Awards & Honors

National Academy of Sciences adds eight from UC Berkeley to its ranks

May 2, 2025

The National Academy of Sciences has added eight UC Berkeley faculty members to its esteemed ranks of scholars and experts who advise governments and other organizations on subjects in academic fields ranging from chemistry and physics to psychology and economic policy.

This year’s election of 120 members and 30 international members recognizes scholars’ distinguished and continuing achievements in original research, the National Academy of Sciences announced Tuesday. Those elected this week bring the...

L&S Staff Honored with 2025 Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Awards

May 1, 2025

event image for Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Awards with a bear statue against a graphic blue background

Five individual staff members from the College of Letters & Science are recipients of the 2025 Chancellor's Outstanding Staff Awards (COSA). One of the highest honors bestowed upon staff by the Chancellor, the COSA awards are presented to individuals who, in addition to performing their normal job duties with excellence, "...

Six UC Berkeley faculty elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

April 29, 2025

Six UC Berkeley faculty members from a diverse range of fields are among nearly 250 newly elected members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the organization announced in a recent press release. The new Berkeley electees include leading experts in mathematics, statistics, computer science, molecular biology, neurobiology and comparative literature.

Since 1780, the academy has honored excellence and convened leaders from across disciplines and divides to examine new ideas, address...

Two Berkeley professors receive prestigious Guggenheim fellowships

April 23, 2025

Philosopher Hannah Ginsborg will use the award to write a book about the relation between norms and reasons, while chemical engineer Markita del Carpio Landry will try to find molecules in little-studied plants that could treat neurological disorders.

For the past 100 years, the Guggenheim Foundation has bestowed one of the highest intellectual honors on North American academics and creatives: the Guggenheim Fellowship. Zora Neale Hurston penned Their Eyes Were Watching God during her time as a fellow; James Baldwin and UC Berkeley’s Jennifer Doudna are also alumni...

2025 MTI Innovator Awardees Announced

April 18, 2025

Graphic with headshots of six MTI Innovation Awardees

This week, MTI announced the recipients of its 2025 MTI Innovator Awards, honoring six scientists for their transformative approaches to therapeutic discovery. MTI was founded to reinvent drug discovery at the interface of academia and biotech, drawing on UC Berkeley’s unique strengths: a...

Political Science Professor Amy Lerman Awarded 2025 Carnegie Fellowship

April 17, 2025

Amy E. Lerman, professor of public policy and political science and director of the Possibility Lab at UC Berkeley has been awarded a Carnegie Fellowship by the Carnegie Corporation. The prestigious fellowship grants $200,000 in support of a book or major project to each member of the cohort of scholars, authors, journalists, and public intellectuals who focus on political polarization in the United States.

Lerman studies civic engagement and public opinion, especially as they relate to public safety and social...

Geography scholars and alumni receive honors from the American Association of Geographers

April 16, 2025

UC Berkeley Geography students, faculty and alumni were recognized for their groundbreaking work in the field of geography at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG).

The AAG is a nonprofit educational society aimed at providing “students, educators, practitioners, and partners with the resources they need to enter the field, develop their careers, and form professional friendships that can last a lifetime.” Its annual meeting gathers geographers from around the nation for “high-profile sessions, as well as many...

Roxana Wang Named Berkeley’s Twentieth Schwarzman Scholar

January 29, 2025

Roxana (Qinhong) Wang, a recent graduate of the UC Berkeley class of 2024, has been awarded a 2025-26 Schwarzman Scholarship. Wang, who studied Comparative Literature and Ancient Greek and Roman Studies in the College of Letters & Science, was selected as one of 150 scholars from a pool of nearly 5,000 candidates. She is Berkeley’s twentieth recipient of the award since its inception in 2013.

“Many highly qualified Berkeley students apply for the Schwarzman Scholarship every year, so it is impossible to predict who will be offered a place...

UC Berkeley Letters & Science announces recipients of 2025 L&S Faculty Awards

April 8, 2025

UC Berkeley's College of Letters & Science is proud to announce the recipients of the 2025 L&S Faculty Awards. This distinguished award recognizes each awardee's exceptional scholarship, service to the College and community, and transformational teaching. These extraordinary individuals not only embody the excellence of the College of Letters & Science, but they also serve as an inspiration to the entire campus community. The recipients will be honored at a private ceremony on Wednesday, May 14....

UC Berkeley's Script Encoding Initiative wins $1.3M in grants for advancing digital inclusion

November 7, 2024

Anushah Hossain

The Script Encoding Initiative (SEI), led by researchers Anushah Hossain and Deborah Anderson in the Linguistics Department, recently received grants from the Internet Society Foundation ($300,000) and the Mellon Foundation ($1M) for research on digital inclusion of diverse writing systems. SEI aims to increase the number of writing systems...