Announcing the 2026 Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Awards

Through the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Awards, Rackham recognizes scholars who have been nominated by their program for teaching excellence. Winners of this award demonstrate superb skill in teaching, mentoring, and advising. They bring creativity, inspirational commitment, and intellectual excitement to the classroom, discussion section, or teaching lab, and communicate this passion with their undergraduate students.

The 2026 recipients of the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Awards are:

• Harini Babu, Psychology
• Juliana Cresti, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
• Sena Duran, American Culture
• Erica Gardner, Chemical Engineering
• Denisa Glacova, Middle East Studies
• Lucas Gomes, Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Maria Lovetere, Political Science
• Elizabeth Miller, Psychology and Women’s and Gender Studies
• Jane Nakamura, Movement Science
• Amanda Schwartz, Mathematics
• Mohammas Aamir Sohail, Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Hang Song, Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Kristy Srodawa, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
• Caroline Sullivan, Comparative Literature
• Ethan Todd, Physics
• Fernando Valcheff-Garcia, Romance Languages and Literatures
• Katie Waddle, Mathematics
• Veronica Williamson, Germanic Languages and Literatures
• Margot Witte, Philosophy
• Jun Zhou, Sociology