Riccardo Alessandri wasn’t in the audience when he was named the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering postdoctoral researcher who best provided guidance, support and mentorship in his lab.
Alessandri had recently moved to Europe to start his own research group, taking the culture of scientific collaboration he honed at UChicago PME to KU Leuven in Belgium.
“Having experienced the powerful impact of good mentorship firsthand, I now feel compelled to pay it forward,” Alessandri said. “Mentoring others has become one of the aspects I cherish most about working in science.”
Alessandri was recognized for contributions in and out of the lab through the 2024 Maria Lastra Award. The award each year honors one UChicago PME graduate student and one postdoctoral researcher who light the way for their peers.
“We’re lucky to have this community where we not only imagine a better world, but we work together to create a better world,” UChicago PME Dean Nadya Mason said while presenting the honors at the yearly Holiday Party.
While Alessandri received the award for postdoctoral researchers, quantum PhD candidate Anchita Addhya was honored as the graduate student who went above and beyond to provide support for others. Maria Lastra honorable mentions among the graduate students went to Reggie Gomes, Charlie Lindberg, Kristen Refvik and Ian Yan. Honorable mentions for postdoctoral researchers went to Andrea Daru and Gustavo Perez-Lemus.
The anonymous student who nominated Addhya recalled her guidance – both scientific and personal – when the student was dealing with one particularly frustrating experiment.
“Her common advice was ‘trust the process’ and after she repeated it enough for it to sink in, I started to trust my skills and was able to slowly but surely get my experiment to work after a few more weeks of struggling,” the student said. “Without her technical assistance and help to get me to believe in myself, I know I would still be struggling.”
Addhya said there’s a simple reason she offers her assistance, advice and experience to any student who asks: She remembers when she was the student who needed a helping hand.
“I recognize how difficult it is sometimes to do certain things that seem simple,” she said. “I really care that nobody feels that way.”
Similarly, Alessandri was inspired by his own experiences.
“Throughout my career, I've been lucky to have great mentors who profoundly shaped my career trajectory,” Alessandri said. “They invested their time generously, providing rigorous and genuine feedback while creating a supportive environment where no question felt too basic.”
The impact Alessandri and Addhya have had on young researchers show how mentorship is fundamental to the core mission of science and engineering.
“Riccardo is the kind of mentor who changes lives,” an anonymous UChicago PME student wrote in their nomination of Alessandri. “He’s helped me grow from a complete beginner to someone who feels confident leading projects, publishing research, and mentoring others.”
Mason said she is proud of the community UChicago PME has built in its ongoing mission to engineer solutions for the biggest global problems.
“As much as we give the world, we’re really enriched by the energy and creativity of our students, the dedication and talent of our postdocs and staff, and the expertise and innovation of our faculty,” she said.