Graduate Student Accolades
Pitt School of Medicine Student Receives Herbert W. Nickens Scholarship
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 Pitt Bioengineering PhD Students Awarded NSF Fellowships
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 receive NIH F31 Fellowships
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).
Brunick and Soni selected as TIPH Ambassadors
Two Pitt Public Health graduate students, McKenna Brunick and Maahi Soni, have been selected as This is Public Health (TIPH) ambassadors for the 2025–26 academic year.
PhD candidate Hecheng Jin wins first place poster award at International MRI Conference
Hecheng Jin, PhD candidate in the 7T Bioengineering Research Program (7TBRP), received the first-place poster award at the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) Annual Meeting this spring for her presentation “Design and implementation of a 1H/31P dual-tuned head coil at 7T.”
PhD candidate Vuk Vuković was awarded an ACLS Leading Edge Fellowship
Vuković has been selected for the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Leading Edge Fellowship. Vuković studies in the Dietrich School’s Department of History of Art and Architecture as well as its Film and Media Studies Program.
PhD candidate Paula Orozco-Espinel received a Newcombe Fellowship
Paula Orozco-Espinel, a doctoral candidate in Department of History at the University of Pittsburgh Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, has been named a Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship recipient.
Christian Knox received a Department of Energy research award
Christian Knox, a third-year chemistry PhD student in the University of Pittsburgh Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, has been selected to the Department of Energy’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program. Knox is a part of Peng Liu’s research group.
PhD student Hossein Nakhaei won a Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship
Hossein Nakhaei, a PhD student in Pitt’s Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, has received a Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship.
A graduate student is Pitt’s newest Critical Language Scholar
University of Pittsburgh graduate student Elaina Hopkins has been awarded a 2025 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS). The program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and administered by the American Councils for International Education, promotes language learning and cultural exchange in regions critical to U.S. national security and economic prosperity.
3 grad students among PBT's 30 Under 30
These Pitt graduate students were among the 11 Pitt people named to the Pittsburgh Business Times' 2025 30 Under 30 list.
2 Pitt graduate students are finalists in the Collegiate Inventors Competition
Patrick Dunn and Alireza Mohammadzadeh, both graduate researchers in the Swanson School of Engineering, have been named finalists in the Collegiate Inventors Competition (CIC) for their invention, AgriNUE.
4 Pitt graduate students earned Boren Awards to study language abroad
Michael DeAngelo, Ryan Druffner, Angela Le, and Kristina Rajakovich were named winners of Boren Awards, which provides funding for U.S. students to study abroad in critical world regions, learning languages and cultures.
A Pitt PhD candidate earned a Mendenhall Research Fellowship
Chloë Glover, a PhD candidate in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences' Department of Geology and Environmental Science, was awarded a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mendenhall Research Fellowship. Only a handful of applicants are awarded the postdoctoral fellowship each year.
Pitt graduate student received 2024 Critical Language Scholarship
Christina White, a graduate student in the School of Medicine, has been named a 2024 Critical Language scholar.