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ISSNAF, the Italian Scientists and Scholars in North America Foundation, annually awards the Young Investigator Awards in various disciplines to outstanding, early-career Italian researchers working in the United States or Canada, in recognition of their significant and innovative contributions to their field of research.

ISSNAF is very pleased to announce the Young Investigator Awards of 2023 and is grateful to their sponsors for their generosity.

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Warmest congratulations to the 2023 winners and finalists on their achievement!

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EMBASSY OF ITALY AWARD

FOR RESEARCH IN NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES

Established in 2020, this year’s edition recognizes young Italian researchers in the USA providing fundamental contributions to the understanding and curing of neurodegenerative diseases including those related to aging.

WINNER

Francesca Garretti, Postdoctoral Fellow, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai;
Application Title: ”Investigating the impact of disease risk-modifying variants on microglia function”

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FINALISTS

Simone Brioschi, Instructor, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine;
Application Title: “Study of brain immune cells, during development, homeostasis, and disease”
 

Roberta Peruzzo, Postdoc, University of California, Berkeley;
Application Title: “Mitochondria and lysosomes as therapeutic targets in neurodegeneration”

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Chair

Prof. Alex Sette, La Jolla Institute for Immunology
 

Jury

Prof. Cristina Alberini, New York University

Prof. David Hafler, Yale University

Dr. Ekemini Riley, Coalition for Aligning Science 

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WATCH THE EMBASSY OF ITALY AWARD SYMPOSIUM

 

FRANCO STRAZZABOSCO AWARD
FOR RESEARCH IN ENGINEERING WITH FOCUS ON SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

 

Established in 2013 by the Strazzabosco family in memory of Dott. Ing. Franco Strazzabosco, this award is a tribute to the entrepreneurial courage of Italian engineers who strive to apply scientific discoveries to the public advantage.

WINNER

Luigi Osmieri, Staff Scientist, MPA-11 Materials Synthesis and Integrated Devices, Los Alamos National Laboratory;
Application Title: “Catalysts and electrodes for affordable hydrogen generation and utilization”

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FINALISTS
Matteo Bertagni, Postdoc, Civil and Environmental Engineering & High Meadow Environmental Institute, Princeton University;
Application Title: “Environmental and climate trade-offs of hydrogen energy”
 

Lorenzo Rosa, Staff Scientist, Carnegie Institution for Science, and Assistant Professor, Stanford University (by courtesy);
Application Title: “Achieving Net-Zero Energy Emissions in Agriculture through Innovations in Fertilizers and Irrigation” 
 

Chair
Prof. Alberto Salleo, Stanford University

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Jury

Dr. Emanuele Pecora, US Dept. of Energy
Prof. Guglielmo Scovazzi, Duke University
Prof. Natalie Stingelin, Georgia Institute of Technology

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WATCH THE FRANCO STRAZZABOSCO AWARD SYMPOSIUM

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INFN BRUNO TOUSCHEK AWARD
FOR RESEARCH IN  FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS
 

Established in 2022 by Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, this award honors the memory of Prof. Bruno Touschek for his pioneering work in the fields of elementary particle physics and particle accelerators. It recognizes contributions in the fields of fundamental interactions of matter, such as elementary particle physics, nuclear physics, cosmology and the physics of particle beams.

 

WINNER

Chiara Trovatello, Postdoctoral Researcher, Columbia University;
Application Title: “Bridging macroscopic and microscopic nonlinear optics with layered semiconductors”

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FINALISTS

Sofia Fatigoni, Postdoctoral Scholar, Caltech;
Application Title: “Constraining the Inflationary Universe from the South Pole”

Simone Mazza, Assistant Project Scientist, UC Santa Cruz;
Application Title: “Critical detector development for high energy and nuclear physics”

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Co-Chairs

Prof. Giorgio Gratta, Stanford University

Prof. Patrizia Rossi, Jefferson Lab

 

Jury

Prof. Giorgio Gratta, Stanford University

Prof. Patrizia Rossi, Jefferson Lab

Emilio Nanni, Stanford University 

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WATCH THE INFN BRUNO TOUSCHEK AWARD SYMPOSIUM

MARIO GERLA AWARD
FOR RESEARCH IN COMPUTER SCIENCE
 

Established by the Gerla family in 2019, this award is in memory of Dr. Mario Gerla, pioneer in computer networking, professor of Computer Science at UCLA, and ISSNAF founding member.
 

