Graduate School Student Prizes

Departmental Awards

The Marston Anderson Prize is awarded on an occasional basis to truly outstanding dissertations in the field of East Asian Languages and Literatures in memory of Professor Anderson for his contribution to the intellectual and pedagogical mission of the department.

yun bai

East Asian Languages and Literatures

Adviser: Tina Lu

“From Moral Degeneration to Social Negotiation: Deception and Mindreading in Late Imperial Chinese Drama” cheng li

Bai’s dissertation traces mindgames and mindreading in the work of three seventeenthcentury playwrights. She understands these in profound conversation not just with fiction, but also with ethical writings of the time. Employing close readings and “distant” ones that visualize the entirety of corpora, Bai reveals the ways in which plays articulate social conflicts and theories in their treatment of deception.

East Asian Languages and Literatures

Adviser: Jing Tsu

“Trees and the Making of Modern China” sheng xu

“Trees and the Making of Modern China” is the first of its kind. Combining environmental studies with film, literary, and cultural studies, Li present a compelling case of how China’s arborist nationalism defined its relationship to the twentieth century.

The Francis J. Anscombe Award is given on an occasional basis for outstanding academic performance in the Department of Statistics and Data Science.

Statistics and Data Science

Adviser: Zhou Fan

“Efficient Estimation of Signals via NonConvex Approaches” juntang zhuang

This thesis explores data science problems at the interface of non-convex optimization and statistical inference. These entail procedures for extracting signals in the presence of noise in images and other graphical models. Fast iterative procedures are established with desirable statistical performance characterization.

The Henry Prentiss Becton Prize for exceptional achievement in research is awarded to a graduate student within the Council of Engineering.

Biomedical Engineering

Adviser: James Duncan

“Machine Learning Methods to Estimate Whole-Brain Effective Connectome for ASD Identification”

This dissertation aims to improve understanding of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) through development of machine learning methods for estimating whole-brain effective connectivity from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. The work not only solves a problem within the analysis of ASD through fMRI data, but also develops and validates several foundational approaches important to machine learning and statistical modeling and will have far-reaching impact.

The Frederick W. Beinecke Prize is awarded upon the recommendation of the History Department for an outstanding doctoral dissertation in the field of Western American History.

naomi sussman

History

Advisers: Stuart Schwartz and Ned Blackhawk

“Between the River and the Sea: The History of California’s Native Heartland, 1781-1931” maxfield fulton

This is a distinguished and ambitious thesis that combines four distinct historical fields and historiographies-Latin American, Borderlands, Native American and U.S. history—and spans an extensive period and large-scale political changes. Among its many strengths, the dissertation highlights the under-recognized power of Indigenous peoples across the Colorado River watershed. Impressively researched, provocatively conceived, and sensitively written, this is an extremely mature piece of intellectual work. The dissertation will be the basis of a mustread book that demonstrates that the long history of Indigenous migrations and contestations is a fundamental aspect of North American history.

The Frances Blanshard Fellowship Prize is awarded annually for the outstanding doctoral dissertations submitted to the History of Art Department.

History of Art; Film and Media Studies

Adviser: Nicola Suthor

“The Melodramatic Unconscious: The Cinematic Afterlife of Fin De Siècle Vienna”

Max has dedicated his dissertation to a concept, the melodramatic unconscious and how it is reflected in four exemplary films. The common thread is the staging of desire in a problematic heterosexual relationship whose surrounding is marked by one shared feature: the reference to Fin de Siècle Vienna. Max discovered a visual and musical network linked to Viennese fin de siècle art that undergirds the different love stories. His deep reflection on the dimension of style gives film its full due as a multi-sensory, multi-channel art form. mohit manohar

History of Art

Adviser: Subhashini Kaligotla

“The City of Gods and Fortune: An Architectural and Urban History of Daulatabad, Ca. 13th–15th Centuries” cassandra porter

Mohit Manohar’s “The City of Gods and Fortune” is an original piece of writing that places the medieval Indian fort-city Daulatabad at the center of historical narratives. Using an impressive range of materials—from architecture to coinage to historical chronicles—Manohar evocatively brings this city’s urban and social fabric to life against a backdrop of political upheaval and intercultural encounter.

The Harding Bliss Prize for Excellence in Engineering and Applied Science is awarded annually to the outstanding student who has completed his or her Ph.D. thesis during the current academic year and who has done the most to further the intellectual life of the department.

