Scholar Alumni

ARCS Scholar Alums, We’d Like to Hear from You!

You are a vital part of our mission. Your stories encourage current scholars and help us attract new funding for future scholars.

Stay involved with ARCS Foundation members and other scholars if you have moved to the Pittsburgh area or want to give back in any way, including speaking about your research at an ARCS Foundation event. Let us know how you would like to participate in carrying ARCS Foundation work into the future.

To notify the Pittsburgh Chapter that you are in the area, please email us at pittsburgh@arcsfoundation.org. To update your information, navigate to the Member & Scholar login. To learn more about speaking at or hosting an event, click here.

ARCS 2019 Scholar Alumni


CHRISTOPHER LEE HUGHES Research: Electrical stimulation in the human brain for the restoration of tactile perception. Pitt - Swanson School of Engineering, Bioengineering .	ALYSSA LAWLER Research: Understand the gene expression and epigenetic landscape of different types of neurons in the brain. CMU - Mellon College of Science, Biological Sciences	TYLER MEDER Research: Peripheral nerve repair, specifically by using an injectable hydrogel meant to modulate the immune response to be more constructive rather than destructive. Pitt - Swanson School of Engineering, Bioengineering

AMANDA QUAY Research: Remotely sensed data for environmental policy analysis at the Water-Energy-Food Nexus. CMU - Carnegie Institute of Technology, Dept. of Engineering and Public Policy and Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering	MICHELLE SCRIBNER Research: The evolution of antimicrobial resistance in bacterial pathogens during chronic respiratory infection in cystic fibrosis patients. Pitt - School of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology	ZIV SCULLY Research: Queueing theory – the study all sorts of systems that involve queues, lines, or waiting—for example, how to manage line lengths at a grocery store. CMU - School of Computer Science, Computer Science

ALEX WHITE Research: G-protein coupled receptor signaling biology. Pitt - School of Medicine, Pharmacology and Chemical Biology	ZOE WRIGHT Research: Designing new medical adhesives from the molecular level up, using principles from both organic chemistry and materials science engineering. CMU - Mellon College of Science, Chemistry	KATHERINE YE Research: Techniques for programming language design and domain-specific language design to invent declarative and principled modes of information visualization. CMU - School of Computer Science

DIANA ZHANG Research: Sensing using commodity wireless communication devices. CMU - Carnegie Institute of Technology, Electrical and Computer Engineering

ARCS Scholar Alum Spotlight - Melissa Day

Melissa writes, “I can’t believe it’s been six whole years since I became an ARCS scholar!” Melissa was the recipient of the Dr. Arnold O. Beckman Award for the first three years of her doctoral degree at the world-renowned Chemical Engineering program at Carnegie Mellon University from 2009-2012. She has recently completed her PhD and will be an AAAS Fellow this coming September while working at the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Center for Environmental Research in the Air, Climate, and Energy Research Program. She says, “I’m very excited!”

During her time at Carnegie Mellon as an ARCS scholar, Melissa published three papers “to investigate how climate change may impact the air quality in the Eastern United States.” Her first paper, Predicted Changes in Summertime Organic Aerosol Concentration Due to Increased Temperature, which can be found at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231011008521, “shows that the climate change response of natural or biogenic emissions may be more important than temperature changes alone.” A second paper, Effects of a Changing Climate on Summertime Fine Particulate Matter Levels in the Eastern U.S., shows “the very complex results of changing every meteorological factor at once.” It can be found at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014JD022889/full. Melissa also shared a third paper, Evaluation of the Ability of the EC Tracer Method to Estimate Secondary Organic Carbon, which she says, “I was able to use my air quality model to evaluate how accurate an emissions measurements technique was that experimentalists use in the field, and provide some suggestions to increase its accuracy.” Her overall thesis is available online at http://gradworks.umi.com/36/90/3690564.html.

