Scholar Alumna among 2023 Penn State Alumni Achievement Award honorees
Each year, Penn State’s Alumni Achievement Awards recognize 35-year-old and younger graduates who have accomplished extraordinary feats as professionals.
For 2023, Scholar alumna Leah Liu was among the seven Alumni Achievement Award recipients. A 2009 graduate, Liu heads up a team at Korro Bio in Cambridge, Mass that’s at the leading edge of liver disease treatment through the application of new genetic technologies.
As a Schreyer Scholar, Liu began her biological research work in the lab of biochemistry and molecular biology professor Wendy Hanna-Rose. Since then, she’s gone on to earn her Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School, investigate chromosome translocations in biliary cancer during postdoctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital, and helped to develop gene therapies for both rare and prevalent diseases while at Generation Bio.
Liu has stayed connected with Schreyer Honors College by participating in the Mentoring with Honors program and by volunteering as an alumni interviewer for Honors College applicants.
Ryan Newman and Jane Rigby named 2023 Alumni Fellows
The Penn State Alumni Association annually recognizes a cohort of graduates for their exceptional professional achievements with its highest honor; the Alumni Fellow Award. Among this year’s Alumni Fellow honorees are Scholar alumni Ryan Newman and Jane Rigby.
After earning his bachelor of science degree in economics, Newman joined Goldman Sachs as a financial analyst. Two decades later, he is still with Goldman Sachs and has risen to the position of managing director. There, as a co-founder and co-leader of a private wealth management team, Newman oversees more than $12 billion in assets on behalf of Fortune 500 executives, entrepreneurs, endowments, and more.
As a Scholar, Newman was awarded one of the College’s first ever travel research grants. Those funds helped him spend a summer in Cameroon working on his demography thesis research. Upon returning to the states, Newman’s work was selected for presentation at the Population Association of America conference in Washington DC.
Newman stays involved with Penn State as host of the “Dare to Disrupt” podcast that features conversations with alumni innovators, entrepreneurs, and business leaders. He also volunteers on the Honors College’s External Advisory Board and on development’s Principal Gifts Committee.
A 2000 graduate with bachelor of science degrees in physics and astronomy, Rigby currently serves as the senior project scientist on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). As one of the team leaders that commissioned the most powerful telescope ever built, Rigby’s research focuses on how galaxies evolve over cosmic time. She briefed President Biden and Vice President Harris on the first JWST images in July 2022.
Rigby has authored more than 140 peer-reviewed scientific papers and, along with the JWST, conducts research at the Hubble, Spitzer, Chandra, Keck and Magellan observatories. In recognition of her work, Rigby was named one of Nature.com’s 10 individuals who shaped science in 2022 and one of BBC’s 100 most inspiring and influential women of 2022.
During her time at Penn State, Rigby played club field hockey, served as president of the Astronomy Club and co-founded the outreach event, AstroFest.
D’Ambrosio and McHugh named Penn State Distinguished Alumni
By Ray Schmitt and Anne Louise Cropp
Scholar alumni Lou D’Ambrosio and Julie McHugh were among eight Penn State graduates to receive Penn State’s Distinguished Alumni Award in June. The award, the highest honor presented to Penn State alumni, recognizes the achievements of those whose “personal lives, professional achievements, and community service exemplify the objectives of their alma mater.”
D’Ambrosio was part of the University Scholars Program (the Honors College’s predecessor) and graduated as valedictorian of Penn State’s College of Business (now Smeal) class of 1986 with a bachelor of science degree in management. He earned an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School before beginning his professional journey with IBM. Over his 15 years with the company, he rose to an executive role where he led sales and marketing efforts for the firm’s $12 billion software group.
That experience opened doors for D’Ambrosio to take on CEO positions with Avaya and Sears and serve as executive chairman of Sensus. From there he joined Goldman Sachs as a senior advisor where he currently leads their Value Accelerator. The Value Accelerator helps companies improve in areas such as pricing optimization, sustainability, company culture, data strategy, and more.
