Prizes and awards to degree recipients

Rice undergraduates, graduate students and recent graduates reaped a number of fellowships, scholarships and awards this year.

Alan J. Chapman Award in Mechanical Engineering

  • Nathan Leo Bucki
  • Alpha Rho Chi Medal
  • Amelia Therese Hazinski

American Institute of Architects Certificate

  • Amelia Therese Hazinski

American Institute of Architects Medal

  • Yingying Guan

American Institute of Chemical Engineers South Texas Section Scholarship

  • Lucia Patricia Pasara
  • Carolina Vanessa Sampson

Ann and Joe Hightower Superior Award in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

  • Chen Song

Anthropology Department Honors

  • Michael David Robinson
  • Aparicio Prize
  • John Gearon Hagele

Arthur L. Draper Award in Chemistry

  • Morgan Elizabeth Abernathy
  • Matthew Allan Adrianowycz
  • Gaowei Chen
  • Megan Keely Moore
  • Siyu Shi
  • Grant Jacob Stec
  • Eric Rueyhao Sung

Baker Institute Public Policy Essay Prize

  • Yimeng Tang

Barbara Field Kennedy Prize in American History

  • Whitney Nell Stewart

Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship

  • Henry Bair
  • Ken Groszman
  • Megan Dora McCurry (Honorable Mention)

Bill Wilson Prize for Best Electrical and Computer Engineering Design

  • Erik Karl Biegert
  • Sarah McIlwaine Hooper
  • Marissa Blair Levy
  • Justin Edward Pensock
  • Luke Van der Spoel
  • Xiaoran Zhang

Billy Wohn Award

  • Egor Koulechov

Carl E. Isgren Iron Owl Awards

  • Peter Clark Godber
  • Chelsey Briana Harris
  • Ruth Lia Seleznick

Caroline S. and David L. Minter Award for Best Graduating English Major

  • Helen Maureen Gunn
  • Arlen Crittenden Walker

CD Broad Exchange Recipient

  • David Cai
  • Brett Ferdosi Gutstein

Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress Fellowship

  • Brett Ferdosi Gutstein

Chair’s Best Dissertation Prize in English

  • Joanna May Fax

Charles Garside Jr. Prize in History

  • Tianwei Liu
  • Rebecca Lynn Powell

Chevron Scholarship in Engineering

  • Samantha Jean Stergar Elliott

Chillman Prize

  • Pauline Chen

Chinese Government Scholarship

  • Hope Weng

Christine Croneis Sayres Memorial Scholarship in Art History

  • Rachel Erin George

Clark P. Read Award for Excellence

  • Kevin Kahealani Kama Czachura

Cpt. Charles Septimus Longcope Award in History

  • David Ponton III

Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research Award

  • Joshua Atkinson

Department of Spanish and Portuguese Cervantes Award for Outstanding Seniors

  • Carmella Rose DeSerto
  • Camila Cigarroa Kennedy

Donald I. Wood Award for Excellence in Teaching

  • Amy Louise White

Dr. and Mrs. David M. Mumford Endowed Award

  • Ye Lin
  • Peter Sangeyup Yun

Dr. Mae C. Jemison Award for Academic Achievement and Public Service

  • Audrey Arevalo Odwuor

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Best Rice Undergraduate Research Symposium Poster Award

  • Jodie Rae Nghiem

Edward B. Arrants Award

  • Will Berish Letchinger

Electrical and Computer Engineering Distinguished Student Service Award

  • Jorge Armando Quintero

Engineering Design Showcase Award: Best Conceptual or Computational Modeling Engineering Design

  • Shan Zhong

Engineering Design Showcase Award: Best Energy-Related Engineering Design

  • Ankush Agrawal
  • Andrew Shane Elsey
  • Kaiji Lu
  • Ethan Michael Myers
  • Jonathan Han Nguyen
  • Paul Edward Saad

Engineering Design Showcase Award: Best Environment and Sustainability Engineering Design

