The College of Computing’s countdown to commencement began on April 11 when students, faculty, and staff converged at the 33rd Annual Awards Celebration.
The banquet celebrated the college community for an exemplary academic year and recognized the most distinguished individuals of 2023-2024. For Alex Orso, the reception was a high-water mark in his role as interim dean.
“I always say that the best part about my job is to brag about the achievements and accolades of my colleagues,” said Orso.
“It is my distinct honor and privilege to recognize these award winners and the collective success of the College of Computing.”
Orso’s colleagues from the School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) were among the celebration’s honorees. School of CSE students, faculty, and alumni earning awards this year include:
- Grace Driskill, M.S. CSE student - The Donald V. Jackson Fellowship
- Harshvardhan Baldwa, M.S. CSE student - The Marshal D. Williamson Fellowship
- Mansi Phute, M.S. CS student- The Marshal D. Williamson Fellowship
- Assistant Professor Chao Zhang- Outstanding Junior Faculty Research Award
- Nazanin Tabatbaei, teaching assistant in Associate Professor Polo Chau’s CSE 6242 Data & Visual Analytics course- Outstanding Instructional Associate Teaching Award
- Rodrigo Borela (Ph.D. CSE-CEE 2021), School of Computing Instruction Lecturer and CSE program alumnus - William D. "Bill" Leahy Jr. Outstanding Instructor Award
- Pratham Metha, undergraduate student in Chau’s research group- Outstanding Legacy Leadership Award
- Alexander Rodriguez (Ph.D. CS 2023), School of CSE alumnus - Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award
At the Institute level, ɫ recognized Driskill, Baldwa, and Phute for their awards on April 10 at the annual .
Driskill’s classroom achievement earned her a spot on the . This follows her selection for the .
ɫ’s Center for Teaching and Learning released in summer 2023 the . School of CSE awardees included Assistant Professor Srijan Kumar (CSE 6240: Web Search & Text Mining), Lecturer Max Mahdi Roozbahani (CS 4641: Machine Learning), and alumnus Mengmeng Liu (CSE 6242: Data & Visual Analytics).
Accolades and recognition of School of CSE researchers for 2023-2024 expounded off campus as well.
School of CSE researchers received awards off campus throughout the year, a testament to the reach and impact of their work.
School of CSE Ph.D. student Gaurav Verma kicked off the year by receiving the . Verma was one of only 13 awardees from around the world selected for the 2023 class.
Along with seeing many of his students receive awards this year, Polo Chau attained a . Later in the year, the Institute , which takes effect in the 2024-2025 academic year.
Schmidt Sciences selected School of CSE Assistant Professor Kai Wang as an to advance artificial intelligence research for social good. By being part of the fellowship’s second cohort, Wang is the first ever ɫ faculty to receive the award.
School of CSE Assistant Professor Yunan Luo received two significant awards to advance his work in computational biology. First, Luo received the Maximizing Investigator’s Research Award (MIRA) from the National Institutes of Health, which provides $1.8 million in funding for five years. Next, he received the .
Regents’ Professor Surya Kalidindi, jointly appointed with the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and School of CSE, was named a fellow to the 2023 class of the Department of Defense’s .
2023-2024 was a monumental year for Assistant Professor Elizabeth Qian, jointly appointed with the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering and the School of CSE.
The Air Force Office of Scientific Research selected Qian for the 2024 class of their . Earlier in the year, she received a grant under the .
Qian began the year by joining 81 other early-career engineers at the . She also received the Hans Fischer Fellowship from the Institute for Advance Study at the Technical University of Munich.
It was a big academic year for Associate Professor Elizabeth Cherry. Cherry was reelected to a three-year term as a council member-at-large of the . Cherry is also co-chair of the SIAM organizing committee for next year’s Conference on Computational Science and Engineering (CSE25).
Cherry continues to serve as the School of CSE’s associate chair for academic affairs. These leadership contributions led to her being named to the .
School of CSE Professor and Associate Chair Edmond Chow was co-author of a paper that received the (SC23). Right before SC23, Chow’s Ph.D. student Hua Huang was selected as an honorable mention for the .
