Honors and Awards

HSS scholars have been recognized for their research, teaching, and mentoring with a wide range of honors and awards—both from within Caltech and from honorary societies, prestigious fellowships, and other national and international accomplishments.

These pages highlight some of the many achievements of the current HSS faculty. The division awards prizes of its own to outstanding Caltech students and, since 2005, the Francis Bacon Prize to a distinguished scholar in the history of science.

Featured Faculty Research Honors

Wiggins Awarded Fellowships from the Institute for Citizens & Scholars and the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)

Danielle Wiggins, assistant professor of history, received two fellowships for for her project, The Politics of Black Excellence: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Black Politics. One is a Career Enhancement Fellowship for the 2022-23 academic year from the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, which seeks to increase the presence of underrepresented junior and other faculty members in the humanities, social sciences, and arts by creating career development opportunities for selected Fellows with promising research projects. Wiggins also received a 2022 ACLS Fellowship, which supports exceptional scholarship in the humanities and interpretive social sciences.

Read about Wiggins' project and fellowships ＞ More HSS faculty research honors ＞

Featured Teaching or Mentoring Award

Factor and Pomatto Receive 2022 Brass Division Award

Lecturer in Poetry Jenny Factor and Professor of Economics Luciano Pomatto received the 2022 Brass Division Award (BDA) for their outstanding contributions in teaching, as determined by a faculty committee considering student evaluations and online nominations. One student shared that Factor’s class “made me love poetry again and motivated me to make poetry a part of my life even after En 85 [ended].” Students in Pomatto’s Matching Markets course (Ec 117) described his teaching in very favorable terms, with one saying, “Amongst all the classes that I had during the first year, Luciano’s class … has got to be the best.”

Read announcement featuring Jenny Factory and Luciano Pomatto ＞ More teaching and mentoring award winners ＞

Student Prizes

Announcing the 2023 HSS Student Prizewinners

The Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences is proud to present its prize recipients for the 2022–2023 academic year.

Read article about 2023 HSS Prizewinners ＞ More HSS student prizewinners ＞