  • Jared Wing Broadman
  • Isabelle Ainsley Cochran
  • Sanjiv Vikram Gopalkrishnan
  • Brian Dean Gravesmill
  • Farish Amin Gulamali
  • Daniel Mitchell Kurtz
  • Lisa Ann Nordhauser
  • Dominique Ashley Schaefer Pipps

Engineering Design Showcase Award: Best Gaming, Creative or Innovative Technology

  • Chandler Joseph Burke
  • Paul Delos Byrnes
  • Leah Myong Chong
  • Yulan Linus Shih
  • Sihan Zeng
  • Shengliang Zhu

Engineering Design Showcase Award: Best Interdisciplinary Engineering Design

  • Samantha Jean Stergar Elliott
  • Rivkah Pauline Gardner-Frolick
  • Benjamin Oliver Hoff
  • Sea Hoon Kim
  • Jae Joon Lee
  • Victoria Lynn Trexel
  • Avery John Zaleski

Engineering Design Showcase Award: Best Medical Device Technology

  • Shuqing Chen
  • Romeo Benjamin Garza
  • Yuqiang Heng
  • Young Yul Kim
  • Jiaqi Liu
  • Tianyi Yao

Engineering Design Showcase Award: Excellence in Capstone Engineering Design

  • Connie Han Do
  • Kathleen Noel Francis
  • Mehek Gagneja
  • Sharon Ghelman
  • Ethan Emil Hunt
  • Sang Hun Ji
  • Zhuofu Ni
  • Connor Bogert Stuart-Paul
  • Aaron Wei-Loon Tan
  • Brian Daniel Wahlig
  • Yu Tong Zhang
  • Yichen Zhang

Engineering Design Showcase Award: Excellence in Engineering

  • Erik Karl Biegert
  • Sarah McIlwaine Hooper
  • Marissa Blair Levy
  • Justin Edward Pensock
  • Luke Van der Spoel
  • Xiaoran Zhang

Engineering Design Showcase Award: People’s Choice Award

  • Lucas Alexander Bizzaro
  • Nikitha Ann Cherayil
  • Amy Elizabeth Fox
  • Jessica Anne Griffiths
  • Ye Lin

Engineering Design Showcase Award: Willy Revolution Award

  • Stephanie Elianne Brener
  • Christine Michelle Diaz
  • Elizabeth Louise Godfrey
  • Tahir Hafeez Malik
  • Radhika Mohan
  • Nikhil Shamapant

Eva Jean Lee Award

  • Cali Clare Roper

Excellence in Academic Advising Award to Peer Academic Advisors

  • Carmella Rose DeSerto
  • Margaret Lie
  • Tahir Hafeez Malik
  • Sydney Joan Vigran
  • Stephanie Zhao

ExxonMobil Outstanding Graduate Student Award in Earth Science

  • Shuo Ding

ExxonMobil Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award in Earth Science

  • Sarah Paschal Gerenday

Farb Family Award for Outstanding Achievement for Phi Beta Kappa

  • Cyrus Majid Ghaznavi

Farb Family Award for Outstanding Achievement for the Shepherd School

  • Ryo Kaneko
  • Frank Lee Berry Jr. Award in Art
  • Rachel Erin George
  • Mitchell Xavier Mackowiak

Frederick B. Rudolph Award for Outstanding Biochemistry and Cell Biology Senior

  • Charles-Etienne Sauvé
  • Karen Meixin Qiang

Fulbright Award

  • Rachel Trene Buissereth
  • Hanna Downing
  • Cyrus Majid Ghaznavi
  • Camila Cigarroa Kennedy
  • Benjamin Jacob Morris

Gaston Rimlinger Prize

  • Yue Zhang

Gene Hackerman Award

  • Neha Sahai

Gene Hackerman Award for Women’s Athletics

  • Maya Elaine Hawkins

George J. Schroepfer Jr. Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research in Biochemistry and Cell Biology

  • Wesley Hau-Wei Chou
  • Margaret Lie

George J. Schroepfer Jr. Award for Outstanding Ph.D. Thesis in Biochemistry and Cell Biology

