Nobel Prize in Economics, Wolf Prize, Blavatnik Awards, and More Accolades for Columbians

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 Sept. 17 to Oct. 15, 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. 

FACULTY

ARTS & HUMANITIES

Susanna Berger, Walter Burke Associate Professor of Art History, has won the 2026 Barzun Prize in Cultural History from the American Philosophical Society, in recognition of her book, The Deformation: Attention and Discernment in Catholic Reformation Art and Architecture.

Elisheva Carlebach, Salo Wittmayer Baron Professor of Jewish History, Culture, and Society, has received two National Jewish Book Awards: the Nahum M. Sarna Memorial Award for Scholarship, and the Barbara Dobkin Award for Women’s Studies, for her latest book, A Woman Is Responsible for Everything: Jewish Women in Early Modern Europe, co-authored with Debra Kaplan.

Hannah Farber, Associate Professor of History, and Ross Perlin, Lecturer, Department of Slavic Languages, are 2026-2027 Fellows at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. At the Cullman Center, Farber will work on The American Lawsuit, a history of civil litigation in the early United States, and Perlin will work on a book about the history of translation and the race by missionaries, linguists, language activists, and AI companies to reach every language in the world.

Lori A. Flores, Associate Professor of History, received the third annual 2026 Nach Waxman Prize for Food and Beverage Scholarship from Kitchen Arts & Letters for her book, Awaiting Their Feast: Latinx Food Workers & Activism from World War II to COVID-19.

Steven Holl, Professor of Architecture, has received the 2026 Kanter Tritsch Medal in Architecture from the Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania. The medal honors an architect or firm that has changed the course of design history, with particular attention to energy conservation, environmental quality, and diversity.

Rosalind Morris, Moore Collegiate Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the Anthropology Department, has been named co-winner of the 2026 AES Senior Book Prize, awarded by the American Ethnological Society every two years. Morris shares this year's prize for her book, Unstable Ground: The Lives, Deaths, and Afterlives of Gold in South Africa, with Danilyn Rutherford.

Mae Ngai, Lung Family Professor Emerita of Asian American Studies and Professor Emerita of History, has been named a 2026-2027 Margaret Olivia Sage Scholar by the Russell Sage Foundation for her “outstanding career accomplishments.”

MEDICINE & SCIENCE

Several researchers at Columbia Climate School's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory will be honored at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU): Jacqueline Austermann, Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, received the James B. Macelwane Medal, AGU’s premier award for scientists within 10 years of receiving their PhD, given in recognition of significant contributions to Earth and space science. Galen McKinley, Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and Gisela Winckler, Professor of Climate, were elected as AGU Fellows, recognized for “exceptional contributions to Earth and space science through a breakthrough, discovery, or innovation in their field.”  William B. F. Ryan, Doherty Senior Scholar, received the Maurice Ewing Medal, which is given annually to one honoree in recognition of significant contributions to original research, leadership, mentoring, and service in the ocean sciences, including the advancement of technology. The Medal is jointly sponsored with the United States Navy and is named in honor of Maurice Ewing, founding director of the Lamont Geological Observatory (now the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory), who made significant contributions to deep-sea exploration. Andrew Williams, who will join Columbia as Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in July 2027, received the AGU James R. Holton Early Career Award. The award recognizes outstanding scientific research and accomplishments from honorees within three years of receiving their PhD.

Nicholas Christie-Blick, Professor Emeritus of Earth and Environmental Sciences and a researcher at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, was awarded an Erskine Fellowship at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

Julie Herbstman, Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, received $19,078,537 over five years for a subaward from the Office of the NIH Director for “Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health in ECHO II: Impact of environmental exposures on children's health and the comorbidity of asthma and ADHD.” 

Eric J. Johnson, Norman Eig Professor of Business at Columbia Business School, and Lloyd E. Ratner, Professor of Surgery and Director of Renal and Pancreatic Transplantation at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, were jointly awarded a  KidneyX EMPOWER: Living Link Prize for a project that aims to increase the number of living kidney donors.

Brent Stockwell, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, and Pathology & Cell Biology, won three awards for projects exploring cancer immunology from different angles. From the Department of Defense Melanoma Research Program, Stockwell received a Team Science Award for inducing lipid peroxidation in lymph nodes, where melanoma cells are protected from the immune system. Stockwell also received a Mark Foundation for Cancer Research Award for a project that targets myeloid cells, a blood cell formed in the bone marrow (and a key part of the immune system) to treat cancer. The third award, an AACR-Mark Foundation Chemistry in Cancer Research Grant, supports a project in which iNKT cells, naturally present in the liver, will identify cancer cells by seeking certain traits.

