Graduate Student Achievements & Awards
The Department of Sociology is very proud of the achievements of our graduate students. Below you can find a list of recent national and international awards granted to our students, as well as University of Minnesota graduate student awards. Our graduate students also receive additional fellowships from the summer Graduate Research Partnership Program (GRPP) and the American Mosaic Project (AMP).
National & International Awards
2026
Leonardo Corral: National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF-GRF)
Anna DalCortivo: Center for Engaged Scholarship Fellow
Isabella Irtifa: Summer 2026 Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship
Shania Kuo: Early Career Scholar Travel Award, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research; AAPI Data Public Persuasion Project Travel Award, AAPI Data
Mao Lee: PEO Scholar Award
2025
Christine Delp: Outstanding Graduate Student Paper, Section: Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity - American Sociological Association (ASA); Library of Congress Ken Burns/Lavine Prize for Film Runner-Up; News & Documentary Emmy Award Nomination for Best Art Direction
Emma Goldstein: Population Association of America Poster Winner in Family Demography
Jessie Himmelstern: 2025 IPUMS Excellence in Research Award for her paper "Trends in Realized Job Insecurity Rate and Depth in the United States from 1978 to 2022"
Snigdha Kumar: First Place Graduate Award Winner, Caroline Rose Student Paper Competition, Sociologists of Minnesota (SOM)
Jillian LaBranche: Honorable Mention, Reinhard Bendix Student Paper Award, Section: Comparative and Historical Sociology - American Sociological Association
Mao Lee: Hawkinson Fund for Peace and Justice Scholarship
Chris Robertson: American Bar Foundation and Law & Society Association's NSF Doctoral Fellowship in Law and Inequality; Spencer Foundation Quantitative, Computational & Mixed Methodologies (QCM) Scholar; American Sociological Association Minority Fellowship; RAND Summer 2025 Association Intern
2024
Mao Lee: Honorable Mention, Outstanding Graduate Student Research Paper, Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) Social Science Caucus
Victoria Piehowski: Law and Society Association (LSA) Dissertation Prize Honorable Mention
Nika Sremac: United States Institute of Peace (USIP) Peace Scholar Fellowship
2023
Daniel Cueto-Villalobos: Society for the Study of Religion Student Conference Travel Award
Mao Lee: First Place Graduate Award Winner, Caroline Rose Student Paper Competition, Sociologists of Minnesota (SOM)
2022
Anna Bokun: American Educational Research Association-National Science Foundation (AERA-NSF Dissertation Grant
Hyunjae Kwon: National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF-GRF)
Mao Lee: Hmong Studies Social Justice Research Grant, Hmong Studies Research Consortium, Univ. of Wisconsin
Victoria Piehowski: Mellon/American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Dissertation
Miray Philips: Religion, Spirituality, & Democratic Renewal Grant, Social Science Research Council.
Mi'Chael Wright: American Society of Criminology's Division of People of Color and Crime Media one Public Scholarship Fellowship (AMC DPCC MPS)
UMN Awards
2026
Francesca Bernardino: Asian American Studies Travel Award – Asian American Studies Program
Daniel Cueto-Villalobos: University of Minnesota Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
Anna DalCortivo: College of Liberal Arts single-semester Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
Isabella Irtifa: 2026-27 Dr. Josie R. Johnson Dissertation Fellowship; Summer CLA Internship Fellow; Research Travel Award
Hyeyun Jeong: Hella Mears Graduate Summer Fellowship – Center for German & European Studies
Jillian LaBranche: Honorable Mention Distinguished Dissertation Award Competition
2025
Xiaowen Han: University of Minnesota Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
Isabella Irtifa: Humanities without Walls Fellow – College of Liberal Arts; 2025-26 Urban Research and Outreach Engagement Center (UROC) Fellow; RIDGS Critical Reading Group Grant, UMN