Chemical & Environmental Engineering

Advisers: Menachem Elimelech and Mingjiang Zhong

“Precisely-Engineered Brush Active-Layer and Biomimetic Membranes for Aqueous Separations”

Cassandra combined polymer science and membrane technology to develop a deep understanding of polymer-modified membranes that are used in water treatment. She has developed a new type of membrane and has demonstrated its performance. Her finding is of great importance to the field of membrane science. amanda joyce hall

This paper shows that wood frog development rates have evolved during the last two decades as the climate has changed. Populations that have been subject to the most environmental change have evolved the most.

The Sylvia Ardyn Boone Prize is awarded annually in memory of Sylvia Boone, a noted scholar of African art, who was the first tenured African–American woman on the Yale faculty. In her memory, Vera Wells, Yale ’71, has established a prize to honor Sylvia Boone’s life and work.

History; African American Studies

Advisers: Glenda Gilmore and Beverly Gage

“Struggle for Another World: Movements Against South African Apartheid and the Global Challenge to Anti-Black Racism, 1971-1991” andis arietta

Hall’s dissertation is astonishing in its scope - a sweeping multi-language, multi-archival account of the global anti-apartheid movement. An ambitious, magisterial, and beautifully executed study. A truly extraordinary effort and achievement. For now, it remains only to celebrate what her dissertation has achieved.

The F. Herbert Bormann Prize is awarded annually to a doctoral student who produces a publication judged to best exemplify Herb’s legacy: interdisciplinary research that creates new insights into the relationship between humans and the environment.

Environment

Adviser: David Skelly

“Rapid Microgeographic Evolution in Response to Climate Change” (published in Evolution in 2021)

In one sense, these findings show that species are capable of rapidly responding evolutionarily to the environments they experience as humans change them. But the paper also reveals that there are limits to such rapid adaptation: the three breeding ponds that changed the most had their populations go extinct between 2001 when an earlier experiment was carried out and the recent experiment.

This result is one of the very few to demonstrate evolution by vertebrates to changing climate and one of the only ones to provide a sense of the limits to such rapid evolution.

The Dirk Brouwer Memorial Prize was established in 1966 by friends of Professor Dirk Brouwer, Chairman of the Department of Astronomy and Director of the Yale Observatory from 1941 to 1966. It is awarded to a student in the department for a contribution of unusual merit to any branch of astronomy.

darryl seligman Astronomy

Adviser: Gregory Laughlin

“From The Stars: An Assessment of the Scientific Opportunities Provided by Interstellar Objects”

This dissertation provides a definitive and comprehensive study of ‘Oumuamua — the mysterious object of interstellar origin that was observed passing through the Solar System in late 2017. The dissertation investigates ‘Oumuamua composition, demonstrating that it may have contained a significant fraction of molecular hydrogen ice, and also outlines detailed plans for in-situ study of futurearriving interstellar objects. philippe langellier bellevue halbert

The Canadian Studies Prize was established in 1999. It is awarded by the Canadian Studies Committee for the best dissertation in Canadian Studies.

History of Art

Adviser: Ned Cooke

“Letters of a Canadian Woman: Identity and Self-Fashioning in the Atlantic World of Madame Bégon (1696-1755)” beans velocci

Philippe’s dissertation proposes a thematic rereading of letters exchanged between Madame Bégon of Montreal and her French son-in-law in New Orleans. Written between 1748 and 1753, this trans-continental, later trans-Atlantic correspondence chronicles a kind of reverse diaspora wherein Madame Bégon evoked and negotiated memories of her colonial past and struggled with the uncertainties of a future in France after moving there in 1749.

The George Washington Egleston Historical Prize, established in 1901, is awarded annually to a research student who discovers new facts of importance for American history or gathers information or reaches conclusions which are useful from a historical, literary, and critical point of view.

History

Adviser: Joanne Meyerowitz field of transgender studies. Beans has linked two important intellectual domains - sexuality and science - which they do with rigor and style. Beans’ approach is distinguished by their attention to questions of ambiguity in modern sex research across human and non-human domains. The dissertation is distinguished, original, and prize-worthy scholarship. samuel huber

The English Department Dissertation Prize is awarded for the best dissertation submitted to the Department of English in the current year.

