Alumni in the News

Reng Zhao, Guarini ’26 (MALS, Creative Writing, Nonfiction), was awarded the 2026 Byam Shaw-Brownstone Thesis Excellence Award for her thesis, The Flow of Ink: A Journey through Calligraphy, Culture, and the Self, a memoir weaving fieldwork and Chinese history into …

Sophie Wohltjen, GR ’22, is quoted in an Upworthy piece on research finding that people’s minds wander during conversations about 24% of the time — and that most of us are bad at noticing when it happens. Read more on Upworthy.

Mary Kieseler, GR ’25 (psychological and brain sciences), led a study showing octopuses can use mirrors to locate hidden prey, a spatial skill never before documented in invertebrates. The findings suggest these ancient creatures may have independently evolved their own …

Torrey Peters, Guarini ’14, and former Dartmouth postdoc Bench Ansfield were both named 2026 Pulitzer Prize finalists: Peters in Fiction for Stag Dance: A Quartet and Ansfield in History for Born in Flames. Read more.

Xhoela Bame, GR ’25 (molecular and cellular biology) earned a spot in the Science and Health Care category of the Forbes 30 Under 30 in Europe for her research into aging and brain repair that aims to “unlock the mysteries” …

Research by alum Steven Pike, GR ’25, integrated neuroscience (IND), and PhD student Aine Scholand (IND) points to a promising new approach for treating progressive multiple sclerosis, showing that targeting inflammation in the brain may help protect function and slow …

For graduate students curious about careers beyond academia, a recent lunch in the Guarini Commons offered a chance to hear from someone who has successfully made that transition. Kristen Garner Amanti, GR ’10 MED ’10, shared how her training as …

Guarini Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) alumni Amanda M. Spoto ’14, MALS ’16, more commonly known as Spo! and Johnathan Recor, MALS ’11, known on campus as the “Sun God,” share how a serendipitous meeting at Dartmouth grew …

Dartmouth earned 40 U.S. patents in 2025, ranking among the world’s top 100 universities for the third year in a row with innovations by Guarini alumni Iara Backes GR ’22, Chaya Patel GR ’21, and Naofumi Tomita GR ’17 among …

Chelsea Petrenko, Guarini ’15 (ecology, evolution, environment, and society program), teaches Energy Markets and Economics in the new Master of Energy Transition (MET) program, helping students understand how market forces and policy decisions shape decarbonization and energy affordability. Read more.