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Awards and Accolades

A Pitt professor’s new biography chronicles the early life of August Wilson

Laurence Glasco has often walked the streets of Pittsburgh’s historic Hill District neighborhood, both by himself and with students as part of his work exploring and documenting Black life in the city.

The stroll through the winding, cobbled avenues helps Glasco connect with playwright August Wilson, who, before he became a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, also walked the same streets observing and absorbing the stories of the everyday men and women around him.

The Dietrich School has 2 new Goldwater Scholars

Representing fields from neuroscience to immunology, two Pitt juniors have been awarded the 2026 Goldwater Scholarship, the nation’s most prestigious scholarship aimed specifically at STEM students. The awardees bring Pitt’s total number of Goldwater Scholars to 69.

This year’s winners are Katelyn Chen and Alec Scuitto, both students in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and the David C. Frederick Honors College.

7 Dietrich faculty were honored with 2026 Chancellor’s Distinguished Awards

Sixteen Pitt faculty members, including seven faculty members from the Dietrich School, have earned the 2026 Chancellor’s Distinguished Awards for exemplifying excellence in public service, research, and teaching.

Each honoree will receive a $2,000 cash prize and a $3,000 grant to support their work and will be recognized at the Faculty Honors Convocation on March 31 in Alumni Hall.

Below are this year’s recipients by category and their highlighted achievements.

Announcing the 2026 Ampco-Pittsburgh Prize for Excellence in Advising winners!

The Dietrich School would like to congratulate our 2026 Ampco-Pittsburgh Prize for Excellence in Advising winners!
 
The Ampco-Pittsburgh Prize for Excellence in Advising is an annual award that recognizes outstanding faculty and staff academic advising for undergraduate students. The awardees receive a one-time cash prize of $4,000. This year’s winners are:
 

The Dietrich School Innovation Initiative award winners have been announced

The Dietrich Innovation Initiative, also known as DI2, has announced the winners of this year's competition. From the website, the initiative is "a transformative opportunity to empower faculty and staff to enrich research, student learning, and community engagement and foster a sense of future-oriented, constant development. It’s an invitation to our community of learners to take on the compelling questions at the school, the University, and in higher education that engage their interest and curiosity."

There are two awards available with the initiative: 

Two Dietrich School affiliates were named New Pittsburgh Courier Women of Excellence

Nine Pitt leaders and affiliates have been recognized by the New Pittsburgh Courier as Women of Excellence for their professional achievements and contributions to the Greater Pittsburgh community.

The Women of Excellence Awards celebrate those whose leadership, service and accomplishments have made a meaningful impact across sectors including education, social services, community advocacy and health.

Dr. Ivan Yotov wins Humboldt Research Award

Ivan Yotov, a professor in the Department of Mathematics at the Dietrich School, has received the Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany.

The Humboldt Research Award is conferred to internationally recognized researchers in recognition of their entire academic record to date. 

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation sponsors distinguished international scientists and scholars irrespectively of their academic discipline or nationality and maintains an international network of academic cooperation and trust. 

Graham Hatfull reflected on 25 years of research in a special PNAS paper

In the late 1990s, Graham Hatfull and colleagues reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) their findings about genetic connections between distantly related bacteriophages, viruses that kill bacteria, in a paper titled “Evolutionary relationships among diverse bacteriophages and prophages: All the world’s a phage.”