Emmy Awards, Bielefeld Science Prize, American Cancer Society Awards, and More Accolades for Columbians
From medicine to writing to social sciences, here are the Columbians who received awards recently.
Columbia News produces a monthly newsletter (subscribe here!) and article series featuring a roundup of awards and milestones that Columbia faculty, staff, and students have received in recent days. In this edition, you’ll find awards and milestones from Aug. 20 to Sept. 16, 2026.
If you have an accomplishment you'd like to be considered for inclusion, please email [email protected] with your name, title, school, department, and a link to the relevant award or milestone.
You can take a look at past accomplishments on our Awards & Milestones page. And you can subscribe to receive the newsletter in your inbox.
INSTITUTIONAL
The Li Lu Law Library at Columbia Law School was recognized in American Libraries’ 2026 Library Design Showcase, which celebrates new and renovated libraries across the U.S. and Canada.
FACULTY
ARTS & HUMANITIES
Rachel Adams, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, won the 2026 Jennifer Crewe Distinguished Book Award from Columbia University Press for her book, Love, Money, Duty: Stories of Care in Our Times.
Jo Ann Cavallo, Professor Emerita of Italian, won the 2026 Nancy Staub Award for excellence in writing on the art of puppetry for her essay, “The Resilience of Sicilian Puppet Theater: Present and Future,” published in Athenaeum Review.
MEDICINE & SCIENCE
Multiple Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons investigators were recognized with American Cancer Society awards for their work in cancer research. Anup K. Biswas, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology, was awarded a Research Scholar Grant; Alberto Ciccia, Professor of Genetics and Development, was awarded a Discovery Boost Grant; Carla Concepcion, Assistant Professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics, was awarded an American Cancer Society Catalyst Award; Minah Kim, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology, was awarded a Discovery Boost Grant; Suyeon Kim, Postdoctoral Research Scientist in the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology was awarded a Traditional Postdoctoral Fellowship; Florencia Picech, Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics, was awarded a Traditional Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Marni Sommer, Professor of Sociomedical Sciences, was awarded the Elizabeth Fries Health Education Award by the CDC Foundation for transforming menstrual health into a recognized global public health priority.
Mary Beth Terry, Professor of Epidemiology and Environmental Sciences, was honored as an American Cancer Society Professor by the American Cancer Society.
SOCIAL SCIENCES
Kate Andrias, Patricia D. and R. Paul Yetter Professor of Law and Vice Dean for Academic Affairs at Columbia Law School, and Olatunde Johnson, Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’59 Professor of Law, were named recipients of the Steven M. Polan Fellowship in Constitutional Law and History by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.
Seyla Benhabib, Senior Research Scholar and Adjunct Professor of Law, will receive the 2026 Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science in October. The prize is awarded annually to the individual or individuals who have produced “the most outstanding research” in political science.
Neel Guha, Associate Professor of Law, was named one of Top 50 Legal Innovators in Academia, which recognizes individuals who are shaping the future of legal education, by The National Law Review and Wickard.
Folarin Kolawole, Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, has been awarded the National Association of Black Geoscientists’ Patricia Hall Emerging Leader Award.
Katharina Pistor, Edwin B. Parker Professor of Comparative Law, is the recipient of the 2026 Bielefeld Science Prize from the Sparkasse Bielefeld Foundation. Awarded every two years, the €25,000 prize recognizes outstanding scholars for their interdisciplinary research.
POSTDOCS & STUDENTS
Dayo Adeoye (LAW’27) was selected for the MoloLamken Advocacy Academy, which allows students from top law schools to learn from and train with leading trial and appellate advocates during an intensive week-long program.
Bianca Dammholz (LAW’28) and Alexis Jade Ferguson (LAW’27) were named Justice John Paul Stevens Public Interest Fellows. The program enables law students to work in unpaid public interest summer internships.
Julia Perez-Pacheco (GSAS’27) was selected as a 2026–27 correspondent in the Ilíiaitchik Indigenous Correspondents Program for Planet Forward, an environmental storytelling project.
ALUMNI
At the 2026 Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards in television, Sara Barone (CC’17) wrote the score, alongside Sean Callery, for The Beast in Me, which won Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, and Olivia Newman (SOA’12) directed and executive produced Remarkably Bright Creatures, which won Outstanding Movie. Check out all the Columbians whose projects were nominated.