2026 40 Under 40 Honoree: Moisés Padilla (39)
“Rely on your community, and if you don’t have one yet, build one. Then make room for others to join it. That applies whether you grew up in Pittsburgh or moved here, as I did.”
PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA
Moisés Padilla
Executive Director, CMU Rales Fellows Program, Carnegie Mellon University
A $150 million commitment to widening access to graduate STEM education required someone to turn a vision into a working program. As the inaugural executive director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Rales Fellows Program, Moisés Padilla was that person.
Padilla built the program, which provides fully funded graduate fellowships, stipends, mentorship, professional development and career support to talented students from underrepresented and under-resourced backgrounds. To successfully launch the program, Padilla relied on his extensive experience supporting first-generation and income-eligible students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he earned his doctorate in educational leadership and higher education.
At CMU, his steady approach emphasizes shared purpose and provides support to students so that they can succeed. Padilla now hopes to make the Rales Fellows Program a national model while continuing to focus deeply on its scholars within Pittsburgh’s universities.
