Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) announced that Mary-Lee Barboza of Rochester, a senior majoring in biology and biotechnology, has been awarded the university’s Salisbury Prize for academic excellence.

A total of 19 undergraduate students – out of a class of more than 900 – were nominated by WPI faculty to receive this award. The Salisbury Prize was instituted in 1871 by Stephen Salisbury, a 19th century businessman and philanthropist who was one of the founders of WPI.

In addition to their exceptional course work, each recipient of a Salisbury Prize has done outstanding work in all three of WPI’s required projects, one in the humanities and arts, one addressing a problem at the intersection of science and technology with human need, and one in their major area of study.