  • Yun-Ting Kao

George Williams Prize in Poetry

  • Hannah Bethany Che

Gilbert L. Hermance Award in Kinesiology — Health Sciences

  • Anjali Bhatla

Gilbert L. Hermance Award in Kinesiology — Sports Medicine

  • Leah R. Mikesky

Goliard Endowed Scholarship

  • Mitchell Xavier Mackowiak

Graham C. Stebbings College Service Award

  • Magen Alise Eissenstat

Hally Beth Poindexter Award

  • Chelsey Briana Harris

Harry S. Truman Scholarship

  • Anjali Bhatla
  • Mishi Praveen Jain

Henry Luce Scholarship

  • Cyrus Majid Ghaznavi

Honors in Cognitive Sciences

  • Siqi Ning
  • Nikhil Shamapant
  • Kira Alexandra Wegner-Clemens

Honors in Economics

  • Hanqing Sun
  • Yimeng Tang
  • Yue Zhang

Honors in History

  • Tianwei Liu
  • Rebecca Lynn Powell
  • Destiney I. Randolph
  • Sydney Joan Vigran

Honors in Philosophy

  • Michael Andre Portal

Honors in Psychology

  • James T. Carter

Houston Gas Processors Association Annual Scholarship

  • Kelly Maria Kidder

Houston Gas Processors Association Endowed Scholarship

  • Chen Song

Ira and Patricia Gruber Award for Best Honors Thesis

  • Rebecca Lynn Powell
  • Sydney Joan Vigran

James B. Walker Award for Outstanding Senior in Biochemistry and Cell Biology

  • Kendall Helene Burks
  • Megan Dora McCurry
  • James Glanville Award
  • Darik David Dillard

James Street Fulton Prize for Excellence in Philosophy

  • Nikhil Shamapant

James S. Waters Creativity Award

  • Helen Ashley Little

Jeff Lewis Award

  • William Taylor Roberts

Jeff Wells Award

  • Marco Antonio Ruiz

Jennifer and Purvez Captain Award for Outstanding Economics Dissertation

  • Margaret Katherine McKeehan

Jesse Tsu Sport Management Academic Achievement Award

  • David Green Jr.

