Department Honors and Laurels for the Class of 2025
The following is a partial list of national, university, school and departmental awards presented to the members of the Class of 2025. In some awards where there are multiple winners, only members of the Class of 2025 are included.
National Competitive Scholarships
Rhodes Scholarship: Jenna Smith, an International Comparative Studies major with a minor in journalism and media will receive a scholarship covering all expenses for two years of study at the University of Oxford. (Read more on Duke Today.)
Marshall Scholarship: Marie-Hélène Tomé, Sarah Konrad and Daniel Ehrlich received the award for post-graduate studies in all academic disciplines at any university in the United Kingdom. (Read more on Duke Today)
Goldwater Scholarship: Juliet Jiang, Michelle Si and Marie-Hélène Tomé won a federally endowed award that supports students in pursuing careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering. (Read more in Duke Today.)
Harry S. Truman Scholarship: Yadira Paz-Martinez received the scholarship, which supports graduate study for top students seeking a career in public service. (Read more in Duke Today.)
The Beinecke Scholarship: Thang Chin Lian was named to a scholarship supporting graduate study in the arts, humanities or social sciences.
Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program: Laura May-Ying Tan received an award to study or intern abroad, providing them with skills critical to national security and economic prosperity.
Boren Scholarship: Quaid Edward Sutherland and Dena H. Levin won the scholarship that supports students studying abroad to pursue less commonly taught languages, cultures, and world regions.
Critical Language Scholarship: Rakshita Ramakrishna and Michelle Kristen Schultze earned the award that U.S. students an opportunity to study the language and culture in a foreign country.
The Schwarzman Scholarship: Anya Button was named a Schwarzman Scholar, a program that funds one year of graduate study in Beijing. (Read more in Duke Today.)
Udall Scholarship: Coral Rose Xing-Mei Lin received the award to further studies to become a policy analyst working to reach communities most affected by climate change. (Read more in Duke Today.)
Voyager Scholarship: Velda Wang received a scholarship that encourage college students to enter careers in public service.
Nakayama Scholarship: Sarah Konrad, Vineet Chovatia, Amy Fulton, Will Lieber, Thomas Newberry and Elliot Yoon won the scholarship supporting students interested in addressing challenging problems in public service.
Departmental and University Awards
African and African American Studies
John Hope Franklin Award for Academic Excellence: Max Kenneth Weil
Karla FC Holloway Writing Award: Sonia Monique Green and Alexis Hope Ligon Holloway
Walter C. Burford Leadership & Community Service Award: Vaughn-Regan Tyler Bledsoe and Jaden Dawniell Faunteroy
Mary McLeod Bethune Writing Award: Sanceray Sanai Smith
Art, Art History, and Visual Studies
Mary Duke Biddle Foundation Visual Art Award: Isabelle Carey
Nancy Kaneb Art History Award: Marley O’Connor and Oliver Hess
Sue and Lee Noel Prize in Visual Arts: Olivia “Noelle” Garrick
Visual Studies Initiative Award: Beatrice Kleeger and Kayla Lihardo
Cinematic Arts Outstanding Filmmaker Award: Isabel Dudlyke
Rodger Frey Film Essay Award: Vivian Guo
Athletics
ACC Plaque for Excellence, Scholarship and Athletics: Andrew William McAdorey and Reigan Richardson