English Language and Literature

Advisers: Jacqueline Goldsby, Margaret Homans, Jill Richards

“Every Day About the World: Feminist Internationalism in the Second Wave” kelsey jenkins

Sam Huber’s beautifully written, deeply researched dissertation offers a revelatory account of second wave feminism as an internationalist literary and political movement. Following Muriel Rukeyser to Vietnam, Paule Marshall to Grenada, and Adrienne Rich to Nicaragua, reading poems, novels, and essays alongside travel diaries, photo collages, and manifestos, Huber models rigorous, creative, expansive, and ethical interdisciplinary scholarship.

The Estwing Hammer Prize is awarded by the Estwing Manufacturing company to outstanding geology or geophysics graduate students.

Earth and Planetary Sciences

Adviser: Bhart-Anjan Bhullar

Velocci’s project represents some of the best work currently coming out of the interdisciplinary alexie millikin

For her research on the evolution of early reptiles and her promotion of underrepresented groups in science.

The Excellence in Teaching Prize is given in recognition of a student’s outstanding contribution to the teaching process at the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

Earth and Planetary Sciences

Adviser: Alan Rooney katie pippenger

For her outstanding contribution to the teaching process in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

Earth and Planetary Sciences

Adviser: Lidya Tarhan

For her outstanding contribution to the teaching process in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

Damaged and misfolded proteins are tagged with a small protein ubiquitin for degradation in eukaryotic cells. Dr. Culver’s thesis work discovered that a portion of newly synthesized membrane proteins are tagged with ubiquitin, yet they evade degradation and properly insert into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane. His work also identified the ER-localized deubiquitinase enzymes (USP20/33) responsible for removing ubiquitin tags from membrane proteins. Overall, Dr. Culver’s work suggests that ubiquitin-tagged nascent proteins are given a second chance for protein folding or targeting to save energy spent on protein synthesis.

sisi yang

Cell Biology

Adviser: Daniel Colon-Ramos

“Molecular Mechanisms of ATG-9

Localization and Function in Neurons” drew d’alelio Global Affairs; Management jacob culver

The Miguel Ferreyros Memorial Award is awarded to the joint degree student in Global Affairs with the highest academic achievement.

The Harry Burr Ferris Prize was established by Harry Burr Ferris (B.A. 1887, M.D. 1890), who was the E. K. Hunt Professor of Anatomy in the Department of Anatomy, the predecessor to the current Department of Cell Biology. The Prize is awarded to a Cell Biology student for a doctoral dissertation demonstrating exceptional research and scholarship.

Cell Biology

Adviser: Malaiyalam Mariappan

“The Role of Post-Translational Modifications in the Fate of Nascent TailAnchored Membrane Proteins” benjamin hess

Dr. Yang identified cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate how cells “take out the garbage”, meaning, get rid of damaged components, a process known as autophagy. Specifically, she identified that a protein called ATG-9 is trafficked in neurons to “clock” the activity state of the neuron; increased activity results in more damaged components and the onset of autophagy. Her studies have implications for neurodegenerative diseases, including Early Onset Parkinsonism, in which the molecular mechanisms identified in this study are defective.

The William Ebenezer Ford Prize was established in 1963 by a gift from Mary Ford in memory of her husband, Professor William E. Ford, Ph.B. 1899, Ph.D. 1903. It is awarded to students who have distinguished themselves in study or research in mineralogy.

Earth and Planetary Sciences

Adviser: Jay Ague qinting jiang

For his research on the influence of unequal pressures on mineral transformation during metamorphism.

Earth and Planetary Sciences

Adviser: Shun-ichiro Karato tiraana bains

For her research on the effect of solar wind on the protoplanetary discs, and a possible source for terrestrial water.

The Hans Gatzke Prize is awarded upon the recommendation of the History Department for the outstanding dissertation or dissertations in a field of European history.

History

Advisers: Abbas Amanat and Steven Pincus

“Making and Debating Empires in South Asia and the Global British Empire, 17561799” ellen nye

Bains’ dissertation is based on an extraordinary research base in Indian and British archives. Her scholarship is grounded both in the political and economic thought of the 18th century, and draws deeply on British and American writing ranging from pamphlets, popular doggerels, court cases and parliamentary debates. She has produced an outstanding work of scholarship.