Sebastian Will, Associate Professor of Physics, was selected by the American Physical Society (APS) as a 2026 APS Fellow, an honor recognizing APS members for their contributions to physics. He was also selected by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation as one of 21 investigators to join the 2026 cohort of Experimental Physics Investigators. The initiative recognizes mid-career researchers who are pushing the boundaries of the field.

Charles S. Zuker, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and of Neuroscience, and Principal Investigator at the Zuckerman Institute, won the Wolf Prize in Medicine for “revolutionizing our understanding of taste, the last of our senses to be elucidated.”

ENGINEERING

Natalie Fardian-Melamed, Associate Research Scientist and former Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia Engineering, was named a Blavatnik Regional Award for Young Scientists laureate. The Blavatnik Regional Awards honor scientists from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut whose postdoctoral research exemplifies extraordinary scientific excellence. Samuel H. Sternberg, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, was named a finalist for the Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists, which honors America’s most innovative young faculty-rank scientists and engineers. Two additional Postdoctoral Researchers, Itai Linial and Zhihao Cui (who left Columbia in the spring to join the University of California, Irvine as Assistant Professor), were named finalists for the Blavatnik Regional Awards. 

Carlos Paz-Soldan, Associate Professor of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, and Oak Nelson, Postdoctoral Research Scientist, working as part of a team, won the 2026 John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research from the American Physical Society. They were recognized for advancing a concept for a new approach to fusion that could reduce the complexity of fusion power plants.

SOCIAL SCIENCES

Seyla Benhabib, Senior Research Scholar and Adjunct Professor of Law, received the 2026 Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science. The prize is awarded annually to the individual or individuals who have produced “the most outstanding research” in political science.

Gemma Dipoppa, Assistant Professor of Political Science, with co-author Annalise Pezone, has received the 2026 McGillivray Best Paper Award from the Political Economy Section of the American Political Science Association for their paper, “The Logic of State Surveillance.”

Eunji Kim, Assistant Professor of Political Science, received the 2025-2026 Midwest Women's Caucus for Political Science Early Career Award. Her book, The American Mirage: How Reality TV Upholds the Myth of Meritocracy, was given an Honorable Mention for the 2026 Best Book Award from the Class and Inequality Section of the American Political Science Association.

Maria Victoria Murillo, Chair of the Political Science Department and Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs, has received the Konex Award for Political Science, awarded every decade to five political scientists for their achievements over the last 10 years. 

Kate Redburn, Associate Professor of Law, received the Dukeminier Award, which acknowledges the best law review articles concerning sexual orientation and gender identity. 

Simon Schama, University Professor of Art History and History, won an Emmy for Outstanding Historical Documentary and a BAFTA award for Simon Schama: The Holocaust, 80 Years On.

Marissa Thompson, Assistant Professor of Sociology, has been named to the Editorial Board of the journal Sociology of Education.

Calvin Thrall, Assistant Professor of Political Science, has received the 2026 Best Article Award from the International Collaboration Section of the American Political Science Association for his article, “Informational Lobbying and Commercial Diplomacy,” published in the American Journal of Political Science. 

Michael Woodford, John Bates Clark Professor of Political Economy at Columbia University, was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2026 alongside Robert E. Hall of Stanford for microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilization. He was also named a 2026 Citation Laureate in Economics “for contributions to the theory and practice of monetary policy.” This research transformed the activity of central banks by emphasizing “forward guidance” to manage public expectations and inflationary dynamics.

POSTDOCS & STUDENTS

Two student teams from Columbia Mailman School of Public Health’s Health Policy & Management program placed first and second (out of 350 participants) at this year's Pfizer 2026 Digital & Technology Hackathon. This annual competition brings together top talent from universities across the country to build innovative solutions for real-world health challenges facing communities every day. First place went to Isabella Gartner, Nitya Guduru, Tommy Park, Shreya Ramesh, and Angela Seo; second place went to Lona Bhardwaj, Djanaya Esiong, Jennifer Nasir, Himani Sirsi, and Nisat Taznim.

Grace Beeman (LAW’27), Siddharth Muchhal (LAW’27), and Bryan Najera Demoraes (LAW’26) placed first, second, and third, respectively, in the Professor William R. Ginsberg Memorial Essay Contest presented by the New York State Bar Association's Environmental and Energy Law Section. This is the sixth year in a row that a Columbia Law student has taken first place in the contest, and the 13th year in a row that a Columbia Law student has been among the top three winners.

Val Jeanty (CC'27) was named a fellow in the John Lewis Young Leaders program, which equips students with the necessary skills to become effective social justice and civic leaders.

Lingting Shi, Postdoctoral Research Scientist in the Herbert and Florence Irving Institute for Cancer Dynamics, was selected as a 2026 STAT Wunderkind. This award recognizes the work of early-career scientists and clinicians. 

Charmaine Yap (LAW’26) won the International Bar Association’s Outstanding Young Lawyer Award for 2026.