D’Ambrosio said that when Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi called to share the news of his Distinguished Alumni Award he was immediately grateful and enthusiastic to reconnect with Penn State and reflect on “one of the most formative experiences” of his life.
After that, his thoughts turned to his family.
“When my dad passed away, one of the first philanthropic ventures my wife and I started was a scholarship in recognition of my father… for Penn State, for Schreyer Honors College,” D’Ambrosio says. “During the call about the Distinguished Alumni Award there was a reflection on my dad and how proud he would be.”
D’Ambrosio received the Smeal Outstanding Young Alumnus Award in 1999 and the Penn State Alumni Fellow Award in 2008.
Like D’Ambrosio, McHugh was also a part of the University Scholars Program and a member of the Smeal class of 1986, graduating with a bachelor of science degree in finance. She spent more than 35 years in the biopharmaceutical industry, beginning as a management associate with Smith Kline and French (a precursor company to Glaxo).
Her background includes experience in general management, strategic planning, research and development, mergers and acquisitions, and organizational design. During her career, she led the development and commercialization of breakthrough products for the treatment of cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, autoimmune, and infectious diseases.
McHugh, who earned an M.B.A. from St. Joseph’s University, currently is the chairman of the board for Ironwood Pharmaceuticals and is a non-executive director on the boards of Lantheus Medical Imaging, Evelo Biosciences and Xellia Pharmaceuticals. She is also a senior advisor to HealthCare Royalty Partners.
McHugh first reconnected with Penn State as a corporate liaison for Johnson & Johnson in the 2000s — an experience she calls exhilarating.
“I recalled all of the wonderful opportunities that the University afforded me and was instantly re-inspired by the incredible culture of Penn State,” she says.
She joined Smeal’s Board of Visitors in 2007, and after her daughter, Emily, enrolled at Penn State in 2014, she was asked to co-found/co-chair the Parent Philanthropy Committee.
McHugh says that being named a distinguished alumna of the University is one of the greatest honors of her life. “My adult life has been so enriched by being involved at Penn State. I am grateful beyond words.”
McHugh was previously honored with the Smeal Undergraduate Distinguished Achievement Award in 2016 and the Penn State Alumni Fellow Award in 2018.
2023 Schreyer Honors College Alumni Award recipients
Each spring, Schreyer Honors College hosts an awards ceremony to recognize exceptional contributions from Scholar alumni. Recipients are selected by the Scholar Alumni Society Board.
- Todd Bacastow, Outstanding Scholar Alumni Mentor; senior director of strategic partnerships at Maxar. He graduated from the College of Information Sciences and Technology in 2005 with a bachelor of science degree in information sciences and technology, with honors.
- Michael Banerjee, Outstanding Graduate of the Last Decade (GOLD) Alumni; law clerk to Vermont Supreme Court Justice Paul L. Reiber. A 2016 graduate from the College of the Liberal Arts, he earned a bachelor of arts degree in African American studies and a bachelor of arts degree in criminology, with honors.
- Mark Lavallee, Outstanding Scholar Alumni; medical director for Central Pa. for UPMC. He is a 1990 graduate of the Eberly College of Science with a bachelor of science degree in pre-medicine, with honors. He earned his doctor of medicine degree from Penn State College of Medicine in 1994.
- Hallie Murray, Outstanding Scholar Alumni; senior director of clinical affairs at Tyber Medical. She graduated in 2002 from the College of Engineering with a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering, with honors.
The Outstanding Scholar Alumni Award recognizes the contributions of graduates who have demonstrated exemplary leadership skills, professional achievement, and a passion for lifelong learning.
The Outstanding GOLD Scholar Alumni Award is given to graduates who, within their first decade of graduating with honors from Penn State, showcase high levels of professional achievement and leadership in support of Schreyer’s mission.
The Outstanding Scholar Alumni Mentor Award acknowledges Scholar alumni who have generously given their time and shared their experiences with Scholars through the Mentoring with Honors program. Nominations for this award are submitted by mentees in Schreyer’s Mentoring with Honors program.