History

Adviser: Alan Mikhail

“Empires of Obligation: Law, Money, and Debt Between England and the Ottoman Empire, 1670-1720”

Guided by years of research in English and Ottoman archival materials, Ellen Nye shows how English and Ottoman merchants developed a mutually-intelligible legal system in which to trade while simultaneously provoking divergent financial revolutions in the British and Ottoman Empires. This very fine dissertation is clearly written and organized, and it provides the foundations for what will be an excellent book. The extent and amount of research is truly stunning.

The Award for Academic Excellence in Global Affairs is given to the master’s student in Global Affairs with the highest academic achievement.

libby lange Global Affairs

jasper vaughn Global Affairs

The James B. Grossman Dissertation Prize was established in memory of a doctoral student in Psychology. It is given to the author of an outstanding Ph.D. dissertation in Psychology, with preference for research embodying some of the characteristics of James Grossman’s scholarship, such as creativity, use of other disciplines, and clinical work with children.

clara colombatto Psychology

Adviser: Brian Scholl

“From Eyes to Minds: Perceiving Perception, and Attending to Attention”

The most important visual stimuli that we encounter in everyday life may be other people, and in particular their eyes. We constantly monitor (and follow) where others are looking, and hundreds of studies have stressed the importance of eyes as uniquely powerful visual stimuli. This dissertation argues otherwise: The eyes are special only insofar as they signal deeper properties about the minds behind them—namely the nature and direction of others’ attention and intentions.

sami yousif Psychology

Adviser: Frank Keil

“The Formats of Spatial Representations”

To understand how the mind works, we must understand not just the content of mental representations (i.e., what information is stored), but also the format of representations (i.e., how that information is stored). This thesis describes three ‘case studies’ of representational format in the domain of spatial cognition. Understanding the formats of spatial representations may shed light on how other kinds of information are represented and organized in the mind.

The William J. Horwitz Prize is awarded for continuous excellence and distinction in a chosen discipline within the field of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations.

kayla dang

Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

Advisers: Kevin van Bladel, Shawkat Toorawa

“Transmitters, Texts, and Traditions: The Zoroastrian Priesthood from the Sasanian to the Early Islamic Period” megan brady

This dissertation explains the transformation of Zoroastrianism from the elite religion of a powerful kingdom to that of a politically disempowered and diminishing ethnic enclave ruled by Arabicspeaking Muslims. It corrects the standard account by bringing to light and combining hitherto unknown or misunderstood historical sources written in Arabic, Armenian, Syriac, and Middle Persian.

The Mary Ellen Jones (Ph.D. 1951, Biochemistry) Prize is awarded to the most distinguished dissertation in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry submitted during the academic year. Dr. Jones was a leading scientist and a pioneer in the advancement of women in academia.

Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry

Adviser: Charles Sindelar

“Structural basis of flagellar filament asymmetry and supercoil templating by Leptospira sheath factors” clorice reinhardt

Leptospira are pathogenic bacteria that move in a corkscrew-like fashion to drill into host tissues. This motion is driven by two flagella, whip-like structures involved in cell motility. This work examines the structure of the flagella, identifying a new flagellar component and providing insight into how flagella are put together.

Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry

Adviser: Sharon Hammes-Schiffer

“Tyrosine Mediated Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer Reactions”

The transport of electrons plays essential roles in the function of many of our enzymes. Using computational simulations and mathematical models to study how the enzyme ribonucleotide reductase moves electrons over long distances to help it make the building blocks of DNA, new parts of the enzyme that are key to making this process happen were identified.

The Annie Le Fellowship Fellowship is awarded each year to one or more Ph.D. students in the biological and biomedical sciences whose demonstrated commitment to bettering the world around them and outstanding record in research exemplify the life and career of Annie Marie Le, a Yale graduate student between 2007 and 2009.

paola figueroa-delgado

Cell Biology

Adviser: Shaul Yogev nick fisk

Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

Adviser: Jeffrey Townsend termara parker

Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program

Adviser: Joy Hirsch jonathan wolf

The Elias Loomis Prize was awarded for excellence in studies of physics of the earth. Elias Loomis was a professor of natural philosophy and astronomy in Yale College.

Earth and Planetary Sciences

Adviser: Maureen Long zhongtian zhang

For his research using seismic waves to study the structure and dynamics of the deep mantle.

Earth and Planetary Sciences

Adviser: David Bercovici eli rau

For his research using seismic waves to study the structure and dynamics of the deep mantle.

The James G. March Award was established in 2018 by Professor Jim March (Ph.D. ’53) and is awarded annually to an outstanding dissertation from any field of Political Science.

