The Miretta Flytzani-Stephanopoulos Doctoral Thesis Achievement Award

The Circle of Hellenic Academics in Boston invites nominations for its annual Doctoral Thesis Award for excellence in a Doctoral Program of any University. The award, accompanied by a check of $1000, has been named in honor of Professor Miretta Flytzani-Stephanopoulos, a founding member of the Circle.

In 2014 the Circle of Hellenic Academics in Boston established its Doctoral Thesis Award for excellence in a Doctoral Program in a US or Canadian University.  It was awarded in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2022.

Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos (1950 – October 28, 2019) was a Greek-American chemical engineer who served as the Robert and Marcy Haber Endowed Professor in Energy Sustainability and as a Distinguished Professor at Tufts University.

She published more than 160 scientific articles with over 14,000 citations. She was a Fellow of AIChE, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Furthermore, she was a founding member of the Circle of Hellenic Academics in Boston.

ELIGIBILITY:

This award is for outstanding research achievement as part of a Doctoral Thesis. This year’s call for nomination is for a thesis completed and defended between July 1, 2020, and August 31, 2022, in any University.
The nominee must be a Greek or Cypriot citizen or the daughter/son or grandson/granddaughter of a Greek or Cypriot citizen or former citizen. The nomination process is electronic.

NOMINATION:

A nomination may be made by the thesis advisor or someone intimately familiar with the nominee’s doctoral thesis work.  The following items must be emailed as separate or combined PDF files to the addressee below:

  1. The nomination letter,
  2. PDF copies of up to three publications emanating from the doctoral thesis,
  3. the abstract of the doctoral thesis,
  4. one or, preferably, two supporting letters from referees who are knowledgeable about the performed research (the nominee or the nominator should secure the transmission of such letters),
  5. A curriculum vitae of the nominee, and
  6. Proof of Hellenic descent (see details below).

Nomination and supporting letters should be written so that they are readable by an interdisciplinary committee of other academics who are not specialists in the research field of the nominee.

CRITERIA:

  1. The judges, members of the Circle of Hellenic Academics, will consider originality, significance, quality, and other criteria of excellence normally accepted in evaluations of scientific work.
  2. The nominee’s potential and promise as a future researcher/scholar will be given special consideration.

A copy of the 2023 call for nominations is HERE.

Please email PDF files to:

CIRCLE OF HELLENIC ACADEMICS IN BOSTON
Email: info@hellenic-academics.org
DEADLINE: ALL nominations and supporting material must be received by May 31, 2023.

Acceptable proof of Hellenic descent: A signed statement by the candidate declaring that he/she or his/her parent or grandparent holds or held Greek or Cypriot citizenship. A copy of an appropriate official document, such as a passport or identity card, supporting the candidate’s declaration should also be submitted along with the signed statement.

Awardees

2023

Dr. Dimitrios Fraggedakis

Thesis: “Electrochemical and Transport processes in Ion Intercalation materials” (MIT, 2021)

Presently @  Princeton University, see here

2022

Dr. Evgenios Kornaropoulos

Thesis: “Information Leakage in Encrypted Systems Through an Algorithmic Lens” (Brown University, 2019)

Presently @  George Mason University, see here

2018

Dr. Alkis Hadjiosif

Thesis:   “Motor Memories for Expectation and Uncertainty in the Environment” (Harvard University, 2015)

Presently @  John Hopkins University, see here

2018

Dr. Angela Pitenis

Thesis: “Scaling Concepts for Friction in Soft Matter Interfaces”, (University of Florida)

Presently @   UC Santa Barbara, see here

2017

Dr. Paris Perdikaris

Thesis: “Data-driven parallel scientific computing: Multi-fidelity information fusion algorithms and applications to physical and biological systems”.  (Brown U., 2015)

Presently @ Penn State University, see here

2016

Dr. Emmanouela Filippidi

Thesis: “Random Organization: Out-of-Equilibrium Phase Transitions in Periodically Driven Suspensions” (NYU 2014)

Presently @ University of Crete, see here

2016

Dr. Christos Nicolaides

Thesis:  “Dynamic Processes on Complex Networks: from Disease Spreading to Neural Activity” (MIT, 2014)

Presently @  University of Cyprus, see here

2015

Dr. Ioannis Zervantonakis

Thesis: “Engineering the tumor microenvironment using microfluidics: Effects of cell-cell interactions and endothelial barrier function in tumor cell intravasation” (MIT 2012)

Presently @  University of Pittsburg, see here