ASCENT Graduate Student Awards

ASCENT awards recognize graduate student Achievement in Service, Community, Excellence in research, Nurturing mentorship, and Transformational leadership.

The Office of Graduate Education is proud to announce the recipients of this year’s ASCENT graduate student awards (formerly fall awards), recognizing outstanding contributions and excellence across multiple domains. These individuals exemplify dedication, innovation, leadership, and academic excellence and their work continues to inspire and elevate our community.

Please join us in congratulating these outstanding awardees. Their achievements reflect the highest standards of excellence and serve as a beacon for others to follow. Formal award reception will be held in their honor later this year.

Alumni Society Award
This honor is awarded to individuals who have achieved the milestones of their degree expectations and have additionally provided their colleagues and the College of Medicine community with examples of involvement above and beyond the expected.

Kalynn Alexander
Avantika Diwadkar
Alexandra Evans
Austin Montgomery
Laraib Mazhar
Aurosman Pappus Sahu
Uttara Seshu
Congzhou Sha
Shareef Shaheen
Tian Qiu
Zizhong Tian

Karl H. Beyer, Jr., MD/PhD Scholarship
This award is given to students who show dedication to the enrichment of their academic area of interest, as well as for their contributions to campus, the community and their disciplines.

Raz Abdulqadir
Louis Betz
Victoria Francois
Anastasia Hale
Alexandra Nusawardhana
Rebecka Serpa
Emily Tufano
Esma Yerlikaya

COM Graduate Alumni Endowed Award
This award recognizes students who have not only excelled in their academic and research pursuits but also dedicated themselves to serving their community, nurturing the growth of others through mentorship, and demonstrating transformative leadership.

Peter Forstmeier
Zoe Katz
Ikram Mezghani
Shareef Shaheen
Uttara Seshu
Esma Yerlikaya

Charles and Katherine McLaughlin Excellence in Teaching Award
To recognize students achieved excellence in teaching

Brandon Buss

Graduate Student Career Day Leadership
Maryam Abdollahnia
Pu (Ramona) Bai
Shriya Gangakhedkar

Graduate Student Forum Leadership
Alexis Scudder (Spring 2025)
Courtney Williams (Spring 2025)
Julia Ambrose (Fall 2025)
Louis Betz (Fall 2025)
Gabrielle Peruggia (Fall 2025)
Sonal Garg (Fall 2025)
Nora Margulis (Fall 2025)
Kayla Wisotzkey (Fall 2025)

Richard J. Courtney Graduate Student Award
This award is named for Dr. Richard Courtney, former chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Distinguished Educator and Professor Emeritus. Dr. Courtney was a highly esteemed and cherished leader, investigator and teacher at Penn State College of Medicine.

Luz Ortiz
 
Charles W. Hill Graduate Excellence Award
This award honors one of the original faculty members of the Department of Biological Chemistry/Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and now Molecular and Precision Medicine. Arriving in 1969, Charles (Chuck) Hill was a “triple threat,” respected for his research, leadership and teaching. Upon his retirement in 2000 and in tribute to his dedication to the success of graduate students, the faculty of this department endowed the Charles W. Hill Graduate Excellence Award as a yearly recognition for an outstanding graduate student in the department. This award recognizes a student conducting research in the department with outstanding excellence in the lab, and a first-author publication.

Seth Kabonick
Alexandra Nusawardhana

Vernon M. Chinchilli Award for Excellence in Biostatistics and Epidemiology
This award was established by and named after Distinguished Professor and former department chair, Vernon M. Chinchilli, PhD.

Xinyang Fang (Biostatistics)
Tian Qiu (Epidemiology)