Political Science

Advisers: Susan Stokes (University of Chicago) and Milan Svolik

“Mobilization and Partisan Identities: A Comparative Study of Partisanship under Compulsory and Voluntary Voting” chen ding

Eli’s dissertation investigates the relationship between partisanship and voting, using advanced causal identification techniques and unique historical arrangements, such as the introduction of compulsory voting in Chile in the late 1980s. In particular, Eli concludes that voting does not increase partisanship. His dissertation has important implications on current debates about polarization and the quality of democracy around the world.

The Neuroscience Doctoral Thesis Prize was established in 2020 by Sandra and Charles Greer and is awarded annually to a graduate student in neuroscience whose Ph.D. thesis reflects the highest standards of scientific achievement.

Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program

Adviser: Marc Hammarlund

“Cell Biology of Axon Degeneration and Regeneration In Vivo” ryosuke tanaka

Dr. Ding studied both axonal degeneration and regeneration in a powerful model system and advances our understanding of each of these events. He first characterized the functional regeneration of synapses after transection of axons using optical tools and behavior from which he made the seminal observation that synaptic vesicles and synapses can reorient to dendrites. He then went on to innovatively use a genetic screen to mutations affecting axonal maintenance and degeneration.

Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program

Adviser: Damon Clark

“Motion-based Spatial Vision in Drosophila: Connecting Canonical Levels of Understanding in Neuroscience”

Using the Drosophila visual system Ryo has revealed new principles that govern the way in which spatial visual problems can be addressed and solved. Using both sophisticated circuit dissection tools and computational theoretical analyses his work has advanced understanding of visual function in humans and forged new connections between Drosophila and human vision. alejandro damian serrano danyan li

To address these challenges, we have developed an approach that integrates computer aided redesign of genetic sequences that are subsequently mobilized, expressed, and characterized crosskingdom in diverse microbial hosts, including Gram negative and positive bacteria and yeast.

The John Spangler Nicholas (Ph.D. 1921) Prize was established in 1972 by bequest of Helen Brown Nicholas in memory of her husband. The prize is awarded annually to outstanding doctoral candidates in experimental zoology.

Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

Advisers: Josien van Wolfswinkel

“PIWI-mediated Control of Tissue-specific Transposons is Essential for Somatic Cell Differentiation” jaymin patel

All eukaryote genomes lie under the constant threat of transposon invasion. About 45% of the human genome is derived from transposon elements. Although the vast majority of these transposons are inactive, they still lead to a mutagenesis rate of around 1 new insertion per 20 births.

Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

Advisers: Farren Isaacs and Jason Crawford

“Cross-kingdom Expression of Synthetic Genetic Elements Promotes the Discovery of a New Class of Nucleotide Analogs from the Human Microbiome”

The ability to mobilize functional genetic cargo into a versatile array of hosts is a defining challenge, as scientists increasingly reprogram diverse organisms as living therapeutics, for bioremediation, and as foundries for producing materials and molecules. However, porting genetic material to diverse recipients is challenged by barriers to robust expression and mobilization.

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Adviser: Casey Dunn

“The Organismal and Evolutionary Determinants of Siphonophore Predation” jean vila

The structure of food webs is established by organism traits that determine who eats who. Dr. Damian Serrano examined the structure and evolution of the prey capture apparatus in siphonophores, a group of jellyfish. Along with data on their diets, he found that generalist predators have evolved from specialists, revealing key insight into ocean ecosystem structure and siphonophore biology.

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Adviser: Alvaro Sanchez

“On the Evolutionary Ecology of Microbial Metabolic Niche Construction” shuke xiao

Microorganisms reshape their environment as they grow. This thesis has revealed how these environmental alterations affect the predictability of microbial evolution and the assembly of microbial communities, providing new perspectives on an longstanding question in ecology and evolution.

Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

Advisers: John Carlson

“Drosophila Chemoreception and Threats of the Anthropocene”

The term ‘odorant-binding proteins (Obps)’ is used to refer to a large family of insect proteins that are exceptional in their number, abundance and diversity. The name derives from the expression of many family members in the olfactory system of insects and their ability to bind odorants in vitro. However, an increasing body of evidence reveals a much broader role for this family of proteins. ulla heede

The Philip M. Orville Prize was established in 1981 in memory of Philip M. Orville. The prize is awarded to graduate students in geology and geophysics in recognition of outstanding research and scholarship in the earth sciences.