Jill Pitman Jones Award — Club Sports

  • Alexander Thelonious Heath

Jill Pitman Jones Award — Intramural Sports Female

  • Midori Elyse Rinkliff

Jill Pitman Jones Award — Intramural Sports Male

  • Jeremy Daniel Reiskind

John P. McGovern Outstanding Premedical Student Award

  • Cyrus Majid Ghaznavi
  • Siyu Shi

John W. Brelsford Award for Superior Scholarship, Leadership or Service

  • James T. Carter

John W. Gardner Award in Humanities

  • David Ponton III

John W. Gardner Award in Social Sciences

  • Elizabeth Korver-Glenn

Joyce Pounds Hardy Award for Outstanding Female Athlete

  • Cali Clare Roper

Julian Huxley Award for Excellence

  • Lauren Iris Howe-Kerr

Kathleen Gamber Ballanfant Award in Film and Photography

  • Abbigail Lane Gutierrez

Kathleen S. Matthews Teaching and Mentoring Award

  • Megan Dora McCurry

Kay Pearson Keating Award

  • Katherine Ip

Kenneth R. Laughery Award for Best Master’s Thesis in Psychology

  • Curtiss Chapman

Leroy C. Gibbon Award in Geology

  • Monica Elizabeth Erdman

Linda F. Williams Prize for Social Justice

  • Bridget Elizabeth Schilling

Lindsay Roemmich Sport Management Achievement Award

  • Jeremy Daniel Reiskind

Linguistics Prize for Excellence

  • Aric Ronald Barnes

Louis and Peaches Owen Fellowship for Professional Masters in Engineering

  • Avery John Zaleski

Louis J. Walsh Engineering Scholarship

  • Yamin Ishraq Arefeen
  • Qingyun Bian
  • Blake Thomas Bourne
  • Brian James Brenner
  • Nathan Leo Bucki
  • Gaowei Chen
  • Shuqing Chen
  • Jennifer Joanne Dawkins
  • Lori Ding
  • Kathleen Noel Francis
  • Elizabeth Louise Godfrey
  • Paul Jesse Hellemn
  • Yuqiang Heng
  • Sarah McIlwaine Hooper
  • Joseph Zan Hwang
  • Run Jiang
  • Eun Young Kim
  • Ye Lin
  • Yichuan Ma
  • Tahir Hafeez Malik
  • Nicole Christine Moes
  • Jacob Thomas Schneckloth
  • Philip Adam Taffet
  • Yimeng Tang
  • Zhiyuan Tang
  • William Hunter Tidwell
  • Justin Craig Trenor
  • Julia Lee Voltz
  • Brian Daniel Wahlig
  • Bryce Steven Willey
  • John Michael Williams
  • Avery John Zaleski
  • Sihan Zeng
  • Wynne Qing Zhang
  • Yize Zhao
  • Shengliang Zhu

Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts

  • Monica Edith Czausz
  • Mitchell Xavier Mackowiak
  • Michael David Robinson

Malcolm Gillis Award in Economics

  • Alexander Jacob Alexander

Malcom Gillis Prize in Mathematical Economic Analysis

  • Zhifeng Wang

Marjory Meyer Hasselmann Fellowship in Chemistry

  • Dayne Francis Swearer

Mary Ellen Hale Lovett Traveling Fellowship

  • Eric Jeffery Hsu
  • Katherine Alexander Tees

Mavis C. Pitman Memorial Prize in Arts

  • Caitlin Rebecca Young

Max Freund Prize in German Studies

  • Toshiki Niimi

Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows

  • James T. Carter
  • Maria Emilia Duno
  • Devon Shea Gerstenhaber
  • Rocio Ariana Rosa-Lebron

Mike Wright Award

  • Chelsea Greenwald
  • Joshua James Gresham
  • Gerardo José Peruchini
  • Chris Elaine Staffel

Mikki Hebl Award

  • Katherine Jane Jensen

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

  • Morgan Elizabeth Abernathy
  • Nathan Leo Bucki
  • Jennifer Joanne Dawkins
  • Sarah McIlwaine Hooper
  • Claudia Kenyon Kann
  • Megan Dora McCurry
  • Mia Polansky
  • Katri J. Sofjan

Norman Hackerman Fellowship

  • Jibo Zhang

Nunnelee Preceptorship Fund

  • Pauline Chen
  • Margaret Gerri Hall
  • Neha Sahai
  • Katherine Alexander Tees
  • Sang Heum Yoon

O.J. Brigance Courage Award

  • Darik David Dillard

Outstanding Anthropology Major Award: Archeology

  • Rachel Erin George

Outstanding Anthropology Major Award: Cultural Anthropology

  • Kyra Reann Neal
  • Bairavi Shankar

Outstanding Bioengineering Design Project — ClotMeNot

  • Stephanie Elianne Brener
  • Christine Michelle Diaz
  • Elizabeth Louise Godfrey
  • Tahir Hafeez Malik
  • Radhika Mohan
  • Nikhil Shamapant

Outstanding Contributions in Bioengineering Design

  • Sharon Ghelman

Outstanding Senior in Bioengineering

  • Elizabeth Louise Godfrey
  • Tahir Hafeez Malik

Outstanding Service in Bioengineering

  • Sharon Ghelman
  • Megan Elizabeth Kehoe
  • Tahir Hafeez Malik
  • Sanjana Ranganathan
  • Brian Daniel Wahlig

Patrick K. Thornton Memorial Award

  • Yasna Haghdoost
  • Jason Paul Petro
  • Summer Sinclair Roberson

Paul Frederick Bobb Award

  • Pak Wei Tong

Peter Mieszkowski Prize for Honors Program Research

  • Hanqing Sun

Phil Layton Award for Excellence in the Arts

  • Isaac Middleton Phillips

Phillips Prize

  • Chelsea GreenwaldDaran Stephen Gaus
  • Martha Caitlin CrottyTiago Santos de Sousa Mendes