Bass Connections
Excellence in Collaborative Leadership Award: Rachael Ellen Lau
Student Research Award: Sasha Fionnabhair Faison, Aline Josephine Malek, Zacharias Tsai Chen, Alexa Cristelle Diaz Cahilig, Dorian Ho, Heather Raslan, Eugene J. Cho
Morayoninuoluwa Abbey-Bada, Katherine Anne Reddy, Melanie Sian Chang, Nik Narain, Rohan Abhinav Gupta, Isha Dipen Shah
Biology
Biology Faculty Award: Sasha Nicole Bacot and Kaeden Kuschnitzky Hill
Edward C. Horn Memorial Prize for Excellence in Biology: Rachel Tressa Field
Excellence in Plant Science Prize: Ethan Maddox Whitehouse-Gurwitch
James B. Rast Memorial Award in Comparative Organismal Biology: Sophia Tressie Cox
Maggie Schneider Award in Marine Biology: Cecilia Jane Joshi
Biostatistics and Bioinformatics
Chair's Award for Overall Academic Excellence: Allison Introne
Outstanding Academic Achievement Award: Olivia Jordan Lambert, Xiaohui Jiang, Jiang Shu, Luowen Yu, Allison Yuan, Haiqi Zhang, Yan Zhang
Student Leadership Award: Austin D Allen and Jonathan Hui
Outstanding Master's Project Award for Clinical & Translational Research: Allison Introne, Delaney Underwood
Outstanding Master’s Project Award for Instrument Development: Faith Beatrice Aguirre Mendoza
Outstanding Master’s Project Award for Mathematical Biology: Xiaohui Jiang
Outstanding Master’s Project Award for Computational Biology: Yueshan Liang and Yan Zhang
Outstanding Master’s Project Award for Biomedical Data Science: Jiang Shu and Rushi Tang
Center for Documentary Studies
Julia Harper Day Award for Documentary Studies: Lauren Valle
Chemistry
American Chemical Society Analytical Division Undergraduate Award: Akweley Allotey
American Chemical Society Inorganic Division Undergraduate Award: Alexander Wilcox
American Chemical Society Organic Division Undergraduate Award: Rosemary Buhrman
American Chemical Society Physical Division Undergraduate Award: Amar Ruthen
Classical Studies
Classical Association of the Middle West and South Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in Classical Studies: Benjamin Ming Peng
David Taggart Clark Prize in Classical Studies: Sidney Justine Jordan and Anna Elizabeth Port
Computer Science
Alex Vasilos Memorial Award: Ethan Hsu, Janet C. Jiang, Reagan Lenora Razon, Davidson Jiaduo Zhu
Rebecca DeNardis Memorial Award: Kevin Alexander Alvarenga, Vincent Jixun Chen, Janet C. Jiang, Marisol Mata Nevarez
Cultural Anthropology
Paul Farmer Award for Justice and Social Responsibility: Celeste Elizabeth Clark
Creative Writing Program
Anne Flexner Memorial Award for Fiction: Emma Huang
George P. Lucaci Creative Nonfiction Award: Tyler King
Academy of American Poets: Tyler King and Matthew Chen
Anne Flexner Memorial Award for Poetry: Arielle Stern
Margaret Rose Knight Sanford Scholarship: Gabi Carter and Polyna Uzun
William Blackburn Scholarship: Sage Cooley
Dance Program
Julia Wray Memorial Dance Award: Kayla Lihardo
Dance Project Award: Gus Gress
Divinity School
Award for Excellence in Bible: Katherine Edwards and Brett MacDonald
Award for Outstanding Student in Theology: Sadie Rynbrandt
Frederick Buechner Writing Award: Eli Wanner and Cathleen Demant
Richard P. Heitzenrater Award for Excellence in History: Kristen Balzer
Hoyt Hickman Award for Excellence in Liturgics: Mackenzie Smith
Seminarian Award of the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music & Worship Arts: Mackenzie Smith
Jameson Jones Preaching Award: Marisol Hernández