Earth and Plenetary Sciences

Adviser: Alexey Fedorov doyle calhoun

For her research on the impact of climate change on the tropical Pacific and El Niño.

The Marguerite A. Peyre Prize was established in 1964 and is awarded at the discretion of the chair of the Department of French to a graduate student in that department.

French

Adviser: Jill Jarvis

“The Suicide Archive(s): Literary Resistance in the Wake of French Empire” james brofos Statistics and Data Science

Beginning in the eighteenth century and working through the twenty-first century, from slavery to the Arab Spring, and covering a broad geography that stretches across Guadeloupe, Senegal, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, and works ranging from literary to filmic texts, Doyle Calhoun’s eloquent dissertation turns the difficult topic of suicide into one worthy of interest, interpretation, and attention.

The The Leonard J. Savage Writing Prize is named for Department of Statistics and Data Science Emeritus Professor Leonard J. (Jimmie) Savage. This prize is awarded annually to a student who has submitted the best written work.

Adviser: Roy Lederman

“Essays on Numerical Integration in Hamiltonian Monte Carlo” sophie westacott Earth and Planetary Sciences

Modern Bayesian inference relies on methods of sampling from probability distributions, and Hamiltonian Monte Carlo is the leading class of such methods. This thesis provides essays with incisive and novel analyses of diverse aspects of these methods, identifying and exploring formulations and questions that had not been considered before.

The George Gaylord Simpson Prize was established in 1984 in honor of Professor Simpson and is awarded to graduate students and recent Ph.D. recipients for an exceptional paper concerning evolution and the fossil record.

Adviser: Pincelli Hull

“Revisiting the sedimentary record of the rise of diatoms”

The Carolyn Slayman Prize in Genetics recognizes the remarkable achievements of our best students in the Department of Genetics, based on their body of work, the impact of their findings in the field of Genetics and their commitment to the Genetics Graduate Program and graduate education at Yale.

ryan chow

Genetics; M.D./Ph.D.

Adviser: Sidi Chen

“Mapping a Functional Cancer Genome Atlas” anna

The Edwin W. Small Prize was established in memory of Edwin W. Small (B.A. 1930, M.A. 1934) and is awarded in recognition and furtherance of outstanding work in the field of American history.

duensing

African American Studies; History

Advisers: Crystal Feimster and Matthew Jacobson

“Fascists Without Labels: Jim Crow, Civil Rights, and the Making of a Black Antifascist Tradition, 1933-1977”

This is a wonderful dissertation, ambitious in its scope and intelligent in its execution. Drawing on material from over 20 archives between the U.S. and Germany, she narrates the intersection stories of activists, artists, and intellectuals who used fascism as a framework for characterizing the lived experience of “racialized rightlessness” in the United States. One of the conspicuous strengths of Anna’s work is her outstanding command of-and engagement with--historiography. The depth of research here is northing short of remarkable. Duensing’s engagement with scholarship is rich and deep and the research is outright dazzling.

hannah greenwald

History

Adviser: Gilbert Joseph

Greenwald’s elegant, pioneering, and critical dissertation combines ethnohistory with social, political, and military history further placing indigenous people in the Argentina-Chile border at the center of the case study, with consequences for rethinking the history of the hemisphere. This is a first-class academic thesis that will have an impact in her field. By any measure, Hannah’s was an ambitious agenda and her execution of it reveals a real empathy with her historical and present-day Indigenous subjects.

The George Trimis Prize was established in May 2003 in memory of a doctoral student in Economics who succumbed to cancer. In recognition of the extraordinary example that Trimis set, the prize is awarded to students whose dissertations demonstrate exceptional and distinguished achievement.

paula calvo Economics

Advisers: Joseph Altonji, Ilse Lindenlaub, Cormac O’Dea, Costas Meghir “Essays in Family Economics”

Calvo estimates a cutting-edge equilibrium model of the marriage market where people marry, cohabit or stay single, in a life-cycle setting involving choices such as separations and labor supply decisions. This enables her to conduct counterfactual analysis to evaluate the impacts of various policy changes on outcomes such as intra-household resource allocation and child development, while fully taking account of equilibrium effects.

kohei yata Economics

Advisers: Yuichi Kitamura, Yusuke Narita, Timothy Armstrong

“Econometric Methods for Program Evaluation and Policy Choice”

Yata contributes to the recent literature of policy choices with observational data, by providing a general framework for optimal policy decision making. In particular, he notes that allowing for partial identification is crucially important in various empirical settings. He derives computationally tractable optimal policy rules under such features without restricting the space of decision rules, then applies them to a real-life policy decision problem. meng guo

The Karl K. Turekian Prize is awarded for excellence in geochemical or cosmochemical studies.