Shania Kuo: Shelley Joseph-Kordell Scholarship – Center for Healthy Aging and Innovation (CHAI); Asian American Studies Travel Award – Asian American Studies Program; Dissertation Proposal Development Program – Center for Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender, and Sexuality (RIDGS); Graduate Scholarly Excellence in Equity and Diversity (SEED) Award, Office for Diversity and Equity, UMN
Mahala Miller: University of Minnesota Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
Hannah Schwendeman: University of Minnesota Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship
Engin Yolcu: Hella Mears Graduate Recruitment Fellowship – Center for German & European Studies
2024
Mao Lee: Dunn Peace Research Scholarship – Institute for Global Studies
My Nguyen: J. W. G. Dunn, Jr. Scholarship for Foreign Research on International Peace
Victoria Piehowski: Honorable Mention Best Dissertation Award Competition
Christopher Robertson: University of Minnesota Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
Nika Sremac: University of Minnesota Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
2023
Jillian LaBranche: University of Minnesota Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
Miray Philips: CLA Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
Hannah Schwendeman: College of Liberal Arts Dissertation Proposal Development Program
Nika Sremac: CLA Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
2022
Daniel Cueto-Villalobos: UMN Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship
Caity Curry: Graduate School Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (DDF)
Aimzhan Iztayeva: Graduate School Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (DDF)
Snigdha Kumar: Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship (IDF); Joseph E. Schwartzberg Workable World Trust Fellowship - Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change (ICGC)
Erika Sanborne: ISRDI Outstanding Service Award
Nikoleta Sremac: Badzin Fellowship in Holocaust and Genocide Studies UMN. Center for Austrian Studies Summer Research Grant UMN
Department Awards
2026
Francesca Bernardino (with Laura Garbes): GRPP Audiobook Narration in the Digital Age: Cultural Workers Caught in a Technological Revolution
Tianhe Chen (with Joe Gerteis): GRPP The Intersections of Geographical and Generational Changes on Cultural Values in the United States (2014-2024)
Sierra Clark: Social Dimensions of Climate Change Fellowship
Daniel Cueto-Villalobos: Outstanding Graduate Research Paper; Engaged Scholarship Award
Christine Delp: Martindale Award
Anastasia Dulle (with Penny Edgell): GRPP Exploring Changing Attitudes toward Conservative Christians
Xiaowen Han: Life Course Summer Fellowship; Martindale Award
Isabella Irtifa: American Mosaic Project Edelstein Fellowship; Anna Welsch Bright Memorial Award; Ron Anderson Technology & Social Cohesion Fellowship Award
Skyler Kelley Duval (with Joe Gerteis): GRPP AMP Support for Autocracy Project
Aras Koksal: Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant
Shania Kuo (with Mike Esposito): GRPP Racialized Caring Time: Interrogating Racialized Structures of Time Use Among Asian American Caregivers; Anna Welsch Bright Memorial Award
Ellie Nickel (with Michelle Phelps): GRPP Understanding Behavioral Crisis Response in Minneapolis
Chris Robertson: Outstanding Graduate Instructor; Martindale Award
Jordyn Wald: Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant
2025
Fabio Bolz (with Elizabeth Wrigley-Field) GRPP Changing Educational Gradients in Mortality
Josh Caffrey: Anna Welsch Bright Memorial Award
Tianhe Chen: Ron Anderson Technology & Social Cohesion Fellowship Award
Xochitl de Anda Arellanes (with Ryan Allen) GRPP Understanding Trends in Asylum Seekers' Use of Emergency Shelter Services in Hennepin County
Christine Delp: Outstanding Graduate Research Paper; Outstanding Graduate Instructor
Nadia Fitch (with Mike Esposito) GRPP Improving Science Communication in Health Research: The Role of Journal Policies and Implementation Challenges
Emma Goldstein: Life Course Summer Fellowship; Martindale Award
Isabella Irtifa (with Cawo Abdi) GRPP Who's Counted? Whose Life Matters?: Diaspora Organizing and Political Engagement
Mason Jones: Anna Welsch Bright Memorial Award