Currently, Melissa is continuing her work with the local chapter of Engineers Without Borders. She spoke about her work building a potable water pumping system for a rural community in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador at prior ARCS events. She is pleased to report that it “was completed in January 2012 and has been functioning well since then.” She recently traveled back to the same community to help install two latrines and a handwashing station. She says, “We were pretty successful.” A time lapse video of the progress is available at https://youtu.be/mxSex0V2U4E. Melissa is organizing the fundraiser Whiskey for Water for Engineers Without Borders which will be held on July 22 at Wigle Whiskey Barrelhouse on the Northside. More information can be found at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/whiskey-for-water-a-fundraiser-for-engineers-without-borders-pittsburgh-tickets-17428083868.

ARCS Scholar Alum Spotlight - Bart Roland

Bart was an ARCS scholar at Pitt from 2008 to 2011. He wrote to us, "I just wanted to give you and the other ARCS folks a heads up that some of my thesis work will be released soon in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Cell Science."

ARCS Scholar Alum Spotlight - Elisabeth Gilmore

In 2004, Elisabeth Gilmore was the first and sole recipient of a Scholar Award from the ARCS Foundation - Pittsburgh Chapter. She now holds a dual PhD in Engineering and Public Policy and Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Her dissertation work evaluated the costs, air quality and human health effects of distributed electricity generation.

Following a post-doctoral position at the Climate Decision Making Center at CMU, Elisabeth was selected as a Science and Technology Policy Fellow through the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, DC, where she worked on the quantification of benefits and avoided risks of different climate scenarios in the Climate Change Division at the Environmental Protection Agency.

In the fall of 2011, Elisabeth accepted an assistant professor position in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. She will be focusing on energy and environmental policy. Before her doctoral studies, she worked at the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo, Norway (PRIO). This work resulted in two widely cited publications on the links between diamonds and civil conflict. She also holds a Masters and Bachelors in Chemical and Environmental Engineering from the University of Toronto.

To read more about Elisabeth's research, click here.

ARCS Pittsburgh Scholar alums continue to make their mark on the scientific world. We are proud of their accomplishments.