Earth and Planetary Sciences

Adviser: Jun Korenaga alexie millikin

For her research on the global budget of halogen and its evolution through earth history.

Earth and Planetary Sciences

Adviser: Alan Rooney chichun tan

For her research on the chronology of Neoproterozoic carbon cycle perturbations.

The Colin White Prize is awarded annually to an outstanding graduate student in Public Health.

Public Health

Adviser: Fan Li david charboneau

The Richard Wolfgang Prize was established in 1971 in memory of Richard Leopold Wolfgang, M.A. Hon. 1962, and member of the faculty from 1956 to 1971. It is awarded each year for the best doctoral theses of graduating chemistry students.

Chemistry

Adviser: Nilay Hazari

“Homogeneous Organic Electron Donors in Transition Metal-Catalyzed Reductive Coupling Reactions” ethan perets Chemistry

Reductants are crucial for the synthesis of many important chemicals, such as pharmaceuticals. This thesis explores the role of reductants in cross-electrophile coupling, a recently discovered chemical reaction that could be valuable in medicinal chemistry. Based on the understanding of how reductants operate, new and more practical reductants were developed. Additionally, the new reductants facilitate novel chemical reactions for pharmaceutical synthesis.

Adviser: Elsa Yan

“Vibrational Sum Frequency Generation Spectroscopy of Chiral Water

Superstructures Around Protein” elizabeth stone Chemistry

Understanding why biomolecules need water to function is a grand challenge in biophysics. Ethan Perets pioneered using ultrafast lasers to map the first layer of water molecules around a protein. He discovered this water layer contains molecular information about the protein’s structure. His research affords new understanding of water’s roles in biology and suggests new perspectives why life needs water.

Adviser: Scott J. Miller

“The Development and Study of Enantioselective Peptide-Catalyzed Halogenation and Oxidation Reactions”

The exploration of a series of catalysts for control over the outcome of chemical reactions is presented. The reactions of interest focus on molecular frameworks that are characteristic of bioactive molecules. Specific features of the target substrates include stereodynamic properties, and particular findings relate to the advantages of flexible catalysts that interact with flexible substrates through weak, but decisive interactions.

zhen (coraline) tao Chemistry

Adviser: Sharon Hammes-Schiffer

“Nuclear-Electronic Orbital Density Functional Theory for Quantizing Protons”

The movement of electrons and protons is important for many chemical and biological processes. Although protons are much heavier than electrons, they can still behave quantum mechanically by delocalizing and even tunneling. This thesis presents theoretical methods for treating electrons and protons quantum mechanically on the same footing to describe chemical reactions more accurately.

The Arthur and Mary Wright Prize is awarded upon the recommendation of the History Department for the outstanding dissertation or dissertations in the field of history outside the United States or Europe.

joanna linzer

History

Adviser: Daniel Botsman

“Iron Archipelago: Environment and Industry in Early Modern and Modern Japan”

This is an impressive piece of scholarship which makes substantial contributions in multiple subfields of Japanese history. In addition to the massive empirical contributions of this work, Linzer’s dissertation offers us a different picture of the place of Japan in global environmental history. It is based on deep research into a vast array of often very difficult sources, and is elegantly organized, written and argued. Deeply research and gracefully written, “Iron Archipelago” tells a story that is both novel and compelling. In short, this dissertation is a thing of beauty.

samuel severson

History

Adviser: Robert Harms

“Social Control and Incarceration in Lesotho: A History of Strategies, 1850-1970”

This dissertation makes a significant contribution to the history of prisons and incarceration in Africa. A major innovation of the dissertation is in analyzing the history of prisons and leprosariums in Lesotho along parallel tracks. Both were custodial institutions that had many features in common. He has read deeply and widely on the history of penal practices in Europe, the United States and across the colonized world. The dissertation is carefully written, masterfully researched, meticulously detailed and persuasively argued. The prose is extremely readable and lively.

