Graduate Student Accolades

Pitt Public Health doctoral student Aubree McMahon has been selected to join the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) Student Think Tank Fellowship for the 2026–2027 cohort.

Varun Shelke, a master’s student studying information science at SCI, was part of a team with four Pitt Business graduate students who took home first place in the Fall 2025 KPMG Cup Showcase.

When Yoni Preuss (MPA ’26) was awarded the Alex Yerkey Memorial Scholarship from the Southwest Section of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA PA SW) in recognition of his commitment to the field of urban planning, it marked the next step in a journey he traces back to a summer spent studying in Berlin, Germany. 

Research led by Daniel Ivanov, a physics and astronomy graduate student in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences at Pitt, uncovered a contender for one of the earliest observed spiral galaxies containing a stellar bar, a sometimes-striking visual feature that can play an important role in a galaxy’s evolution.

From the campaign trail to city hall, second-year Master of Public Administration (MPA) student David Bilger is putting public service into action—and being recognized for his impact.

Doctoral student Alex Fixler is the recipient of the 2026 Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Doctoral Fellows Award for her dissertation proposal “Policy, Penalties, and Public Safety: Measuring the Impact of State Drug Laws on Arrest and Overdose Rates.” Alex was also a recent recipient of a Provost’s Dissertation Completion Fellowship.

Becca Segel, a 2024 ChemE PhD graduate, was just named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Manufacturing & Industry list for 2026. Becca is the founder of FlowCellutions, which makes predictive diagnostics and hardware sensors for grid-scale batteries. Learn more in Becca's Forbes profile.

Maheen Ibrahimi, a third-year student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, was determined to make a change upon her arrival to the city. Her efforts over the past few years have led her to be selected as a 2025 recipient of the Herbert W. Nickens Medical Student Scholarship from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). 

Two Bioengineering PhD students at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering—Durwash Badr and Katelin Rahn—received competitive fellowships from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP) in 2025. 

Four Bioengineering PhD students at the Swanson School of Engineering will receive funding toward their studies in 2025, thanks to prestigious awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).