Zoe Schneider Awarded K&L Gates Prize

Zoe Schneider, a graduating senior from Carnegie Mellon University’s Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences(opens in new window), has been named the 2025 recipient of the K&L Gates Prize(opens in new window). 

The award honors a student “who has best inspired their fellow students to a love of learning through a combination of intellect, high scholarly achievement, engagement with others and character.” 

An ethics, history & public policy (EHPP)(opens in new window) major, Schneider will pursue a Ph.D. in philosophy at Brown University.

“Receiving this award validated my outlook on how I seek to be involved in my classroom and my community,” Schneider said. “It’s encouraging to know I can go into the next phase of my life with the support and love of a community that I love and have tried to support.”

Bridging global justice and theory

Schneider’s academic interests center on global and gender justice. Her senior honors thesis explores labor exploitation, particularly within sexual labor, and how it intersects with global economic structures.

“I’m working to develop an intersectional structural theory of exploitation,” she said. “The first part of my thesis connects a lot of different projects that I’ve done, which goes hand-in-hand with history as well. So, it has that EHPP focus of how does economic and political policy from an imperial level through globalization and global markets shape the sovereignty that different states have to make their political decisions and human rights choices.”

A commitment to community

Schneider’s values extended beyond the classroom. As a Community Engagement Fellow(opens in new window) in Dietrich College, she combined academic learning with hands-on experiences, growing as a leader in the process.

As part of the program, she spent the summer before her junior year interning at Rise Up(opens in new window), a Bay Area-based nonprofit focused on gender justice.

“I got to experience what working in a nonprofit field looks like,” Schneider said. “There's so many different approaches to going about social change and thinking about how you yourself can use your unique skill set to uplift others, and so that was a great opportunity.”

Later, for her fellowship capstone, Schneider worked with ARYSE(opens in new window), an Allegheny County nonprofit supporting immigrant and refugee youth. She helped develop a social-emotional learning program, approaching the project with humility and collaboration.

“You don’t go in thinking you have all the answers because you studied at CMU,” she said. “It’s more of like ‘how can you immerse yourself in the knowledge that other people have?’ It was a great opportunity that helps you to contextualize the important knowledge that we have and learn in the classroom at CMU, but also, I think the most important thing is just humility. I think the fellowship does a really great job of fostering that self-awareness.”

She added that the fellowship created a powerful sense of community.

“You don't feel alone or disempowered by challenges, instead you can learn from others’ experiences,” Schneider said.

Finding mentors, building confidence

At CMU, Schneider found mentors who shaped her academic journey. Chief among them was Associate Professor of Philosophy Danielle Wenner(opens in new window).

“She supervised three of my research projects and has shaped me into a more creative, precise and humble academic,” Schneider said. “She's given me the feedback that I've needed in moments where maybe I didn't feel like it, and she's continued to encourage me and push me and show confidence in me. She took a big chance and investment in a 19-year-old sophomore and really gave me a lot of incredible opportunities that I've just grown from immensely. I know that I would not have been prepared to go into the next phase of my academic career as a Ph.D. student if it wasn't for all of those experiences and the rigor that she expects as well.”

While working at Rise Up, Schneider also assisted Wenner with research on reproductive justice in the global South — an area intersecting with environmental change and economic policy.

“It was kind of exciting to be able to be doing research that does feel very abstract and theoretical,” Schneider said. “But I was also working with a gender justice organization that has huge populations of leaders and important projects going on in Latin America, which was the focus of (Wenner’s) research project. So it was this cool balance.”

When she hit a wall with her writing sample for her graduate school application, Schneider turned to Joel Smith(opens in new window), a distinguished career teaching professor, and Richard Scheines(opens in new window), Bess Family Dean of the Dietrich College and a professor of philosophy, for guidance.

“I wasn't sure that I had anything to say or had anything left,” Schneider said. “I wasn't sure that I was even on the right path anymore. And the two of them, with two weeks left in the semester, at the busiest time of the year, were like, ‘This is our job. We're here to help you. We want to help you and want to help you find that confidence, find that voice again.’”

Advice for what’s next

As she prepares for her next chapter, Schneider hopes future students follow their curiosity — and their purpose.

“I’m privileged in a way that my academic path has an obvious tie to my purpose as a human being and what I see myself wanting to give to the communities that I'm a part of and I think for a lot of students on campus, it's probably harder to think about how their academic focus helps them do this,” Schneider said.

Her advice?

“Don't be shy, and don't be selfish with the knowledge that you're learning,” Schneider said. “I think there's so many incredibly bright and talented driven people here, and if we all just shared with each other a little bit more, I think we'd be able to do a lot of exciting, innovative and hopefully community-impactful projects.”