Region.” Honorable mentions went to Emily McFadden for “A Lens Into the Life of a 19th Century Housewife: Exploring a copy of The American Frugal Housewife” and Jade Melendez for “Oriens.”
The Gertrude Spencer Prize for Students and Instructors was awarded to Itunu Adejare, student, and Rejoice Abutsa, instructor, for “Igwebuike: The Idea of Sisterhood and Women’s Narratives in Nollywood.”
The Spencer Portfolio Award for Students and Instructors went to L.C. Relleke, student, and Charline Jao, instructor, for “Spring 2024 Portfolio.” Honorable mention went to Farah Achouri, student, and Sarah Then Bergh, instructor.
The James F. Slevin Assignment Sequence Prize was awarded to Charline Jao for “The Spectator-Passenger Assignment Sequence.”
The Neil Lubow Prize was awarded to Riya Mittle for “The Caste System: An Analysis of Multiple Milennia of Marginalization.”
The John S. Knight Award for Writing Exercises and Handouts went to Sang-O Kim for “Writing Workshop-Audience Awareness.” Honorable mention went to Savannah Emmons for “Formality and Style Practice.”
Fall 2024 Awards:
The Adelphic Award went to Matthew Chen for “Writing Assignment 3: Mock Amicus Brief.” Honorable mention was awarded to Kevin Feng for “Constructing a Model for Food Choices: From Theory to Reality.”
The Spencer Portfolio Award for Students and Instructors was awarded to Rachel Adam, student, and Nic Vigilante, instructor, for “Welcome to the Plastic Beach.” Honorable mention went to Addison Morgenstern, student, and Connor Rechtzigel, instructor, for “Spencer Portfolio.”
The Writing in the Majors Prize honorable mentions went to Lea Hostetter-Habib for “Five Years Later: Assessing the Impact of China’s 2018 Ivory Ban on Illegal Trade” and Ho’ohila Kawelo for “Kawahaookamanō; Wahi Pana.”
The ENGL 2880, Expository Writing Prize went to Helen Ge for “CUT UP WORDS ALL STRUNG UP NOX.” Honorable mention went to Caleb Suh for “The Cost of Happiness: Moral Compromise and Social Responsibility.”
The Gertrude Spencer Prize for Students and Instructors was awarded to Hawon Park, student, and Nic Vigilante, instructor, for ‘Musical Layers of “Love Wins All.’” Honorable mention went to Ava Kumar, student, and Nikky Suarez, instructor, for “Arranged Marriages Within Celestial Bodies: Analyzing the Cognitive Dissonance They Produce.”
The James F. Slevin Assignment Sequence Prize was awarded to Nic Vigilante for “The Story of a Song.” Honorable mention went to Alice Wolff for “History of an Ingredient: Introduction to Primary Source Analysis.”
The Buttrick-Crippen Fellowship was awarded to Alix Choinet in Romance studies.
The Neil Lubow Prize was awarded to Taeyoung Kim for “The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Good Intention Account.”
The John S. Knight Award for Writing Exercises and Handouts went to Rajvi Thakore for “Close-viewing Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire (1987).” Honorable mention went to Aaron Childree for “Drafting vs. Revising Lesson and Handout.”
LANGUAGE RESOURCE CENTER
The Lisa Sansoucy Language Scholar Award, recognizing a student who excels in learning a less commonly taught language, went to Mahnoor B Cheema.
LATINA/O STUDIES PROGRAM
The Latina/o Studies Program award for outstanding work in the Latina/o studies undergraduate minor, community engagement and academic achievements was awarded to Isabella Riano.
The Latine Student Success Office certificate of appreciation recognizing outstanding dedication and service to Cornell's Latinx student community was awarded to Ricky Boche, Assistant Dean of Students, Office of the Dean of Students, Student Support and Advocacy Services.
LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, & TRANSGENDER STUDIES PROGRAM
The Undergraduate Prize for work on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Studies went to Emileen Flores for writing “Navigating Queerness and Education” and to Nic Oke for writing “Cradle Controversies: Examining Italy’s Surrogacy Ban via Feminist Theory.” Honorable mention went to Anya Sudershan Khanna for writing “Gender Abolition: A Beauvoirian Argument for Discursive and Social Gender Expansion.”
The Biddy Martin Graduate Prize for work on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender studies went to Waleska Solórzano for “La Rumba Remains: Lexi Parra Photographs the House of Fantasy and Venezuela’s Rising Ballroom Scene.”
DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS
Department teaching awards, which recognize the importance of faculty and graduate students in the teaching and learning of mathematics, were awarded to graduate students Amit Harlev, Colby Kelln and Gabriella Torres Nothaft.
The Robert John Bättig Graduate Prize for excellence and promise in mathematics was awarded to Xingzhe Li and Alekos Robotis.
The Eleanor Norton York Award for achievements to date in mathematics went to graduate students Brian Chao and Conan Gillis.
The Hutchinson Fellowship for outstanding work as teaching assistants or as students in the graduate program was awarded to Hanul Jeon.
The Torng Prize for outstanding work as a teacher was awarded to graduate students Esther Gallmeier and Alex Vidinas.
Winners of the First-Year Prize Exam are Derek Xu and Evan Yang. Honorable mentions went to Henry Ji, Caleb Shim and Tyler White.
The Harry S. Kieval Prize in Mathematics was awarded to undergraduate mathematics majors Rowan Hess, Nilay Patel and Songyu Ye.
The Transcendence Award in Mathematics was awarded to undergraduate mathematics major Richard Zhu.
MEDIEVAL STUDIES PROGRAM
The Tom Hill Graduate Essay Award for the best graduate essay in any area of Medieval studies was awarded to Willow Groundwater-Schuldt (German studies) for “The Hysteric Kriemhild.”