McMurry Richey Awards:Field Education — Garrett Kaiser; Mission Recipients — Jilian Palmer and Sarah Solís; Student Pastor — Marisol Hernández
Doctor of Physical Therapy
ACAPT National Student Honor Society: Michelle Metzger, Claire Hanlon, Ciara Lynn Roche, Sarah Anne Stokes, Elise Giannotti, Bryan Tanigawa, Kathryn Elizabeth O'Reilly, Julianna Hom, Brynn Abigail Gille, Victoria G. King
Helen Kaiser Alumni Award: Said Azael Mendez
Jan Gwyer Student Recognition Award for Academic, Clinical, and Scholarly Excellence: Spencer A. Green
Forever Duke Student Leadership Award: Said Azael Mendez
Robert Bartlett Student Recognition Award for Service and Leadership Excellence: Bryan Tanigawa
DPT Inclusive Excellence Award: Kiara Smith
APTA Mary McMillan Student Scholarship Award: Said Azael Mendez
APTA Minority Scholarship Award: Chante Dominique Pettiford
Duke Arts
Benenson Award in the Arts: Tanya Agarwal, Grace Hye-Min Chun, Olivia Noelle Garrick, Elaine Yangliu Guo, Kaitlyn Ashley Maher, Khiyali Kuchimanchi Pillalamari and Lewis Liewei Zhu
Louis Sudler Prize: Nik Narain
Duke Global Health Institute
Madeline Boccuzzi Outstanding Master of Science in Global Health Student Award: Paul Ngangula
Michael Merson Undergraduate Student Leadership Award in Global Health: Sydney Chen
Duke Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute
Oliver W. Koonz Human Rights Prize: Madeleine McLean, Olivia Grace Canter, Kulsoom Rizavi and Anushri Saxena
Earth and Climate Science
Thomas V. Laska Memorial Award: Grace Avery Hall
English
Award for Most Original Honors Thesis: Tyler King
Victor Strandberg Award for Excellence in the Literary Arts: Natalie Rose Farris and Charlotte Grace Haidar
Barbara Hernnstein Smith Award for Outstanding Work in Literary Criticism or Theory: Arielle Zahra Stern
Stanley E. Fish Award for Outstanding Work in British & Anglophone Literature: Octavia Chilkoti
Louis J. Budd Award for Outstanding Work in American Literature: Charlotte Howard Gehring
Critical Essay Prize (honorable mention): Sarine Lila Krovitz
Economics
Edward Tower Best Thesis Award: Ian Carlson Bailey
Duke Department of Economics Master’s Program Award for Academic Excellence: Wenjia Wang
Duke Department of Economics Master’s Program Award for Leadership: Shravan Goswami, William Robert Toth and Yuting Duan
Craufurd Goodwin Distinction in Research Award: Lewis Liewei Zhu and Michelle Kristen Schultze
Outstanding Honors Poster – Faculty Choice: Michelle Kristen Schultze
Outstanding Honors Poster – Student Choice: Nicholas Vassilios Papavassiliou
Environment
Sara LaBoskey Award: Spencer Alexander Hao
Evolutionary Anthropology
Mossé Award for Excellence in Research in Evolutionary Anthropology: Katie Alison Lam and Kavya Iyengar Menke
Fuqua School of Business
Alan D. Schwartz Award for Mentorship: Steven Rascoe Fly, Jr.
Asa T. Spaulding, Sr. Award for Leadership : David Kwaku Owusu-Gyebi
Deans’ Recognition Awards: Odufa Ugerah Abalu, Edwin Castro-Arroyo, Seamus John Connelly, Claudia de Mello Einhorn, Chizoma Ekechukwu, Katherine Danielle Ellison, Ratthacharee Imjairach, Bhavya Kohli, Nicolas Zak Kudrna, Jared Robert Loerzel, Ryan Alexander Mascheri, Adriano Parisotto Mercadante, Uchechi Ngonadi, Gerard Ferdinand Pozzi, Jack Andrew Prommel-Saenz, Masahiko Shimizu, Stefanie Nicole Thompson, Orianny Maria Torres, Kathleen Wahl, Henry Newman White, Alexandra Hitchcock Wilson, Kelsey Worsham-Smith, Thomas Cheng
