Current Scholars

ARCS Foundation Pittsburgh is honored to present awards to outstanding scholars chosen by the scholar selection committee at Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh. A Pittsburgh Chapter ARCS Scholar receives $15,000 in support, payable over three years at $5,000 per year, or until the completion of his or her doctoral degree, whichever comes sooner, provided the scholar maintains established criteria for continuation.

Third Year Scholars

Lili Chen

The Jeanne B. and Richard F. Berdik ARCS Pittsburgh Scholar Endowed Award
Carnegie Mellon University
Research: School of Computer Science, Department of Machine Learning. I am interested in building machine learning models that allow robots to adapt their behavior to a wide range of unfamiliar situations. I hope to scale up current approaches to robot learning, so that intelligent agents can achieve stronger generalization ability and be more reliably deployed in the real world.
Personal: In my free time, I enjoy playing tennis and lifting.

Emmanuel Leon Colon

The Elliott-Martin-Meadowcroft-Testoni ARCS Pittsburgh Scholar Endowed Award, Supporting Research at UPMC Children's Hospital
University of Pittsburgh

Research: School of Microbiology and Immunology. My research interests involve elucidating the communication between the immune and enteric nervous system and how both contribute to promote protection against gastrointestinal pathogens. The findings of my research have the potential to enhance oral vaccine designs leading to better protection in children from low- and middle-income countries.

Personal: I love to spend my free time reading sci-fi novels, playing bass guitar and learning new cooking recipes. I also like going to restaurants and trying out new kinds of foods.

Camila Garcia

The Rivers-Zawadzki-ARCS Pittsburgh Member Scholar Endowed Award

University of Pittsburgh

Research: Swanson School of Engineering. I’m interested in researching how neurotransmitter flux plays a role in the circadian rhythms that regulate a homeostasis in the brain. For example, I want to explore how melatonin promotes the maturation of oligodendrocytes, thereby improving cell functionality. I seek to apply my knowledge towards the development of treatments and improvement of brain recording and stimulation techniques.

Personal: I enjoy cooking and spending time with friends as well as drawing and dancing.

Anne Gormaley

The Pittsburgh Chapter Award
University of Pittsburgh
Research: Swanson School of Engineering, Bioengineering Department. My research focuses on the development of neural interfaces that allow us to send and receive signals to and from the brain. I aim to develop novel tools to allow us to directly observe and understand the biological phenomenon occurring at the tissue-device interface.
Personal: In my free time, I like to skateboard and work on creative projects to help grow the community of non-traditional skateboarders in Pittsburgh.

Liliana Gutierrez

The Professor Virgil Gligor and Alicia Avery ARCS Pittsburgh Endowed Scholar Award, Supporting research at the College of Engineering

Carnegie Mellon University

Research: School of Engineering, Chemical Engineering. My past reserach concerned climate change projections near the Edwards Aquifer using AI. My future research will be about Lab autonomy for liquid dispensing using AI.
Personal: In my free time, I enjoy playing my violin named Galileo as well as painting using watercolors.

Emani Hunter

The Crawford-Stockman-ARCS Pittsburgh Member Scholar Endowed Award, Supporting Research at the Schools of Medicine, Nursing or Engineering

University of Pittsburgh

Research: Swanson School of Engineering. My current graduate research is mainly focused on machine learning approaches to bioimaging modalities from both human and animal MRI and applying such approaches to aid in early diagnostics of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. With my research, I believe I would be able to bridge the gap between animal and human research work and guide the design of human studies in a more innovative way. The big picture impact of these studies is ensuring that individuals who are diagnosed early can receive the necessary support, therapy, and medical treatment that is available.
Personal: In my free time, I enjoy reading, cooking, doing yoga, and spending time with family. I also love to travel and spend time around nature.

Sam Nance

The Pittsburgh Chapter Award

Carnegie Mellon University
Research: Mellon College of Science, Biological Sciences Department. Cytoskeletal rearrangement and nuclear repositioning in developing egg chambers of flies.

Giannina Ramirez

The ARCS Pittsburgh Endowed Scholar Award in Honor of Timothy F. Burke, Jr. and Linda Beerbower Burke, Supporting Non-medical Research

University of Pittsburgh
Research: Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences. My undergraduate research project involved reconstructing marine to freshwater transitions in modern, tropical lake sediment using geochemical proxies. The results showed a possible connection to early human activity in the study region, which made me interested in studying and connecting paleoclimate records to modern climate change and anthropogenic influence in my graduate research. In a warming world where freshwater resources are vital, reconstructions of paleoclimate and early human influence from biogeochemical alterations of lake sediment can provide insight into how climate change can impact society and vice versa.
Personal: In my free time, I enjoy gardening, painting, and playing the violin. I also love to explore parks and spend time in nature.

