UT Co-Op George H. Mitchell Award

Student Awards for Academic Excellence

In Spring 2025 the University of Texas at Austin, with the generous support of the University Co-op, will recognize undergraduate students for superior scholarly or creative achievement. Four recipients will receive awards of $5,000 each and two will receive the top prize of $7,000.

The Mitchell Awards Selection Committee consists of university faculty members who choose the recipients.

News:

Deadline:
March 26, 2025


Eligibility

Applicants must be either a junior or senior currently enrolled at UT or have received their undergraduate degree in December 2024. Submitted work should be finished or close to finished (e.g. a complete draft of a thesis or research paper). Previous Mitchell Awards recipients are eligible only if the submitted work is a completely different project. Both the student application with all its supporting materials and the faculty recommendation form must be received by the deadline for the application to be considered.

The following materials must be uploaded via Interfolio:

  1. The student project (paper, thesis, publication, video, artwork, etc.) in a single digital file. If the project is a video, provide a YouTube or Vimeo link in a Word or PDF document briefly describing your project and referencing your link.
  2. Mitchell Video Prompt
  3. A one to two page CV or resume highlighting activities and achievements during your years of study at UT.
  4. A scanned copy of your academic summary available through the Texas One Stop at no cost.
  5. The UT Co-op George H. Mitchell Student Statement is to be completed in Interfolio.
  6. The faculty recommendation form. Please do not request a recommendation letter via Interfolio.
  7. The Official UT Austin Applicant Screening Questions and UT Austin Applicant Source forms will be completed in Interfolio. Although these forms are primarily used for university-wide faculty recruitment, they must be completed to finalize your application.

All of the above materials must be uploaded and your application submitted no later than March 26, 2025 11:59 p.m. CST. 


Frequently Asked Questions:

May I submit more than one project? 

Students may submit only one project per year of applying for the Co-op/Mitchell award.

May I co-submit a project with another student?

Yes, co-submissions are accepted. Only one student should submit the application on behalf of the team. Only one letter of recommendation should be submitted for the team. 

May I submit a project that involves research/activities not completed at UT?

Yes, as long as the work was completed while you were a UT student. A letter of recommendation from a UT faculty member is still required.

May I submit more than one letter of recommendation?

No, only one letter of recommendation should be submitted per application. In the event that more than one faculty member supervised your work, they may co-write a letter of recommendation.

2025 UT Co-op George H. Mitchell Award Recipients

Gabriella Roque Olveira Nomura
Award: $7,000
Major: Biomedical Engineering Honors
Category: Grand Prize, STEM
Winning Project: TriSwinUNETR Lobe Segmentation Model for Computing DIR-free CT-ventilation

Paxton Smith
Award: $7,000
Major: Advertising
Category: Grand Prize, Humanities
Winning Project: A War on My Body; A War on My Rights

Xingrui Long
Award: $5,000
Major: English Honors
Category: Humanities
Winning Project: The Cybernetic Body: Modeling the Hermeneutic-Cybersocial in Neuromancer’s Recursive Governance

Anika Bhatia
Award: $5,000
Major: Psychology
Category: Social Sciences
Winning Project: The Relationship of Cognitive Intraindividual variability to Psychiatric Symptoms in Older Adults With and Without Objective Cognitive Impairment and Subjective Cognitive Complaints

Cecily Gibson
Award: $5,000
Major: Plan II and Chemistry
Category: STEM
Winning Project: The Relationship of Cognitive Intraindividual variability to Psychiatric Symptoms in Older Adults With and Without Objective Cognitive Impairment and Subjective Cognitive Complaints

Demian Chavez Galvan
Award: $5,000
Category: Artistic/Creative
Major: Theatre and Dance
Winning Project: Drama as a Methodology for Nahuatl  Language Revitalization

2025 George H. Mitchell Award – Special Recognition

Chase Patterson
Award: $1,500
Major: Plan II and English
Category: Artistic/Creative
Project: Eternal Travelers: The Renga of Rangerworld

Rhea Lazar
Award: $1,500
Major: Molecular Biology
Category: Humanities
Project: Evaluating a Community-Centered Digital Health Navigation Tool: The Health Maze Program

Caroline Whitmarsh
Award: $1,500
Major: Plan II and Psychology
Category: Social Sciences
Project: Examining the Domain-General, Teacher-Rated, and Reading-Specific Working Memory

Akshara Ramaswamy
Award: $1,500
Major: Psychology
Category: STEM
Project: Acute and post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection: a review of risk factors and social determinants

2025 George H. Mitchell Semi-Finalists

Leah C. Austin, Artistic/Creative
Aveen Ghodsi Jafari, Social Sciences
Lauren Allyn Rader, Social Sciences
Rachel Schmidt, STEM
Emma Vorndran, Humanities
Grant Gilker, Artistic Creative