	Carnegie Mellon University Scholar Alums
2017-2019 Scholar Alums
Alyssa Lawler	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2017-2019 Carnegie Mellon University, Mellon College of Science, Biological Sciences Research: Understand the gene expression and epigenetic landscape of different types of neurons in the brain.
Amanda Quay	Berdik-Unkovic Award 2018-2019 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Dept. of Engineering and Public Policy and Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research: Remotely sensed data for environmental policy analysis at the Water-Energy-Food Nexus.
Ziv Scully	Roy and Susie Dorrance Award 2017-2019 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science, Computer Science Research: Queueing theory – the study all sorts of systems that involve queues, lines, or waiting—for example, how to manage line lengths at a grocery store.
Katherine Ye	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2017-2019 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science Research: Techniques for programming language design and domain-specific language design to invent declarative and principled modes of information visualization.
Diana Zhang	Alicia M. Avery and Virgil D. Gilgor Award 2017-2019 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Electrical and Computer Engineering Research: Sensing using commodity wireless communication devices.
2016-2018 Scholar Alums
Dean Alderucci	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2016-2018 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology / Engineering & Public Policy/ School of Computer Science / Language Technologies Institute Research: application of machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques to patent documents and the patent system.
Timothy Bartholomew	Heppner-Testoni-Young Award 2016-2018 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Civil and Environmental Engineering Research: improving water treatment and management for the energy sector
Ryan Wagner	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2016-2018 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science, Institute for Software Research Research: graceful degradation of computer systems in response to adversarial attacks
Zoe Wright	PPG Industries/Templeton Award 2016-2018 Carnegie Mellon University, Mellon College of Science, Chemistry Research: Designing new medical adhesives from the molecular level up, using principles from both organic chemistry and materials science engineering.
2015-2017 Scholar Alums
Stephanie Biedka	The Roche/ARCS Foundation Scholar Award 2015-2017 Carnegie Mellon University, Mellon College of Science Research: biological sciences
Michael Craig	The Lockheed Martin Award 2015-2017 Carnegie Mellon University, CIT Research: environmental impact of the electricity grid
Hannah Gommerstadt	The Auclair-Unkovic Award 2015-2017 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science Research: programming languages and information security
William Herlands	The Hans and Leslie Fleischner Award (V) 2015-2017 Carnegie Mellon University, H. John Heinz III College and School of Computer Science Research: machine learning and public policy
Amy Shannon	The Jared L. and Maureen B. Cohon Award 2015-2017 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science Research: human-comp
2014-2016 Scholar Alums
Daniel Gingerich	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2014-2016 Carnegie Institute of Technology, Engineering and Public Policy
Devin Griffith	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2014-2016 Carnegie Institute of Technology, Chemical Engineering
Clay Long	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2014-2016 Carnegie Institute of Technology, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Momin Malik	The Gookin-Stockman Award 2014-2016 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science
Joseph Tassarotti	The Susan and Roy Dorrance Award (II) 2014-2016 Carnegie Mellon University, Computer Science Department
2013-2015 Scholar Alums
Peter Chapman	The Kirwin-Leckey Award 2013-2015 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science
Tom Jackson	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2013-2015 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Peter Lund	The BNY Mellon Award 2013-2015 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Department of Biomechanical Engineering
Lauren Strahs	The Heppner-Testoni-Young Award 2013-2015 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
2011-2013 Scholar Alums
David Bamman	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2011-2013 Carnegie Mellon University, Computer Science/Language Technologies Institute
Shawn Burton	Hans and Leslie Fleischner Award (III) 2011-2013 Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Biological Sciences
Amy Dale	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2011-2013 Carnegie Mellon University, Engineering and Public Policy, College of Engineering
Samantha Finkelstein	Hans and Leslie Fleischner Award (IV) 2011-2013 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science, Human Computer Interaction Institute
Rachel Jackson	The Berdik-Elliott Award (III) 2011-2013 Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Mechanical Engineering
2010-2012 Scholar Alums
Andrew DeYoung	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2010-2012 Carnegie Mellon University, Mellon College of Science, Chemistry Department
Michael McCann	The Roy and Susie Dorrence Award 2010-2012 Carnegie Institute of Technology, Biomedical Engineering Department
Manya Sleeper	The Thomas W. and Carol K. Henderson Family Fund Award 2010-2012 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science
Stephen Spagnol	PPG Industries Award 2010-2012 Carnegie Institute of Technology, Chemical Engineering Department
Jason Tsay	Catalyst/Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2010-2012 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science
2009-2011 Scholar Alums
