Phi Beta Kappa, Film and Television Awards Season, ‘Best Scientists in the World,’ and More

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 December 21, 2023 to January 24, 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. 

INSTITUTIONAL

Columbia Business School buildings (Henry R. Kravis Hall and David Geffen Hall) on the Manhattanville campus received a 2023 Prix Versailles World Title award, “special prize for an interior,” in the category of “campuses.”

FACULTY

ARTS & HUMANITIES

Susan Boynton, professor in the Music Department, was elected a fellow of the Medieval Academy of America, which honors major, long-term scholarly achievement in the field of Medieval Studies.

Aliza Nisenbaum (Visual Arts) and Anocha Suwichakornpong (Film), professors at School of the Arts, have both received 2024 “Wild Futures: Art, Culture, Impact” Awards in Visual Arts and Film/Moving Image from Creative Capital. Nisenbaum won for Modes of Assembly, a series of paintings, and Suwichakornpong won for the documentary film, Fiction.

MEDICINE & SCIENCE

Gregory Alexander, Helen Young CUPHSONAA Professor of Nursing, was elected U.S. Representative to the International Medical Informatics Association – Nursing Informatics. He was also appointed Vice Chair of the American Medical Informatics Association's Clinical Informatics Conference in 2024.

Cristiane Duarte, Ruane Professor for the Implementation of Science for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, has been selected to serve on the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse.

Noémie Elhadad, associate professor of Biomedical Informatics, was named among the top 10 people in artificial intelligence healthcare by Business Insider.

Stephen Ferrara, associate professor of Nursing, was named to City & State New York's 2024 Health Care Power 100.

Eleven Columbia scientists were named to Research.com’s Best Scientists in the World 2023 Ranking, which ranks scientists according to their general H-index, or the frequency with which they are cited. The Columbia scientists on the list are Eric R. Kandel, University Professor Emeritus; Martin B. Leon, Mallah Family Professor of Cardiology; Jeffrey A. Lieberman, Lawrence C. Kolb Professor of Psychiatry; Tom Maniatis, Isidore S. Edelman Professor of Biochemistry; J. John Mann, Paul Janssen Professor of Translational Neuroscience; Richard Mayeux, Gertrude H. Sergievsky Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry and Epidemiology; Yaakov Stern, Florence Irving Professor of Neuropsychology; Joseph E. Stiglitz, University Professor; P. M. Tuts, professor of Physics; and Myrna M. Weissman, Diane Goldman Kemper Family Professor of Epidemiology.

SOCIAL SCIENCES

Timothy Frye, Marshall D. Shulman Professor of Post-Soviet Foreign Policy in the Department of Political Science, has been named to a five-year term on the Kluge Scholars Council at the Library of Congress. 

Eunji Kim, assistant professor of Political Science, received the American Journal of Political Science Best Article Award from the Midwest Political Science Association. It is given to the “best article appearing in the volume of the American Journal of Political Science published in the year preceding the conference." 

Elizabeth Scott, Harold R. Medina Professor Emerita of Law, will receive a Leadership Prize from the Juvenile Law Center, which recognizes outstanding individuals fighting for the rights and well-being of youth in the child welfare and justice systems.

POSTDOCS & STUDENTS

Columbia College announced the 26 members of the senior class selected for Phi Beta Kappa: Sophia Abrahamson, Talia Abrahamson, Ardaschir Arguelles, Eleanor Campbell, Sam Chun, Susannah Cray, Zoe Davidson, Steven DiSilvio, Kathy Fang, William Gore, Vasvi Gupta, Isabella Hendricks, Narayan Kini, Eleanor Lin, Eric Mao, Grace Mao, Sophia McHugh, Avishi Poddar, Aiden Sagerman, Ben Solomon, Katherine St George, Victor Swezey, Kyla Tang, Mrinalini Sisodia Wadhwa, Mingxuan Wang, Dennis Zhang.

Paul Hill (GS'28), Chelsea Jeon (Columbia Entrepreneurship/eLab Fellow), and Tomer Yaron-Barir (VPS'26) were named to Forbes 30 Under 30 list for 2024. Check out the full list for all 18 Columbians, including alumni. 

Theo Nelson (CC’24) has been named a 2024–25 Churchill Scholar. He joins 18 total Churchill Scholars who were selected—16 in the sciences, math, and engineering, and two Kanders Churchill Scholars for science policy. You can learn more about Nelson in a Columbia News article here. 

FILM/TV AWARDS SEASON SPECIAL SECTION

Writer/director Greta Gerwig (BC'06) won a Golden Globe award for “Barbie” on January 7. Check out the full list of Columbians whose projects were nominated. 

Several Columbians won 2023 Emmy Awards in television on January 15: Tim Carvell (CC’95) and Joanna Rothkopf (JRN'14) for “Last Week Tonight,” Scott Ferguson (SOA'90) for “Succession,” Ramin Hedayati (CC'02) for “The Daily Show,” and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (CC'99) for “The Bear.” Check out all the Columbians whose projects were nominated. 

Nearly 20 Columbia filmmakers have films at Sundance Film Festival this month: Sam Bisbee (CC’90), Anna Boden (CC'02), Claire Brooks (SOA'21), part-time Associate in Film Tony Bui, An Chu (SOA’22), Josh Cohen (SOA’15), Tony Gerber (SOA'95), Professor of Professional Practice in Film Tom Kalin, Graham Mason (SOA’11), Blaine Morris (GS’19), Ian Olds (SOA'06), Adjunct Professor Rich Perello, Celine Song (SOA'14), Tyler St. Pierre (SOA’21), Matthew Tyler (SOA’12), C. Mason Wells (CC'06), Jennifer Westin (SOA’07), and Claudia Yusef (SOA'12).