The Graduate School is pleased to announce its annual award winners for the 2025–2026 academic year. These awards include: the Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award; the Rev. 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 16.
Marlene L. Daut ‘09 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. After completing her doctoral studies in English at Notre Dame in 2009, Dr. Daut held faculty positions at the University of Virginia, Claremont Graduate University, and the University of Miami. She is now a professor of French and Black Studies at Yale University, where she has cemented her reputation as a leading literary and intellectual historian of Haiti and the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804). She is the author of four monographs and three edited collections, along with numerous articles and digital projects, and her award-winning work has been extremely influential in elevating the historical importance of the Haitian Revolution among scholars of the Age of Revolutions.
Xiaobo Sharon Hu, Ph.D., is the winner of the Rev. James A. Burns, C.S.C., Award in recognition of her outstanding work as a sustained mentor of graduate students over the course of her career. Dr. Hu is a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering with an exceptional reputation—both among colleagues, as well as current and former students—for “transformative” mentorship. Since joining Notre Dame in 1996, Dr. Hu has supervised or co-supervised 26 doctoral students, many of whom have gone on to leadership roles across academia, industry, and government laboratories, including positions at IBM, Intel, Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple, and major research universities.
Patrick Wensing, Ph.D., is the winner of the Rev. James A. Burns, C.S.C., Award in recognition of his outstanding work as a mentor of graduate students at the midpoint of his career. An associate professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Wensing is a leading robotics researcher with an already robust legacy of mentorship. He has graduated eight doctoral students and is currently advising three more. His former students have landed high-impact roles in academia—including tenure-track positions at Florida State University and The Ohio State University—as well as at top-tier humanoid robotics firms.
Jason C. Hicks, 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. A world-class researcher focused on innovations to produce cleaner, more efficient energy, Dr. Hicks was hand-selected by his colleagues to serve as the inaugural associate dean for graduate and postdoctoral affairs in 2022, a newly created leadership role in the College of Engineering. In this position, he has worked tirelessly to strengthen the college’s engagement at every stage of the graduate student lifecycle—from recruitment and admissions to student support and career preparation beyond Notre Dame.
Hannah Rose Spero, Ph.D. candidate from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, is the recipient of the Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Award in Engineering.
Doctoral candidate Hannah Rose Spero’s research sits at the intersection of earth science, fluid dynamics, and environmental engineering. She has developed novel field-based methods to study extreme wave events and coastal hazards, drawing on extensive fieldwork in Ireland, including 11 field visits. Her long-term goal is to reconstruct past severe storm and tsunami events to improve coastal risk assessment. A recipient of the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, Spero has published in leading international journals and presented her findings at conferences across Europe and Asia.
Benjamin J. Young, Ph.D. candidate from the Department of History, is the recipient of the Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Award in Humanities.
Doctoral candidate Benjamin (Jack) Young is an emerging scholar of modern American religious and urban history whose research reexamines the rise of the postwar Sunbelt South and its role in shaping evangelicalism. His dissertation, ”Suburbs of Zion: The Rise of the Metropolitan South and the Making of Modern American Evangelicalism,” was based on work conducted at 36 archives across the United States and was supported by a national dissertation fellowship from the Jefferson Scholars Foundation at the University of Virginia. In addition, Young has published several major articles in top-tier journals, including Modern American History and Cold War History.
Dailin Gan, Ph.D. candidate from the Department of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics, is the recipient of the Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Award in Science.
Doctoral candidate Dailin Gan is a statistician working to integrate statistics, machine learning, and computational biology to extract deep insights from complex biological data. His research is already helping scientists better understand and analyze high-dimensional genomic data. Gan has an exceptionally strong publication record, authoring or co-authoring 12 peer-reviewed articles in major journals, including Genome Biology, Bioinformatics, Cancer Research, Cell Metabolism, and Nature Communications. He is also the recipient of a prestigious international biosecurity fellowship.
Hannah Early Bagdanov, Ph.D. candidate from the Department of Political Science, is the recipient of the Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Award in Social Sciences.
Doctoral candidate Hannah Early Bagdanov is a political scientist and an emerging leader in the study of conflict, political violence, and state and non-state governance. For her dissertation, Bagdanov designed an ambitious mixed-methods study grounded in 14 months of extensive fieldwork in East Jerusalem, examining how Palestinian residents in the city navigate everyday interactions with the Israeli state. Before defending her dissertation, she published one of its chapters as a stand-alone solo article in the American Political Science Review, the field’s flagship journal. Bagdanov was also awarded more than $50,000 in funding for her dissertation, including the American Political Science Association’s Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant.
Emma M. Thrift-Cahall, 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 their scholarship, teaching, and service. Thrift-Cahall is a freshwater ecologist whose research addresses antimicrobial resistance and the little-understood impacts of its movement through agricultural watersheds. A National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, Thrift-Cahall has been extraordinarily focused on communicating scientific findings and influencing policy decisions by engaging directly with farming and rural communities. In addition, she has served as co-president of the Notre Dame Science Policy Initiative, designing and leading programs to help scientists engage effectively with public and policy audiences. Thrift-Cahall has also been heavily involved in the local South Bend community, mentoring children and working to make science come alive.
Originally published at graduateschool.nd.edu on April 17, 2026.