Fuqua EMBA HSM Leadership Award: Ryan Hess
Fuqua Daytime HSM Leadership Award: Chizoma Christine Ekechukwu, Mackenzie Davis, Colette Virginia Wink Spriggs
Keohane Leadership Award Sharon Campen: Tanner Lane Morgan
Team Fuqua Award (MMS): Marisella Adams-Grimaldi
Team Fuqua Award (MQM): Robert Rongsheng Zeng
The Breeden Award in Finance: Joshua Caleb Bradley
Distinguished Service Award (MBA): Mikhala C. Nelson
Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies
Dora Anne Little Award: Jaden Dawniell Faunteroy
Gender and Race Award: Alicia Yufan Yang, Bianca Coco Forozan Sjoenell and Rachel Hatfield
Anne McDougall Memorial Award: Seneca Russell
International Comparative Studies Program
Capstone Research Prize: Isabella Rose Lafferty
Distinguished Thesis Award: Vishal Jammulapati
Journalism and Media Studies
Melcher Family Award for Excellence in Journalism: Charlotte Kramon
Fischer-Zernin Award for Local Journalism: Chloe Mai Nguyen
The Patterson Prize for Excellence, Leadership and Integrity in Journalism: Milla Surjadi
Marine Science and Conservation
Marine Science and Conservation Award: Henry Sun
Mathematics
Julia Dale Prize in Mathematics: Zachary Patrick Berens, Rebecca Lan, Marie-Hélène Tomé
Excellence In Research Award: Zachary Patrick Berens, Alexander J Diefes, Marie-Hélène Tomé
Karl Menger Award: Harry Chen, Erick Jiang, Christopher Joshua Kan, Brandon J Lu and Benny Yanbin Sun
Excellence In Community Service Prize: Lanay Donyelle Fuller, Andrew Xiaolei Sun and Felicia Xingyue Wang
Medicine
Brenda Armstrong Living the Dream Award: Nicole Katrina Abedrabbo
Dean's Merit Scholarship: Sage Lee Atkins, Beau Michael Blass, Kyla Davada Brezitski, Khushnood Faraz, Lily Guo, Jamie Jae Hyun Karl, Kelly Elizabeth Owens, Dana Karen Rubenstein
Alice Kathleen Schaack, Michael Craig Snider, Maxwell Dean Sumner, Trevor Montgomery Sytsma, Julie Maria Thamby, Camryn A Thompson, Daniel Wang, Kevin Adam Wu, Lucy Zheng
Dean's Tuition Scholarship: Kwabena Adu-Kwarteng, Harvey Hamilton Allen III, Osmel Peter Alvarez, Maame-Animwah Abba Amoako, Damon Vernon Briggs Jr., Kylie Elizabeth Calderon, Udeyvir Singh Cheema, Melissa Kathryn Greene, Ronald Harris Jr, Emily Claire Lerner, Siera Rene Lunn, Koumani W. Ntowe, Tara Dawn Thomason, Ethan Scott Wagner and Melissa Christina White
Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award: Anna Vizon Kulawiec
James B.D. Palmer GSK Memorial Scholarship: Kylie Elizabeth Calderon, Taylor Lenee Yoder, Michael Craig Snider, Timothy Noe Ochoa, Gabrielle Elise van den Hoek
Rauch Future Leaders Merit Scholarship: Vivian Wei Chen
Unsung Hero Award: Nathan Alexander Luzum
Music
The Ann Marie Parsons Memorial Prize: Rushil Yerrabelli
The Julia Wilkinson Mueller Prize for Excellence in Music: Vicky Yang and Melody Tzang
The Henry Schumann Music Prize: Vicky Yang and Carlos Montes
The Paul Bryan Award: Carlos Montes, Ava Bailey, Jocelyn Reyes, and Anushri Saxena
The Ciompi Quartet Award in Chamber Music: Michael Cui, Myles Bell, Lewis Zhu, Alicia Yang, Sophia Urbom, Hannah Lee, Vicky Yang, Rosemary Buhrman, Anna Goldberg, Nina Moske, Elizabeth Kim, Helen Liu, Jing Liu, and Ellie Kang
The Duke Symphony Orchestra Conductor’s Award: Carlos Montes and Lewis Zhu
Nicholas School of the Environment
Virlis L. Fischer Award for Academic Excellence: Andrew Dominguez, Christian Taylor Hachtman and Kirsten Elizabeth Susan Taylor
Physics
Daphne Chang Memorial Award: Madeleine Rowe Roberts
Rodney I. McCormick Award: Ryan A. Henderson
