News Archives

School celebrates outstanding students, staff and faculty

May 13, 2020 - by Kim Delker

The School of Engineering is celebrating its outstanding students, faculty and staff this spring.

The annual awards ceremony and luncheon had been planned by May 8 but had to be canceled this year due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Although there was no in-person ceremony this year, a special website was created to honor awardees. Winners were also featured on the School of Engineering’s Facebook page the week of May 4. An event program is also available on the website.

The 2020 winners are:

Outstanding Student Awards

Chemical and Biological Engineering

Outstanding Sophomores – Jessica Lien and Mohammed Al Khazraji
Outstanding Junior – David Arnot
Outstanding Senior – Irais Ortiz-Caraveo
Outstanding Graduate Student – Florencia Monge

Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering

Outstanding Sophomore – Alan Barney
Outstanding Junior – Alexandra Brown
Outstanding Senior – Ernesto Perea
Outstanding Graduate Student – Carmen S. Velasco

Computer Science

Outstanding Sophomore – Abigail Pribisova
Outstanding Junior – D M Raisul Ahsan
Outstanding Senior – Simon Spangenberg
Outstanding Graduate Student – William Whitney Schonbein

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Outstanding Sophomore – Nicholas Ross
Outstanding Junior – Skyler Valdez
Outstanding Senior – Kendric Ortiz
Outstanding Graduate Student – Georgios Fragkos

Mechanical Engineering

Outstanding Sophomore – Mary Arnhart
Outstanding Junior – Donato Piroscafo
Outstanding Senior – Rachel Starkweather
Outstanding Graduate Student – Brian Romero

Nuclear Engineering

Outstanding Sophomore – Christian Arguello
Outstanding Junior – Mekiel Olguin
Outstanding Senior – Lauren Crabtree
Outstanding Graduate Student – Phoenix Baldez

Outstanding Staff Awards

Outstanding staff award winners are selected by past staff award winners and are nominated by our faculty, their peers and students.

Elsa Castillo – Engineering Student Success Center
Yolanda Sanchez – Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering
Shannon Siderius – Mechanical Engineering

Outstanding Faculty Awards

Outstanding faculty award winners are selected by past faculty award winners, from a pool of faculty who have been nominated by their department chair. They must prepare in-depth nomination packets as they are evaluated based on their record of achievement in their career.

Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence – Nicholas Ferenchak, Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering

Senior Faculty Teaching Excellence – Andrew Shreve, Chemical and Biological Engineering

Junior Faculty Research Excellence – Osman Anderoglu, Nuclear Engineering

Senior Faculty Research Excellence – Meeko Oishi, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Dr. Glenn Whan Memorial Award – Carl Willis, Nuclear Engineering

Harrison Faculty Recognition Award – Vanessa Svihla, Chemical and Biological Engineering and OILS

Minority Engineering Programs Leadership Award

Co-winners: Dominica Bennett and Kody Becenti