[Sci-tech-public] STS Siegel Teaching Prize [2025-2026]

[J. Eden Medina]

Dear all,

It is my great pleasure to let you know that the 2025-2026 Siegel Teaching Prize winner is George Paiva Sieniawski. The Siegel Teaching Prize was established 20 years ago to recognize HASTS graduate students who have excelled in their commitment to and performance in MIT’s undergraduate teaching program.

The prize committee, Robin Scheffler, Oliver Rollins, and Ishani Saraf prepared the following prize citation:

“The Siegel Teaching Prize committee is pleased to announce that its 2026 award goes to George Sieniwaski. George has distinguished himself as someone whose pedagogy embodies the outstanding qualities of teaching the Siegel Prize seeks to elevate.

George demonstrates commitment, connectivity, and care in his approach to teaching. His commitment was evident in every session of Finance and Society, where he expanded upon the course material and developed innovative exercises for his students, an exceptionally high level of preparation and engagement that he shared with other teaching assistants as well as the professor! He also demonstrated a deft ability to help his students connect material to events and ideas beyond the confines of the course, placing his “panoramic curiosity” in the service of aiding their learning, acting as a deft guide to their navigation of the complex blend of technical and social science theory presented in the course.  Finally, in the eyes of both his professor and his students George was a caring teacher who went above and beyond in supporting their work and their writing through challenges both intellectual and personal. George’s students described him as “fantastic,” "marvelous," “exceptionally kind,” among other superlatives. One student went so far as to say that George’s work as a TA Finance and Society was a reminder why MIT undergraduates needed the humanities.

George’s work in Finance and Society is but one moment in a distinguished teaching career within HASTS, helping students knit their coursework into their MIT education and the broader world they will confront after graduation. We are fortunate to have him as a representative and lodestar at a moment when the act of teaching has never been more important!”

Please join me in congratulating George for this wonderful and much deserved honor. I am also grateful to Robin, Oliver, and Ishani for serving on the prize committee.

Best wishes,
Eden

--
Eden Medina
Head, Program in Science, Technology, and Society
Professor of Science, Technology, and Society
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
eden at mit.edu<mailto:eden at mit.edu>

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