Second Year Scholars

Katrina Carr

The Pittsburgh Chapter Award
University of Pittsburgh
School of Nursing
Research: The impact that gut microbiota have on psychoneurological symptoms women experience during breast cancer treatment

William Ferguson

The Fleischner-ARCS Pittsburgh Member Endowed Award
Carnegie Mellow University
College of Engineering, Material Science and Engineering
Research: Computational modeling of Polymer Systems

Hwei-Shin Harriman

The Pittsburgh Chapter Award
Carnegie Mellon University
School of Computer Science, Softward Engineering
Research: Data visualization and data analysis focusing on improving visual communication in learning materials.

Colin Shanmo Tang

The ARCS Pittsburgh Scholar Endowment in Memory of Jack and Gen Esgar
Carnegie Mellon University
Mellon College of Science, Mathematical Sciences
Research: High dimensional probability distributions and complex geometry.

Halah Winner

The Dunn Pittsburgh Chapter Award
University of Pittsburgh
School of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology
Research: Undertsanding interactions between disease-causing organisms and immune response

First Year Scholars

Jacqueline Avila

The Carroll-Pittsburgh Chapter Award
The University of Pittsburgh
Swanson School of Engineering, Bioengineering
Research Interest: Developing and applying both experimental and computational methods to solve cardiovascular/vascular health problems, focused on the computational optimization of a compliance matched tissue engineered vascular graft (TEVG)

Guadalupe Bernal

The Pittsburgh Chapter Award
Carnegie Mellon University
Department of Computer
Science, Robotics Institute
Research Interest: The development of adaptable centimeter-scale robots for search and rescue applications and their multi-agent collaboration

Chris Choi

The John and Missy Unkovic ARCS Pittsburgh Chapter Scholar Award Endowment
Carnegie Mellon University
Mellon College of Science, Physics
Research Interest: Theoretical cosmology and gravitational waves, specifically in the purview of theories of massive gravity and how we may constrain the gravitational mass using pulsar timing arrays.

Dennis Doyle

The Pittsburgh Chapter Award
Carnegie Mellon University
Mellon College of Science, Chemistry
Research Interest: Chemical transformations happening inside of atmospheric aerosol particles and their impacts on the climate and environment using Raman spectroscopy and mass spectro-scopy.

Adelle Holder

The Beaukema-Carrow/Kyper-Kemerer–Wainwright-ARCS Foundation Pittsburgh Scholar Award Endowment
University of Pittsburgh
Swanson School of Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Research Interest: Microbial communities present in drinking water distribution systems and their impact on public health.

Anna Iacocca

The Heppner-Verghis Named Award
Carnegie Mellon University
College of Engineering, Bioengineering
Research Interest: Growth and motion-preserving treatment plans for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and the effects of physical activity on orthopaedic tissue health.

Abigail Lustyik

The Hoffman-Pittsburgh Chapter Named Award
University of Pittsburgh
School of Nursing, Doctor of Philosophy
Research Interest: Cancer survivorship and the ways in which the healthcare system can better understand and support this population, with a focus on how their experiences are impacted by adverse exposure to social determinants of health.

Claire Mock

The Pittsburgh Chapter Award
University of Pittsburgh
Department of Geology and Environmental Science
Research Interest: The effects of clay mineral formation and organic carbon oxidation on the global carbon cycle and near-term impacts of climate change.

Ashley Steinberg

The Gookin Family Foundation ARCS Pittsburgh Scholar Award Endowment
Carnegie Mellon University
Mellon College of Science, Chemistry
Research Interest: Development of novel pharmaceuticals for treatment of cancer and genetic diseases.

Erin Walsh

The Catharine and John Ryan ARCS Pittsburgh Endowed Scholar Award
Carnegie Mellon University
Department of Biology
Research Interest: Host-pathogen interactions, metabolism, and bacterial evolution.

Lindsay Wilson

The Simpson-Thier Children’s Hospital Named Award
University of Pittsburgh
School of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology
Research Interest: How host genetics influence severe disease manifestation following infection with Rift Valley fever virus, a virus endemic to Africa and the Middle East

Jason Yeung

The Pittsburgh Chapter Award
University of Pittsburgh
School of Medicine, Integrative Systems Biology
Research Interest: Harnessing machine learning models to interrogate the underlying biology of complex diseases such as cancer and subsequently identify therapeutic targets and predict responses for applications in precision medicine.