MEAM Postdoc Gregory Parisi Receives Two Awards for Excellence in Mentorship

Gregory Parisi, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM), has received two honors recognizing his commitment to mentorship at Penn and beyond.

Parisi, a member of the McBride Lab, was one of three recipients of the 2026 Penn Postdoctoral Association (PPA) Mentorship Award, selected from 76 nominees. He was also recognized by the American Chemical Society (ACS) Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholars Recognition Program for Leadership in Mentoring. The ACS program recognizes graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in the chemical sciences for outstanding efforts and impact in mentoring.

In just two years at Penn, Parisi has formally mentored 13 students, including seven undergraduate students, three master’s students, two high school students and one visiting intern. He also serves as an informal mentor to doctoral students in the McBride Lab and across MEAM, offering guidance on experimental design, instrumentation and interpreting results.

“Greg has been an invaluable informal mentor to multiple Ph.D. students within the McBride Lab and within the broader MEAM department,” says Samantha McBride, William K. Gemmill Term Assistant Professor in MEAM. “Many Ph.D. students regularly turn to him for advice on experimental design, help with operating instruments and interpretation of their results.”

Parisi has also worked to strengthen mentorship within the lab more broadly. He developed a feedback mechanism that allows junior researchers to anonymously share feedback with their mentors, providing opportunities for everyone in the group to continue improving as mentors. Beyond the lab, he leads the McBride Lab’s K-12 outreach efforts for Penn NanoDay and participates in classroom visits that introduce students to concepts such as superhydrophobicity.

For Parisi, good mentorship begins with creating an environment where students feel comfortable asking questions, sharing ideas and taking ownership of their work.

“I really enjoy when a student asks a tough question or gets excited enough about a project to propose a new direction or take initiative beyond what I originally asked them to do,” Parisi says. “I also see mentoring as a two-way relationship.”

Parisi credits his own graduate school mentors with shaping that approach and says working with students has, in turn, helped him grow as a researcher.

“These awards mean a lot to me,” he says. “Mentoring has been one of the most rewarding parts of being a postdoctoral fellow. I really value the opportunity to work with students, and I hope mentoring continues to be an important part of my career.”