The Carol Kaske Prize for the best undergraduate essay on a Medieval or Renaissance topic was awarded to Sophia Gottfried for “We’re Off to the Wild Woods: A Phenomenological Investigation of the First Branch of the ‘Mabinogi.’”
DEPARTMENT OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND GENETICS
The Harry and Samuel Mann Outstanding Graduate Student Award was awarded to Yanru Liu.
The George P. Hess Travel Award was awarded to Mateusz Wagner.
The Rita and Joe Calvo Graduate Student Teaching Award went to Claire McNally.
The CALS Outstanding Teaching Awards were awarded to graduate students Jillian Breault and Mateusz Wagner.
DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC
The Ellen Gussman Adelson Prize, which rewards and encourages outstanding Cornell students excelling in instrumental music performance, went to Jack Dobosh, Hannah Friedman and Derek Thompson.
The John James Blackmore Prize, which assists undergraduate and graduate students studying music, was awarded to Claire Wang, Thomas Feng, Jack Yarbrough, Anthony Washington and Olivia Penick.
The H.A. Falconer Memorial Scholarship, which assists talented undergraduates in studying voice, went to Seamus Gillis.
The Otto R. Stahl Memorial Award, which honors a graduate composer for excellent work, went to James Parker.
The Barbara Troxell Vocal Music Award, for outstanding vocal students who evidence professional musical interests, went to Alice Roberts and Summer Seward.
The Donald J. Grout Memorial Prize, for recognition of exceptional dissertations, went to Thomas Cressy and Morton Wan.
DEPARTMENT OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES
Language Awards for excellence in Arabic went to Sophie Moretti Reed, Aiman H Sabaawy, Caroline Crawford Kelly, Sharon Sun, Ashley Kay Koca, Osita Mark Achufusi and Zainab Talha.
The Language Award for excellence in Persian went to Lily Ehsan.
Language Awards for excellence in Hebrew went to Lauren Gabrielle Chase, Ethan Yang, Yael Leah Spector, Ari Levi Kapelyan and Alex Judah Lebowitz.
The Language Award for excellence in Turkish went to Sharon Sun.
DEPARTMENT OF NEUROBIOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR
The Robert R. Capranica Award for outstanding undergraduate honors thesis in neuroethology went to Shelly Dong (laboratory of Nozomi Nishimura).
The Miriam M. Salpeter Award for outstanding undergraduate honors thesis in neurobiology went to Anthony Ippolito (laboratory of David Deitcher).
The Cynthia Kagarise Sherman Award for outstanding undergraduate honors thesis in behavior went to Joshua Sokol (laboratory of Katherine Tschida).
The CALS Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award went to Sarah Campbell for BioNB 4720 Visual Ecology.
DEPARTMENT OF PERFORMING AND MEDIA ARTS
The Marvin Carlson Award for 2024 was given to Nic Vigilante for the essay “Salty, Sweet, and Spicy: Ingestion and Immersion in Queer Asian American Nightlife.”
The Elizabeth D. Worman Fund for Graduate Students awarded a grant to Ph.D. student Gina De La Rocha Goico.
The Elizabeth D. Worman Undergraduate Award was given to Benjamin Mehler.
DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY
The Program on Ethics and Public Life has awarded the 2024 Robert S. Hatfield Award for Study of Ethics in Business and Organizations to Vrinda Kapoor and Yemima Yoon.
Edvard Meza, Ph.D. candidate in philosophy, is the winner of the Sadov Graduate Student Fellowship for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Migdalia Arcila-Valenzuela, Ph.D. candidate in philosophy, has been awarded the Charlotte W. Newcombe Fellowship.
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
The Yennie Prize in Physics, for a senior student majoring in physics who shows unusual promise for future contributions to physics research and who intends to earn a doctorate, went to Aastha Bagree and Raghav Sarangi.
The Kieval Prize in Physics, awarded to senior physics students who demonstrate unusual promise for future contributions to physics research, went to Qianchi Liu and Julian Turner.
The Erik Cassel ’90 Prize, awarded to an undergraduate physics major who has demonstrated exceptional creativity and promise in applying computer programming to a project in physics or related fields, went to Sabrina McDowell and Owen Wetherbee.
The Hartman Prize in Physics went to Sarah Gates.
The Boochever Fellowship from the Boochever family went to Jeevan Chandra Namburi for Fall 2024 and Jooheon Yoo for Spring 2025.
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
The Leo Meltzer Award, celebrating the contributions of former Professor Leo Meltzer, is for the best undergraduate thesis in the field of social psychology, broadly defined. The award goes to Kayla Knupfer for “Case Closed: How Legal Rigidity Undermines Trust, Fairness, and Effective Counsel in Capital Trials.”
Austen Mack-Crane and Haowen Zheng are the winners of the department’s award for excellence in teaching for their work as teaching assistants.
The Robert McGinnis Best Paper Award celebrates excellence in methodological innovations, broadly defined. The award goes to Brian Haggard for his paper “Gatekeepers or Conduits? Christian Ministers’ Relationship with Mental Health Professionals in an Age of Polarization.”
The Robin M. Williams Jr. Award for best graduate student paper goes to Hyo Joo Lee for her paper “Educational Assortative Mating and Parental Financial Investment in Children” and Zhipeng Zhou for his paper “Sectoral Differences in Employment Precarity and Labor Income Inequality: The Effect of Market Transition in China.”
The Robin M. Williams Jr. Award for best graduate student paper on race and ethnicity goes to Hao Liang for his paper “Gender Imbalance, Intermarriage, and Ethnic Residential Segregation.”
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