Forbes ‘30 Under 30,’ 2025 Marshall Scholar, Pickering Fellow, Alexander Hamilton Award, and More
From science to engineering, 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 November 21 to December 19, 2024.
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.
FACULTY
ARTS & HUMANITIES
Isabel Huacuja Alonso, Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies, received the second annual Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for South Asian Studies from the Modern Language Association of America, for her book, Radio for the Millions: Hindu-Urdu Broadcasting across Borders.
Galen DeGraf, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music, received the Public-Facing Scholarship Award from the Society for Music Theory. The award honored his video, "System and Symmetry: How to Compose like Arvo Pärt, Tintinnabuli Style," and is given for publications that advance the public’s knowledge and appreciation of music theory.
Jaquira Díaz, Assistant Professor of Writing at the School of the Arts, received a Letras Boricuas Fellowship from the Mellon Foundation and the Flamboyan Foundation Arts Fund.
Brent Hayes Edwards, Peng Family Professor of English and Comparative Literature, has received a 2024 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Excellence and a 2024 ASCAP Foundation Special Recognition Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Book Award in pop music for the book he co-wrote with Henry Threadgill, Easily Slip into Another World: A Life in Music.
Walter Frisch, H. Harold Gumm/Harry and Albert von Tilzer Professor of Music, and Ellie Hisama, Professor Emerita of Music, have become 2024 honorary members of the American Musicological Society.
Melissa Fusco, Associate Professor of Philosophy, has been selected for The Philosopher's Annual's 2023 Ten Best Articles of the Year.
SCIENCE, MEDICINE, & ENGINEERING
Columbia scientists have won an award of up to $41 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to build a wireless bioelectronic device to treat obesity and diabetes. The implantable device will enable time- and dose-controlled release of engineered cells that produce the drugs, reducing the risk of adverse events and potentially improving efficacy.
Linda P. Fried, Dean of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and DeLamar Professor of Public Health, Professor, Epidemiology and Medicine, has been named a 2024 NY Power Player in Health Care.
Shunichi Homma, Margaret Milliken Hatch Professor of Medicine, received The Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon from the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government for "distinguished services to the welfare of Japanese Residents and those of Japanese descent, and a very significant service to promote medical education and knowledge in Japan."
Ioannis Kymissis, Kenneth Brayer Professor of Electrical Engineering; W. Ian Lipkin, John Snow Professor of Epidemiology, and Konstantin Petrukhin, Professor of Ophthalmic Sciences, were elected to the National Academy of Inventors.
Kerstin Lehnert, Doherty Senior Research Scientist, Marine and Polar Geophysics, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, received the 2025 Distinguished Public Service Medal from the Mineralogical Society of America for distinguished contributions to public policy and outreach.
Venkat Venkatasubramanian, Samuel Ruben-Peter G. Viele Professor of Engineering, was awarded the William H. Walker Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He was honored for "pioneering contributions in developing hybrid artificial intelligence modeling frameworks for process fault diagnosis, supervisory control, process safety, and the inverse design of materials.”
SOCIAL SCIENCES
Lee C. Bollinger, President Emeritus and Seth Low Professor of the University, received the Judy Blume Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Coalition Against Censorship and the 2024 Alexander Hamilton Medal from Columbia College, the highest honor awarded to a member of the Columbia College community.
Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law, received the Humanitarian Award at the Ebony Power 100 Gala.
Monica Hakimi, William S. Beinecke Professor of Law, received a Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
Zachary Tumin, Adjunct Professor at Columbia SIPA, and Madeleine Want (SIPA’21) received a Bronze Medal, 2024 Axiom Business Book Awards, Emerging Trends/AI, for their book, Precisely.
STUDENTS
Congratulations to the 21 Columbians who secured a coveted spot on the Forbes "30 Under 30" list for 2025. Columbia Alumni Association compiled a full list of Columbians named here.
Kate Lampo (SEAS’25) was recently named a 2025 Marshall Scholar. Her work focuses on robotics for aerospace applications, and she plans to one day contribute to the development of robotic systems that enable the scientific exploration of our solar system. Established in 1953 to help strengthen ties between the US and the UK, the Marshall Scholarship provides for two years of postgraduate study in the UK.
Lia Silva (CC’25) was recently named a 2025 Pickering Foreign Affairs Graduate Fellow through which she plans to pursue a master’s in public administration and international relations. The fellowship program was established to prepare outstanding young people for Foreign Service careers in the US Department of State by providing support for a two-year master’s degree.
Emily Yin (SEAS'25) was recently selected as one of 10 national finalists out of 15,000+ applicants to participate in the Red Bull Basement National Final, a global pitch competition for young entrepreneurs to develop and launch their ideas with the help of AI.