Melissa Day	Dr. Arnold O. Beckman Award 2009-2011 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Chemical Engineering Department
Robert Fisher	The Fine Foundation Award 2009-2011 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science, Machine Learning Department
Lauren Jackson	Jeanne Berdik Founder Award 2009-2011 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Materials Science and Engineering Department
William Levine	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2009-2011 Carnegie Mellon University, Mellon College of Science, Department of Physics
Julia Schwarz	The BNY Mellon Award 2009-2011 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction Institute
2008-2010 Scholar Alums
Chase Hetherington Butler	Hans and Leslie Fleischner Award 2008-2010 Carnegie Mellon University, Mellon College of Science, Inorganic Chemistry/Astronomy
Mark DeBlois	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2008-2010 Carnegie Mellon University, Mellon College of Science, Biological Sciences, Neuroscience
Lindsey Hines	Highmont Foundation Award 2008-2010 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science, Robotics
Stephen Oney	Heitzenroder-Stockman-Woodward Award 2008-2010 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction Institute/Astronomy
Andrew Rape	Carol and Richard Heppner Award 2008-2010 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Biomedical Engineering
Robert Smith	MSA Charitable Foundation Award 2008-2010 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Chemical Engineering
Julia Schwarz	The BNY Mellon Award 2009-2011 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction Institute
Nathaniel Shank	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2007-2009 Carnegie Mellon University, Mellon College of Science, Chemistry
Manya Sleeper	The Thomas W. and Carol K. Henderson Family Fund Award 2010-2012 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science
Robert Smith	MSA Charitable Foundation Award 2008-2010 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Chemical Engineering
Enrique Suarez	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2008 Carnegie Mellon University, Mellon College of Science, Physics, Radio Astronomy
Jessica Wilson	Berdik-Elliott Award 2008-2010 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Civil and Environmental Engineering
2007-2009 Scholar Alums
Brian Becker	Westinghouse Electric Company Award 2007-2009 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science, Robotics
Katherine Fu	Lawrence J. Rhoades Memorial Award 2007-2009 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering
Katharine Ricke	Abraham-Wainwright Award 2007-2009 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Engineering & Public Policy
Nathaniel Shank	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2007-2009 Carnegie Mellon University, Mellon College of Science, Chemistry
James Arthur Tolbert II	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2007-2009 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science
David Whitney	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2007-2009 Carnegie Mellon University, Mellon College of Science, Biological Sciences
Christopher Wirth	PPG Industries Award 2007-2009 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Chemical Engineering
2006-2008 Scholar Alums
Armen Arevian	Thomas W. and Carol K. Henderson Family Fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation 2006-2008 Carnegie Mellon University, Mellon College of Science University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Center for Neuroscience, Biological Sciences
Thomas C. Diaz	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2006 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering
Kevin Gimpel	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2006-2008 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science, Computer Science, Language Technologies Institute
Alysha J. Grenko	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2006-2008 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Materials Science & Engineering
2005-2007 Scholar Alums
Michael H. Dinitz	Vicki and Tom Griffin Award 2005-2007 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science, Computer Science
Gabriella Engelhart Farnham	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2005-2007 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Chemical Engineering
Kathleen Spees	Berdik-Elliott Award 2005-2007 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Engineering & Public Policy
Daniel J. Wendlandt	Hans and Leslie Fleischner Award 2005-2007 Carnegie Mellon University, School of Computer Science
2004-2006 Scholar Alums
Elisabeth A. Gilmore	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2004-2006 Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Engineering
	University of Pittsburgh Scholar Alums
2017-2019 Scholar Alums
Christopher Lee Hughes	Beukema-Wainwright-Wood Award 2017-2019 University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering, Bioengineering . Research: Electrical stimulation in the human brain for the restoration of tactile perception.
Tyler Meder	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2017-2019 University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering, Bioengineering Research: Peripheral nerve repair, specifically by using an injectable hydrogel meant to modulate the immune response to be more constructive rather than destructive.
Michelle Scribner	Fromm-Payne-Stockman Award 2017-2019 University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology Research: The evolution of antimicrobial resistance in bacterial pathogens during chronic respiratory infection in cystic fibrosis patients.
Alex White	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2017-2019 University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Pharmacology and Chemical Biology Research: G-protein coupled receptor signaling biology.
2016-2018 Scholar Alums
Ethan Bassin	Chapter-Ragni-Ryan Award 2016-2018 University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Immunology Research: developing Treg mimicking microparticles with the goal of treating type 1 diabetes