WINNER

Giulia Guidi, Assistant Professor, Cornell University;
Application title: “Scalable and Diverse Data Analytics - through High-Performance Abstraction”

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FINALISTS

Alessandro Achille, Senior Applied Researcher, AWS AI Labs;
Application title: “Dynamics of Information acquisition and machine unlearning in deep networks”

Giovanni Paolini, Senior Applied Scientist, AWS and Caltech;
Application title: “Generative AI to solve complex problems in language and mathematics” 

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Chair
Prof. Elisa Bertino, Purdue University

 
Jury

Prof. Elisa Bertino, Purdue University

Prof. Ferdinando Fioretto, Virginia University

Prof. Anna Squicciarini, Pennsylvania State University

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WATCH THE MARIO GERLA AWARD SYMPOSIUM

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PAOLA CAMPESE AWARD
FOR RESEARCH IN HEMATOLOGIC MALIGNANCIES
 

Established by Stefania and Vito Campese in 2011, this award is in memory of their young, talented and generous daughter Paola.

WINNER

Eugenio Morelli, Lead Scientist, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute;

Application title: "Unlocking the therapeutic potential of noncoding RNAs in multiple myeloma

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FINALISTS

Guido Ghilardi, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania;

Application title: "Improving Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapy against Lymphoma"

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Elisa Mandato, Instructor in Medicine, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute;

Application title: "Targetable vulnerabilities in genetically defined diffuse large B-cell lymphoma subsets"
 

Chair
Prof. Riccardo Dalla-Favera, Columbia University

 

Jury

Prof. Riccardo Dalla-Favera, Columbia University

Prof. Simona Colla, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Prof. Laura Pasqualucci, Columbia University, Università di Perugia
 

WATCH THE PAOLA CAMPESE AWARD SYMPOSIUM

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RnB4CULTURE AWARD
FOR INNOVATION IN THE STUDY OF ITALIAN CULTURE
 

Established in 2021 by RnB4Culture, this award recognizes the vibrancy of research in Italian culture and its evolving nature expressed in a variety of ways such as innovative uses of technology, or originality of approach, or contribution to wider questions and trends in the Humanities at large.

 

WINNERS EX-EQUO

Filippo Gianferrari, Assistant Professor, UC Santa Cruz;
Application Title: “Political Charity: Vernacular Theories of the Common Good”

Angelica Pesarini, Assistant Professor, University of Toronto;
Application Title: “Making Visible the Invisible. Counter Body-Archives and Resistance in (Post)Colonial Italy”

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FINALIST
Giancarlo Tursi, Assistant Professor, UC Santa Barbara;
Application Title: “Transnational Dialects: For a New Linguistic Cartography”

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Chair
Prof. Claudio Fogu, University of Santa Barbara

 
Jury

Prof. Dario Brancato, Concordia University

Prof. Gabriella Romani, Seton Hall University

Prof. Filippo Trentin, University of Pennsylvania

   

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WATCH THE RnB4CULTURE AWARD SYMPOSIUM

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PRIZES

-  Winners receive a prize of $3,000.
-  Winners and Finalists are invited to attend the ISSNAF Annual Event 2023 at the Embassy of Italy in Washington and receive a travel and lodging award.
-  Winners and Finalists receive public recognition of their accomplishments via the ISSNAF social media.

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ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
 

1)   Italian citizenship;
2)   Current affiliation with a research institution in the United States or Canada, with the exception that applicants for the Embassy of Italy Award must work in the USA;
3)   PhD received or Medical/Veterinary Residency completed in 2016 or later.

ISSNAF reserves the right to exclude any applicants not meeting standards of good scholarship and integrity.

PROCESS

Applications are evaluated considering the applicant’s curriculum, the quality and impact of their research, their personal contributions to the research, and two letters of reference. Three Finalists are named for each of the Awards.

The Finalists present their research to the distinguished Award Jury at the virtual Young ISSNAF Symposia to be held in October 16-20, 2023. The Jury names the Award Winner. The Symposia are open to the public.

The Winners are announced and receive their award at the ISSNAF Annual Event on November 8, 2023

TIMELINE

-   May 27, 2023                Call is open

-   July  30, 2023                Call is closed (deadline has been extended)

-   July 30, 2023                 Letters of reference are due
-   August 8, 2023             Applicants are notified whether their application has been accepted
-   September 29, 2023    Applicants are notified whether they have been named Finalists
-   October 16-20, 2023    Finalists present their research at the Young Investigator Symposia
-   November 8, 2023        Winners receive their Award at 2023 ISSNAF Annual Event

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