Press Release
PRI President Dr. Francesca Napolitano has been awarded the James Beard Foundation Honorary Scientific Medal in recognition of her three decades of contributions to pizza science and her leadership in establishing pizzology as a legitimate academic discipline. The award was presented at a ceremony in New York City.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHEESEVILLE, OH / NEW YORK, NY — The James Beard Foundation has awarded its Honorary Scientific Medal to Dr. Francesca Napolitano, President and Eminent Professor of Applied Pizzology at the Pizza Research Institute, in recognition of her more than three decades of contributions to pizza science, her authorship of eleven peer-reviewed monographs, and her singular role in convincing the broader academic community that pizzology is, in fact, a real discipline deserving of serious scholarly attention.
The Award
The James Beard Foundation Honorary Scientific Medal is awarded annually to a researcher whose work has made a "substantial and enduring contribution to the scientific understanding of food." Previous recipients include luminaries in food chemistry, agricultural science, and nutrition. Dr. Napolitano is the first recipient whose work focuses exclusively on a single circular food item, a distinction she has accepted with characteristic composure and a 45-minute acceptance speech.
"Thirty-two years ago," Dr. Napolitano told the assembled audience at the Beard Foundation ceremony in New York, "a colleague told me that dedicating a career to the scientific study of pizza was, and I quote, 'a waste of a perfectly good intellect.' I thought of him tonight. I thought of him specifically when they called my name. I do not know where he is now, but I hope he is watching."
A Career in Brief
Dr. Napolitano joined PRI as an assistant professor in 1993 after completing her doctorate in Food Systems Science at MIT, where her dissertation — "Sauce Rheology and the Determinants of Optimal Spread: A Newtonian Approach to Non-Newtonian Problems" — was reportedly described by her thesis committee as "either brilliant or insane, possibly both." She became PRI's youngest-ever full professor in 1999 and was appointed President of the Institute in 2012.
Her research has produced foundational work in sauce viscosity modeling, the Cheeseberg-Napolitano Melt Constant (co-developed with Dr. Marcus Cheeseberg in 2009), and the landmark 2016 paper "Why Detroit-Style Pizza Is Correct: A Structural Analysis," which remains the most-downloaded paper in the *Journal of Applied Pizzology*'s 43-year history and inspired two lawsuits, one from a trade association representing Neapolitan pizza interests.
Reactions
Reactions from the PRI community were uniformly enthusiastic, with the notable exception of Prof. Giuseppe Romano, who issued a brief statement calling the award "well-deserved," which those familiar with the Napolitano-Romano professional relationship interpreted as generous under the circumstances.
Dr. Phyllis Crustworthy, Chair of the Department of Crust Sciences, organized a surprise reception in Napolitano Hall upon the President's return to Cheeseville. Dr. Napolitano expressed genuine surprise, which Dr. Crustworthy has noted is "essentially unprecedented" given that Dr. Napolitano "usually knows everything before it happens."
Statement from the James Beard Foundation
"Dr. Napolitano's career is proof that the boundaries of serious food science are as expansive as the curiosity of the people pursuing it," said Claire D. Ashworth, Executive Director of the James Beard Foundation. "Her work has elevated pizza from a cultural staple to a subject of genuine scientific inquiry, and the Foundation is honored to recognize that achievement."
The medal and a $25,000 prize have been accepted by Dr. Napolitano, who has announced that the prize money will be donated to the PRI Graduate Fellowship Fund, minus a small amount she intends to spend on "a very good dinner — non-pizza, for once, though I reserve the right to order dessert pizza."