Political Science
Alona E. Evans Prize in International Law: Brooke Kathryn Meyers
Elizabeth G. Verville Award: Cameron Raleigh Evans
The Jerry B. and Callie Irene Stone Award: Leyin Liu
Ole R. Holsti Award in American Foreign Policy and International Relations: J. Calvin Kim
The Robert S. Rankin Award for Leadership and Academic Achievement: Andrea Paola Reyes Guillen
The Robert S. Rankin Award in American Government and Constitutional Law: Kulsoom Rizavi
The Robert S. Rankin Award in American, National, State, and Local Governments: Madeline Louise Waterfield
Pratt School of Engineering
American Society of Civil Engineers Outstanding Senior Prize: Easha Chetan Kuber and Hana Elizabeth Thibault
Aubrey E. Palmer Award: Melanie Sian Chang, Patrick J. Keefe and Grace Elizabeth Levey
Marie Foote Reel Undergraduate Research Award: Zachary Samuel Charlick
Charles Rowe Vail Memorial Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award: Vincent Jixun Chen, William Ross Denton and Nicholas James Sortisio
Craig Henriquez Memorial Award: Tyler Harrison King
da Vinci Award: James Cooper Koconis, Brandon J Lu, Shivam Singh and Valerie Tan Yi Jie
David Randall Fuller Prize: Doriz Gean Salcedo Concepcion
Eric I. Pas Award: Harrison Chadwick Kendall and Hana Elizabeth Thibault
Edward D. "Ned" Light Memorial Award: Roy Le Chen
George Sherrerd III Memorial Award in Electrical and Computer Engineering: William Ross Denton
Helmholtz Award: Shelby Dawn Cherkas
Howard G. Clark Award for Excellence in Research: Arshbir Singh Banipal, Tyler Kearse, Kseniia Kholina, Haasini Reddy Nandyala, Natalia Margarita Roman and Jaron Eli Shoemaker
Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Faculty Award: Isabel Fleur Sian Dudlyke, Shaan Kaiden Narayan and Joseph Christopher Schwartz
Otto Meier, Jr. Tau Beta Pi Award: Amy Chou
Pi Tau Sigma Scholarship Award: Austin Tyler Camacho and Eliana Grace Durkee
Pratt School of Engineering Student Service Award: Anya Xayden Dias-Hawkins and Jordan Elizabeth Haytaian
Raymond C. Gaugler Award in Materials Science and Engineering: Amy Chou and Jack Hayden Morgenstein
Theo C. Pilkington Memorial Award : Sarah Jiang
Walter J. Seeley Scholastic Award: William Ross Denton, Isabel Fleur Sian Dudlyke, Lucy Jintong Huo, James Cooper Koconis, Zeyu Li, Katherine Lin, Alec Andy Liu, Brandon J Lu, Benjamin Samuel Matz, Shaan Kaiden Narayan, Joseph Christopher Schwartz, Shivam Singh and Valerie Tan Yi Jie
William Brewster Snow Environmental Engineering Award: Melanie Sian Chang
Program II
Best Senior Thesis: Rowan Haffner
Best Senior Capstone Project: Grace Dewyer
Curricular Impact Award: Carina Lei
Community Builder Award: Eleanor Mackey
Advocacy and Human Rights Award: Durga Sreenivasan
Provost’s Office
Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award: Velda Wang
Psychology
Karl E. Zener Award for Academic Excellence in Psychology: Alyssa Anastasia Gabbidon
Jerome S. Bruner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research: Jeslyn Naraya Brouwers
Religious Studies
Best Paper Award: Maia Beth Kotelanski and Eleanor Lhamo Dixey
Romance Studies
Guido Mazzoni Prize in Italian: Isaiah James Williams
Richard L. Predmore Award in Spanish: Jax Grayson Nalley
Robert J. Niess / Alexander Hull Award in French: Arielle Zahra Stern
The Paol Keineg Prize for an Honors Thesis Written in a Language other than English: Miriam Ruth Bussel-Alonso
Sanford School of Public Policy
