The Mary P. Edmonds Graduate Student Award is given in honor of a kind friend, gracious colleague, and mentor we lost in April 2005. She was an Associate Professor of Biochemistry and a Professor of Biological Sciences during her 37-year tenure (1955-1992) at the University of Pittsburgh. Based in part on her seminal discovery of the enzyme that adds polyA tails onto RNA, Dr. Edmonds was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1991 and received several honorary doctorates.
The Edmonds Award is given each year to a graduate student for the publication of an outstanding research paper.
Winners of the Mary P. Edmonds award are:
| Year | Awardee | Mentor(s) |
| 2024 | Charles Agbavor | Dr. Laty Cahoon |
| 2023 | Tasniem Fetian | Dr. Karen Arndt |
| 2022 | Samantha Fontaine | Dr. Kevin Kohl |
| 2021 | Rachel Bainbridge | Dr. Anne Carlson |
| 2020 | Yusan Yang | Dr. Corinne Richards-Zawacki |
| 2019 | Sarah Sokol Borrelli | Dr. Jon Boyle |
| 2017 | Roni Lahr | Dr. Andrea Berman |
| 2016 |
Christine Cucinotta William Glassford |
Dr. Karen Arndt Dr. Mark Rebeiz |
| 2015 |
Matthew Koski |
Dr. Tia-Lynn Ashman |
| 2014 |
Adam Wier Colin Wright |
Dr. Andy Vandemark Dr. Jonathan Pruitt |
| 2013 | Elizabeth English | Dr. Jon Boyle |
| 2011 |
Gerardo Acreo-Gomez Matthew Farber Sarah Hainer |
Dr. Tia-Lynn Ashman Dr. Jeffrey Hildebrand Dr. Joseph Martens |
| 2010 | Adam Retchless | Dr. Jeffrey Lawrence |
| 2009 | Jill Dembowski | Dr. Paula Grabowski |
| 2008 | Matthew Bochman | Dr. Anthony Schwacha |
| 2007 | John Paul | Dr. Stephen Tonsor |