University Awards

The Theron Rockwell Field Prize was established in 1957 by Emilia R. Field in memory of her husband, Theron Rockwell Field, Ph.B. 1889. It is awarded for poetic, literary, or religious works by any students enrolled in the University for a degree. This prize is awarded by the Office of the Secretary of Yale University.

ricardo alvarez-pimentel

History

Adviser: Gilbert M. Joseph

“From Secret War to Cold War: Race, Catholicism, and the Un-Making of Counterrevolutionary Mexico, 1917-1946”

For a chilling portrait of the suppression of indigenous voices through pietistic inaction and religious suppression of dissent. Judiciously argued, clearly written, and impressively researched— with fine-grained analysis of archival, press, photographic, and oral sources—this dissertation rewrites the history of the Mexican revolutionary state: foregrounding women, centering race and religion, showing us how institutional Catholicism became a site for white racial formation and authoritarian politics.

jill jie’en tan Anthropology

“Notes on the bicentennial of a f/l/ound/ er/ing (2019)” anna duensing

For a multimedia work that in its echoes, erasures, and hauntings—written, spoken, and (un)shown—makes postcolonial scholarship lyrical and reveals—but without foreclosure—a discerning and self-aware Singaporean subjectivity.

The John Addison Porter Prize, named in honor of Professor John Addison Porter, B.A. 1842, is awarded for a work of scholarship in any field where it is possible, through original effort, to gather and relate facts or principles, or both, and to present the results in such a literary form as to make the project of general human interest. This prize is awarded by the Office of the Secretary of Yale University.

African American Studies; History Advisers: Crystal N. Feimster and Matthew

Frye Jacobson

“Fascists without Labels: Jim Crow, Civil Rights,and the Making of a Black Antifascist Tradition, 1933-1977”

For giving us, in black antifascism, a new way of understanding American identity in the twentieth century and beyond. Prodigiously researched, conceptually surefooted, and gracefully rendered, this dissertation reveals antifascism as the lens through which Black activists, soldiers, artists, and intellectuals—across decades and continents— could identify, critique, and confront white supremacy and racialized state violence.

Public Service Awards

The Community Service Award honors a graduate student’s volunteer work in the local community while enrolled at Yale.

lizzy nand Microbiology

Lizzy is the co-founder and Head Director of Yale Science Communication - A Graduate Student Organization (YSC), an organization at Yale dedicated to igniting scientific engagement across diverse communities and training effective science communicators. Under her leadership, YSC has grown and increased its impact in local New Haven communities and beyond. She has spearheaded initiatives to expand the organization’s reach to new audiences from Vermont to New York, and she has established YSC as the place at Yale for science communication training. Lizzy is passionate about science communication and she shares this passion by serving her local communities and fellow trainees through YSC.

The Disciplinary Outreach Service Award recognizes a student who has applied specific knowledge of his or her own field in performing voluntary service within the local community.

patrice collins Sociology

Patrice has expanded the Dwight Hall at Yale Civic Allyship Initiative through student engagement in advocacy and social justice for families experiencing incarceration. Her dissertation, “It’s like a bad dream…everybody is locked up” Black Families with Incarcerated Loved Ones, represents the unique and multifaceted lived experiences of children and families with incarcerated parents. Patrice’s dissertation research is being used to inform and develop policies and protocols that aim to safeguard children during parental arrest and incarceration. In collaboration with the Yale Police Department, Yale Law School Advocacy Clinic, Yale Child Study Center, and Connecticut Voices for Children, Patrice has offered empirical insight that is currently under review by stakeholders invested in protecting and serving young children and their families. Patrice’s overall academic and professional agenda is centered on enhancing the lives and well-being of children, families, and communities.

Graduating Winners of Prize Teaching Fellowships

anna duensing

African American Studies; History

2021–2022 ahyan panjwani

Economics

2018–2019 javier portillo

Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

The Public Scholar Award recognizes research and activism pursued by a Yale graduate student that engages and betters the world at large.

alessandro zulli Chemical and Environmental Engineering

Alessandro’s doctoral research focuses on using wastewater as a low-cost method of monitoring disease, with a recent focus on tracking viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and influenza. He has presented this research at NSF conferences, published his work in several Nature journals, and maintains a website which regularly updates data for the public. His wastewater updates have been a key component of Connecticut’s COVID-19 response, and he’s a regular consultant to the Connecticut Department of Public Health.

2018–2019 rodrigo reboucas

Chemical and Environmental Engineering

2017–2018 sarah zager

Religious Studies; Philosophy

2018–2019