Terry Sanford Leadership Award: Chloe Christyne Decker
Joel Fleishman Distinguished Scholar Award: Miles Evan Cooperman, Kathryn Nicole Kotler, Thomas Ryan Newberry, Alice Jiasi Qin, Rebecca Kate Rosenzweig and Davis Faison Beischer
Best Honors Thesis: Anushri Saxena
Outstanding MPP Award: Jennifer Nguyen, Leslie Milena Morales-Noyola
MPP Citizenship Award: Keanu Gene Cristobal Valibia, James Gray Rucker and Hayley J Barton
MPP Peer-Mentor Award: Dhivahari Vivekanandasarma
MPP Service Award: Aysia Daymoria Gilbert, Reylan Alysi'a Cook, Zacary Christopher Contreras and Aarushi Tripathi
School of Nursing
Annie Beery Bieber Award for Outstanding Leadership Award: Emily Holmes
Bonnie Jones Friedman Humanitarian Award: Lindsay Medling
Ruby L. Wilson Excellence in Clinical Practice Award: Martha Smith Perez-Sanz
Thelma Ingles Excellence in Clinical Expertise and Scholarly Activities Award: Clinton Tyler Hobbs
Distinguished PhD Dissertation: Shewit Weldense Jaynes
Sociology
Graduate Teaching Award: Kiersten Marie Hasenour
Ida Harper Simpson Award: Hillary Mogbonjubola Okpeseyi
Linda K. George Award: Anvi Srishti Charvu
Jaya Thomas Sastry Award: Kelly Martina Araujo
Highest Academic Achievement Award: Joanna Gomez
Statistical Science
Statistical Science MS TA of the Year Award: Hsuan-Chen Kao
Statistical Science PhD TA of the Year Honorable Mention: Bo Liu
Statistical Science Undergraduate TA of the Year Award: Avery Ellen Hodges
Statistical Science Undergraduate TA of the Year Honorable Mention: Athena Yu Ru and Matthew Leo O'Donnell
BEST Award for Undergraduate Research in Statistical Science:Jordan Sarah Hamelsky and Zirui Yin
Student Affairs
Distinguished Leadership Award: Expanding the Boundaries of Learning: Robert Addison Sprung
Distinguished Leadership Award: Building Alliances Through Collective Engagement: Christopher Zollino Lloyd and Amber Claire Smith
William J. Griffiffith University Service Award: Outstanding Contribution to the Duke Community: Essence Renee Hughes
William J. Griffiffith University Service Award: Outstanding Contribution to the Durham and Local Community: Dedriek Jalisa Whitaker
William J. Griffiffith University Service Award: Outstanding Contribution to the Global Community: Chanté Davis
Duke Cornerstone Award: Undergraduate: Catherine Xia
Duke Cornerstone Award: Graduate: Trevor Sytsma
Theater Studies
Feldman Collaborators’ Award: Caroline Edmondson
Reynolds Price Award: Nik Narain
Dale B. J. Randall Award in Dramatic Literature: Reed Lessing
Alex Cohen Award: Nik Narain and Ondine Peck-Voll
Harold Brody Award for Excellence in Musical Theater: Alexandra Doss
John Clum Distinguished Theater Studies Graduate Award: Blaze Gambla and Khiyali Pillalamarri
Award for Excellence in Directing: Ondine Peck-Voll and Caroline Edmondson
Excellence in Acting Award: Sydney Maynor
Award for Excellence in Design or Theater Technology: Harper de Andrade
Forlines Family Theater Studies Grant: Elaine Guo, Khiyali Pillalamarri, Lilah Gorfain and Sydney Maynor
Trinity College of Arts and Sciences
Bascom Headen Palmer Literary Prize: Vivian Shan Guo
Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching House Course: Danica Bajaj
Undergraduate Research Support Office
Student Team Grant: Angela Nana-Akua Darkowaa Addae, Brendan Simmons Kelleher, Jeehye Rose Lee, Taylor Corbin Parker and Dedriek Jalisa Whitaker
University Faculty
Faculty Scholarship: Sarah Konrad, Arielle Stern and Marie-Hélène Tomé.