Katerina Clemens	The Fine Foundation Award 2016-2018 University of Pittsburgh, Center for Neuroscience Research: visual system and how we decide to make particular eye movements
Michelle Heusser	Freed-Jones-Meadowcroft Award 2016-2018 University of Pittsburgh - Swanson School of Engineering, Bioengineering Research: mechanisms of population coding in the oculomotor system
Alexis Nolfi	Pittsburgh Chapter Award, 2016-2018 University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering, Bioengineering Research: women’s health research, specifically the disease endometriosis and the conditions of pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinences
Michael Oddo	Pittsburgh Chapter Award, 2016-2018 University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering, Bioengineering Research: mechanisms of breast cancer metastasis and chemotherapy resistance
2015-2017 Scholar Alums
Shelby Hemker	The Berdik-Pappas Award 2015-2017 Interdisciplinary Biomedical Graduate Program University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine Research: hypoxia in kidney development and its effects on gene expression
Daniel Long	Roche/ARCS Foundation Scholar Award in Life Sciences 2015-2017 Department of Bioengineering University of Pittsburgh Research: cellular and organ engineering
2014-2016 Scholar Alums
Jennifer Boatz	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2014-2016 University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine
Victoria Corbit	The Beukema-Wainwright-Wood Award 2014-2016 University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine
Michelle Guaragno	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2014-2016 University of Pittsburgh, Department of BioEngineering
2013-2015 Scholar Alums
Courtney Andersen	The Woodard-Ryan Award 2013-2015 University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Interdisciplinary Biomedical Graduate Program
Whitney Lane	The Jeanne Berdik Founder Award 2013-2015 University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Interdisciplinary Biomedical Graduate Program
Nick Pavlovsky	The Abraham-Martin-Ragni Award 2013-2015 University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering
Brooke Sullivan	The Fine Foundation Award 2013-2015 University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Interdisciiplinary Biomedical Graduate Program
*2011-2013 Scholar Alums*
Denver Faulk	The Stockman-Paul Award 2011-2013 University of Pittsburgh, Bioengineering, Swanson School of Engineering
Adam Large	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2011-2013 University of Pittsburgh, Center for Neuroscience
Robert Matthew Miller	The Burke-Harter Award 2011-2013 University of Pittsburgh, Bioengineering, Swanson School of Engineering
Austin Nuschke	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2011-2013 University of Pittsburgh, Interdisciplinary Biomedical Graduate Program, College of Medicine
*2010-2012 Scholar Alums*
Anny Caceres	Joy-Linhart Award 2010-2012 University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine
Katharine Harris	The Beukema-Carrow-Wainwright Award 2010-2012 University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine
Megan Jamiolkowski	Westinghouse Electric Company Award 2010-2012 University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering, Department of Bioengineering
Tyler Tarr	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2010-2012 University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Center for Neuroscience
2009-2011 Scholar Alums
Berook Alemayehu	Burke-Harter Award 2009 University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Mahlon Collins	Huntington-Testoni Award 2009-2011 University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Center for Neuroscience
Sarah Cook	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2009 University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Center for Neuroscience
Douglas Marvel	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2009-2011 University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Immunology Program
Callie Norris	McCague-Munchmeyer-Ragni Award 2009-2011 University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Interdisciplinary Biomedical Program
2008-2010 Scholar Alums
Prince Awuah	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2008-2010 University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Nydiaris Hernandez-Santos	Gookin Family Foundation Award 2008-2010 University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Kristen Balogh Leslie	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2008-2010 University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Michelle Messmer	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2008-2010 University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Bartholomew Roland	Granito-M. Ryan Award 2008-2010 University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
	Penn State University Scholar Alums
2015-2017 Scholar Alums
Jenna Reeger	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2015-2017 College of Agricultural Sciences Penn State University Research: plant biology
2014-2016 Scholar Alums
Joseph Schneiderwind	The Bennett-Coppersmith-Palmer Award 2014-2016 Penn State University, Graduate Program in Acoustics
2013-2015 Scholar Alums
Laura Radville	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2013-2015 Penn State University, Department of Ecology
2011-2013 Scholar Alums
Christopher Thawley	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2011-2013 Penn State University, Ecology Intercollege Graduate Program, Huck Institute of the Life Sciences
2010-2012 Scholar Alums
Whitney Coyle	The Bennett-Coppersmith-Palmer Award 2010-2012 Penn State University, Graduate Program in Acoustics
Denise M. Finney	The Maureen Emily Ryan Award 2010-2012 Penn State University, Department of Biology
Meredith Hanlon	Pittsburgh Chapter Award 2010-2012 Penn State University, Department of Biology

Scholar Alumni

CHRISTOPHER LEE HUGHES

ALYSSA LAWLER

TYLER MEDER