Past Winners

YearAwardNameCategory
2024$7,000Josíah GarzaGrand Prize, Artistic/Creative
2024$7,000Anirudh SudarshanGrand Prize, Social Sciences
2024$5,000Melanie Quintero, Tuan Nguyen, Ana Metelski, Elizabeth Kinerk, Katherine LeArtistic/Creative
2024$5,000Arianne OhmanHumanities
2024$5,000Nikita KakkadSocial Science
2024$5,000Lars DeutzSTEM
2024$1,625Jersey RobinsonArtistic/Creative
2024$1,625Bradon FoskettHumanities
2024$1,625Michell Magnus DuclouxSocial Sciences
2024$1,625Nirmal PatelSTEM
2023$7,000Stephane Hatgis-KesselSTEM
2023$7,000Amtul-noor RanaSocial Science
2023$5,000Benjamin CervantesArtistic/Creative
2023$5,000Katherine FaulknerSTEM
2023$5,000Sophia KontosHumanities
2023$5,000Emma GueorguievaSocial Science
2023$1,625Thomas JenningsArtistic/Creative
2023$1,625Neel NagarajanSTEM
2023$1,625Amanda Figueroa-NievesHumanities
2023$1,625Sarah SyamkenSocial Sciences
2022$7,000

Aniket Sanghi

>STEM
2022$7,000

Alexandria Passanisi

Artistic/Creative
2022$6,000

Vivek Ramanathan

STEM
2022$5,000

John Prado

Humanities
2022$5,000

Amelia Mercado

Social Sciences
2022$5,000

Alex Cao and Caleb Zhang

Artistic/Creative
2022$1,625

Matthew Santoso

STEM
2022$1,625

Megan Snopik

Humanities
2022$1,625

Jackie Yang

Social Sciences
2022$1,625

Macaella Gray and Zoe Roden

Artistic/Creative
2021$3,000

Jeremian Abdullah

Artistic/Creative
2021$3,000

Leonardo Di Bonaventura Altuve

Social Sciences
2021$3,000

Joseph Guidry

STEM
2021$3,000

Mark Simmons

Humanities
2020$3,500Ethan RussoHumanities
2020$2,500Austin AliArtistic/Creative
2020$2,500Zoe de BeursSTEM
2020$2,500Maike MorrisonSTEM
2020$2,500Ishaana TalesaraSocial Sciences
2019$12,000Ariel Rebekah BarrSTEM
2019$5,000Logan PearceSTEM
2019$5,000Scott SpiveySocial Sciences
2019$2,500Aliyah ConleyHumanities
2019$2,500Griffin GlennSTEM
2018$12,000Zahra AhmedSTEM
2018$5,000James DingSocial Sciences
2018$5,000Oluwaseun OlayiwolaArtistic/Creative
2018$2,500Ashlie MartinezSTEM
2018$2,500John LinSTEM
2017$12,000Luis CataldoHumanities
2017$5,000Nathan RebelloSTEM
2017$5,000Benjamin StevensonArtistic/Creative
2017$2,500Gabrielle McRobertsSocial Sciences
2017$2,500Bronwyn ScottSTEM
2016$10,000Nell McKeownHumanities
2016$3,000Lillian LeoneSocial Sciences
2016$3,000Shelby WalfordSciences or Technology
2016$3,000Aydin ZahedivashSciences or Technology
2016$2,000Mohnish GandhiSocial Sciences
2016$2,000Jaclyn KachelmeyerSocial Sciences
2016$2,000Macey ShayHumanities
2015$10,000Victoria ArnoldSciences or Technology
2015$3,000Ciaran Dean-JonesHumanities
2015$3,000Noor MominSciences or Technology
2015$3,000Thales SmithArtistic/Creative Project or Performance
2015$2,000Kaitlyn KennedyHumanities
2015$2,000Nikita KlimovichSciences or Technology
2015$2,000Nalin RatnayekeSciences or Technology
2014$10,000Lucy KerrHumanities
2014$3,000Lindsay MulfordSocial Sciences
2014$3,000Patrick NaeveHumanities
2014$2,000Lucy JunkerHumanities
2014$2,000Casey NiceHumanities
2013$12,500Victor VuScience and Technology
2013$12,500Katherine NobleArtistic and Creative
2013$5,000Isaac GomezArtistic and Creative
2013$5,000Andrew WorthamSocial Sciences
2013$2,000Ashty KarimScience and Technology
2013$2,000Leon DeanScience and Technology
2013$2,000Hannah WaittHumanities

 

Application Support

The University of Texas at Austin is using an Interfolio product to collect award applications. Applicants to this position receive a Dossier account and can send all application materials, including confidential letters of recommendation, free of charge.


For help signing up, accessing your account, or submitting your application please check out Interfolio’s help and support section or get in touch via email at help@interfolio.com or phone at (877) 997-8807.