Shania Kuo: Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant
Mao Lee (with Rachmi Diyah Larasati) RIDGS GRPP Double Displacement: Hmong Women’s Negotiation for Belonging; Anna Welsch Bright Memorial Award
Jillian LaBranche: Martindale Award
Forrest Lovette (with Doug Hartmann) GRPP Reactionary Movements and Conservative Thought: Disentangling Politics from Theory
My Nguyen (with Michael Goldman) GRPP Local Management, Global Investment: The Friction of Industrialization in Vietnam; Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant
Hannah Schwendeman: Anna Welsch Bright Memorial Award
Eric Seligman (with Nick Graetz) GRPP The Effect of Prison Closure on the Local Economy
Nikoleta Sremac (with Joachim Savelsberg) GRPP History in Whose Hands? Women’s Collective Memory of the Yugoslav Wars in Serbia
Jordyn Wald (with Tom VanHeuvelen) GRPP The Shifting Discourse of Gender-Based Terms Online
2024
Isabel Arriagada: Martindale Award
Desiree Alvarez McNelis (with Mike Esposito) GRPP Neighborhoods and Health at All Ages Data Analysis
Kriti Budhiraja: Martindale Award
Daniel Cueto-Villalobos: Anna Welsch Bright Memorial Award
Caity Curry: Martindale Award
Anna DalCortivo (with Chris Uggen) GRPP The Peoples’ Way” Rejecting Reform and Building Radical Space in Minneapolis; Outstanding Graduate Instructor
Emma Goldstein (with Teresa Swartz) GRPP Beyond Companionship: Examining the Role of Service Dogs in Enhancing Veteran Well-being, Family Dynamics, and Social Integration
Mallory Harrington (with Penny Edgell) GRPP Religion and Spirituality Paper Development (American Voice Project Data)
Hyeyun Jeong (with Tom VanHeuvelen) GRPP Stratified adulting and later-life success
Ethan Johnson: Social Dimensions of Climate Change Fellowship Award
Lena Kunjan (with Penny Edgell) GRPP Aligned or Incoherent? Religious And Political Behavior in People’s Everyday Lives; Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant
Jillian LaBranche: Outstanding Graduate Research Paper
Forrest Lovette: Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant
Jean Marie Maier: Ron Anderson Technology & Social Cohesion Fellowship Award
Mahala Miller: Anna Welsch Bright Memorial Award
Christopher Robertson (with Michelle Phelps) Covenanted-Policing: How does historical spatial racism shape contemporary policing practices?; Engaged Scholarship Award
Mi'Chael Wright: Anna Welsch Bright Memorial Award
2023
Isabel Arriagada: Ron Anderson Technology & Social Cohesion Fellowship Award
Anna Bokun: Barbara Lobodzinska-Lien Spring Fellowship
Daniel Cueto-Villalobos: Outstanding Graduate Instructor; Social Dimensions of Climate Change Fellowship Award
Christine Delp: Anna Welsch Bright Memorial Award
Nick Dickens: Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant
Xiaowen Han: Outstanding Graduate Research Paper; Barbara Lobodzinska-Lien Fellowship
Mallory Harrington (with Penny Edgell) GRPP Religion and Spirituality Interview Analysis (American Voices Project Data)
Snigdha Kumar: Anna Welsch Bright Memorial Award
Lena Kunjan (with Penny Edgell) GRPP The Role of Religion and Spirituality in Everyday Life: A qualitative analysis
Mao Lee: Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant
Christopher Levesque: Martindale Award
Mahala Miller: Anna Welsch Bright Memorial Award
Tayler Nelson: Anna Welsch Bright Memorial Award
Miray Philips: Martindale Award
Nika Sremac (with Joachim Savelsberg) GRPP History in Whose Hands? Gendering the Collective Memory of Perpetrators in Serbia
2022
Xiaowen Han (with Tom Vanheuvelen): GRPP Cumulative Union Exposure, Employment (In)stability, and Post-Retirement Health
Monica Jarvi: Outstanding Graduate Instructor
Mason Jones: Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant
Christopher Levesque: Anna Welsch Bright Memorial Award
Miray Philips: Outstanding Graduate Research Paper
Victoria Piehowski: Martindale Award
Amber Joy Powell: Martindale Award
Chris Robertson (with Michael Walker): GRPP Policing, Emotions, & Mental Health Crisis Care
Nika Sremac: Anna Welsch Bright Memorial Award
Brie Watters (with Carolyn Liebler): GRPP Mass Incarceration in Indian Country: The Role of PL280
Mi'Chael Wright: Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant