Hastings received Brown’s Meenakshi Narain Excellence in Research Mentoring Award, which recognizes faculty members for their exceptional mentorship of undergraduate researchers, as well as their promotion, encouragement, and training of diverse students.

“Meredith’s mentorship of undergraduates — and all students — is outstanding in many ways,” says Karen Fischer, Louis and Elizabeth Scherck Distinguished Professor of Geological Sciences and a longtime colleague of Hastings. “She has provided cutting-edge research opportunities in atmospheric and environmental science to scores of undergraduates from wide-ranging backgrounds. … She has an impressive record of helping her undergraduate mentees publish their research, present their findings at key science meetings, and launch their careers. And she is a leader and role model in promoting rigorous research within an inclusive and supportive lab environment.”

Hastings’s own mentees agree. “Professor Hastings is an exemplary researcher and mentor, and I am endlessly grateful I have had the opportunity to work with her,” says Emma Blankstein ’26, a member of Hastings’s hyperlocal air monitoring project, Breathe Providence. “I am so impressed by the way she takes the time to get to know every student she works with and helps them find a niche within Breathe Providence’s ongoing research that is meaningful and aligned with their goals. She approaches mentorship with a tremendous amount of care, curiosity, open-mindedness, and dedication which has meant so much to me as I build up my confidence and skills as a researcher.”

Lennon received the William G. McLoughlin Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Social Sciences. One of five annual Faculty Teaching Awards, this honor recognizes Brown faculty members for sustained and continued excellence in their course instruction.

“I came to Brown to work with Myles, whose scholarship has profoundly shaped the horizon of my own research ambitions,” says Juben Rabbani, an IBES graduate affiliate in the Department of Anthropology and one of Lennon’s advisees. “What distinguishes him most, both in and outside of the classroom, is not merely his exceptional work ethic, but also a profound and unwavering kindness, a deeply community minded ethos, and a singular capacity to mobilize and sustain collective engagement around shared concerns.”

Fanny-Marie Vavrovsky ’26, an ENVS and IAPA concentrator who has taken two of Lennon’s classes, also notes the professor’s “unique ability to translate complex theoretical frameworks into engaging and thought-provoking lectures that genuinely reshape how students see the world.” Lennon’s passion for teaching, Vavrovsky says, “is evident in every interaction. … He challenges and inspires students in equal measure, fostering a deep commitment to rigorous, critical scholarship and a level of intellectual curiosity that is truly exceptional. His teaching has fundamentally shaped how I approach both scholarship and the world beyond it, and I am deeply grateful for that impact.”