The Graduate School is pleased to announce its annual award winners for the 2023–2024 academic year. These awards include: the Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award; the James A. Burns, C.S.C., Awards; the Dick and Peggy Notebaert Award; the Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Graduate School Awards; and the Social Justice Award. The award winners will be formally recognized for their achievements at the Graduate School Commencement Ceremony to be held at Notre Dame Stadium on May 18.
Michael Davern ’99 Ph.D., is the winner of the Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award, given each year to a graduate alumnus or alumna of the University who has contributed significantly to scholarship, research, or society. Dr. Davern, who earned his doctorate in sociology from Notre Dame in 1999, is the executive vice president and chief research officer at NORC at the University of Chicago. In this role he serves as the principal investigator for the General Social Survey (GSS), one of the longest-running and most widely used sources of longitudinal social science data in the nation.
Prashant V. Kamat, Ph.D., is the winner of the James A. Burns, C.S.C., Award in recognition of his outstanding work as a sustained mentor of graduate students over the course of his career. Dr. Kamat is a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and a leading researcher in renewable energy. He has mentored 35 graduate students during his decades of service at Notre Dame, with many of these students going on to hold impressive teaching or research positions in academia or industry.
Rebecca Ann Wingert, Ph.D., is the winner of the James A. Burns, C.S.C., Award in recognition of her outstanding work as a mentor of graduate students at the midpoint of her career. An associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, Dr. Wingert has served as the department’s director of graduate studies (DGS) since 2016, during which time she has provided pivotal programmatic support and individual mentoring to countless doctoral students. Coinciding with her leadership, the graduate program in biological sciences has experienced strong growth and a number of significant structural enhancements.
William A. Phillip, Ph.D., is the winner of the Dick and Peggy Notebaert Award, which honors a faculty member or administrator who has had a significant impact on graduate studies at Notre Dame. Dr. Phillip is a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and has served as the department’s director of graduate studies (DGS) since 2020. In his role as DGS, Phillip has spearheaded a series of notable and transformative updates to his department’s doctoral program, including the creation of an orientation course for incoming students and more robust methods for doctoral students to receive ongoing feedback from their advisers.
Ryan R. Posh, Ph.D. candidate from the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, is the recipient of the Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Award in Engineering.
An engineer whose work specializes in lower-extremity prostheses, doctoral candidate Ryan Posh has focused his scholarly efforts on assisting individuals with amputation. His research has been published in leading academic journals and has been recognized with multiple awards, including the National Science Foundation’s prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship.
Anne Elise Crafton, Ph.D. candidate from the Medieval Institute, is the recipient of the Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Award in Humanities.
Doctoral candidate Anne Elise Crafton is a medievalist whose groundbreaking research challenges long-standing assumptions about the roles and representations of speech for women in pre-Norman Conquest England. Using meticulously compiled digital files of direct speech in Old English, their dissertation employs sociolinguistic, literary, and statistical analysis to argue that misogynistic condemnations of women's speech are largely a post-Conquest phenomenon.
Carlos Misael Madrid Padilla, Ph.D. candidate from the Department of Mathematics, is the recipient of the Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Award in Science.
An interdisciplinary scholar, doctoral candidate Carlos Misael Madrid Padilla’s work has intersected and made important contributions to the field of mathematics, as well as statistics. His research on change point detection has been published in top machine learning and statistical journals and has garnered significant attention from leaders in both academia and industry.
Natán Ezequiel Skigin, Ph.D. candidate from the Department of Political Science, is the recipient of the Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Award in Social Sciences.
An award-winning political scientist, doctoral candidate Natán Ezequiel Skigin has focused his research on addressing key challenges facing contemporary democracies in Latin America. Skigin’s work has been widely published in leading journals and honored with funding and awards from such organizations as the National Science Foundation, the American Political Science Association, and Innovations for Poverty Action.
Camille “Cam” Mosley, Ph.D. candidate from the Department of Biological Sciences, is the winner of the Social Justice Award, given annually to a graduate student in the Notre Dame community who has tackled complex societal issues through scholarship, teaching, and service. A biologist whose research centers around fisheries ecology, doctoral candidate Cam Mosley has also been a transformative campus leader on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Serving as the president of the Black Graduate Student Association and co-president of the organization Graduate Students Against Racial Injustice at Notre Dame, they have consistently sought out opportunities to mentor historically underrepresented students and help foster a more inclusive and welcoming environment at Notre Dame.