The President’s Engagement Prize and President’s Innovation Prize, designed to propel Penn’s most socially beneficial student projects into productive practice, are the largest awards of their kind in higher education today. Unprecedented prizes for unprecedented impact, they epitomize Penn’s commitment to advancing knowledge for good.
Last week, Penn President Amy Gutmann announced the 2019 recipients of Penn’s prestigious President’s Engagement Prize and President’s Innovation Prize. The awards, which include significant financial support, will enable recipients to translate their innovative ideas into businesses, programs, and initiatives that directly impact lives for good.
Described by President Gutmann as “maximally ambitious by design,” the Prizes carry a $100,000 award to implement each winning project as well as a $50,000 living stipend per team member. Teams must carry out their projects in the year following graduation. This year’s nine student recipients emerged from a competitive pool of 72 stellar applications.
Six Penn seniors were named recipients of the 2019 President’s Engagement Prize. They are Princess Aghayere, Summer Kollie, and Oladunni Alomaja, for Rebound Liberia; José Á. Maciel and Antonio E. Renteria, for Cultivando Juntos (Cultivating Together); and Brendan Taliaferro, for Host Homes for LGBTQ Youth in Philadelphia. Three seniors received the President’s Innovation Prize: Malika Shukurova and Katherine Sizov, for Strella Biotechnology, and Michael Wong, for InstaHub.
Each of the Prize recipients has demonstrated a purpose-driven desire to get out and make a difference—in their community, across the country, and around the world. From our backyard in Philadelphia to the basketball court in Liberia, Rebound Liberia, Cultivando Juntos, Host Homes for LGBTQ Youth in Philadelphia, Strella Biotechnology, and InstaHub represent a most remarkable range of Penn-educated talent, determination, and public-spirited enterprise.”Penn President Amy Gutmann
The 2019 recipients, who span Penn’s schools, join 13 previous winning teams. The President’s Engagement Prize is generously supported by Judith Bollinger and William Bollinger, in honor of Ed Resovsky; Trustee Lee Spelman Doty and George Doty, Jr.; and Emeritus Trustee James S. Riepe and Gail Petty Riepe.
See the President’s Engagement and Innovation Prize Winners