Pi Delta Phi André Bourgeois Award in French

  • Sarah Jessica Williamson

Ralph Budd Thesis Award

  • Jason Holloway

Ralph S. Herman Memorial Scholarship

  • Mitchell Xavier Mackowiak
  • Katherine Alexander Tees

“R” Association/J. Fred Duckett Postgraduate Scholarship

  • Leah R. Mikesky

“R” Association/Margie E. Sass Postgraduate Scholarship

  • Cali Clare Roper

Raymond Swift Medal in Art

  • Meagan Leigh Dwyer

RCEL Engineering Leadership Award

  • Andrew Thornton Petty

Rice Engineering Alumni Association Distinguished Senior Award

  • Elizabeth Louise Godfrey
  • Sarah McIlwaine Hooper
  • Shengliang Zhu

Rice Engineering Alumni Association International Service Excellence Award

  • Lucas Alexander Bizzaro

Rice Engineering Alumni Association Leadership Excellence Award

  • Christopher Robert Wentland

Rice Engineering Alumni Association Outstanding Senior Award

  • Tahir Hafeez Malik

Rice Engineering Alumni Association Research Excellence Award

  • Aaron Jeffrey Velasquez Mao

Rice Engineering Alumni Association Senior Merit Award

  • Nathan Leo Bucki
  • Lori Ding
  • Kathleen Noel Francis
  • Ken Groszman
  • Senthil Srivatsan Natarajan
  • Jiao Sun
  • Peter Brandon Szemraj
  • Philip Adam Taffet

Rice Scholar–Athletes of the Year

  • Thomas Leo Bennett
  • David Green Jr.
  • Peter Clark Godber
  • Abby Elizabeth Halm
  • Katherine Ip
  • Marcus Jackson
  • Erik Anders Maher
  • Leah R. Mikesky

Rice School of Architecture Academic Award

  • Kajal Jayesh Patel

Rice Service Award Given in Memory of Dean Hugh Scott Cameron

  • Olivia May Lee
  • Annabelle Lauren McIntire-Gavlick
  • Alexander John Metcalf
  • Bridget Elizabeth Schilling

Robert H. Parks Jr. Prize for Excellence in Engineering Leadership

  • Kelly Maria Kidder

Robert Patten Graduate Student Award

  • Pratiksha Digambarsing Dongare
  • Alicia Elizabeth Mangubat

Robert P. Quin Award for Outstanding Male Athlete

  • Darik David Dillard

Rosemary Watkin Barrick Traveling Fellowship in Architecture

  • Eric Jeffery Hsu
  • Kajal Jayesh Patel

Saba Prize

  • Madison Alene Gates
  • Zoe Renee Tao

Sallyport Award

  • Griffin Fowler Thomas

Samuel T. Sikes Jr. Scholarship

  • Brett Ferdosi Gutstein
  • Jiaqi Liu
  • Chen Song
  • Ethan Hannan Steinberg
  • Jiao Sun

Sam Worden Endowed Memorial Fund in Geophysics

  • Jie Hou

Sherry Matusoff Merfish Award

  • Bridget Elizabeth Schilling

Student Association Outstanding Seniors

  • Anita Tayyaba Alem
  • Seth Kenneth Berggren
  • Caroline Aline Brigham
  • Magen Alise Eissenstat
  • Elizabeth Louise Godfrey
  • Katherine Jane Jensen
  • Michael Charles Kidd
  • Griffin Fowler Thomas
  • Madhuri Saroja Venkateswar
  • Peter Sangeyup Yun

Texas Instruments Graduate Student Fellowships

  • Amir Ali Aghazadeh Mohandesi
  • Jason Holloway
  • Andrew Zhou Kwong
  • Hamed Rahmani
  • David Alejandro Ramirez Dominguez

Texas Society of Professional Engineers Outstanding Senior Engineering Students

  • Yamin Ishraq Arefeen
  • Samantha Jean Stergar Elliott
  • Kathleen Noel Francis
  • Chen Song
  • John Michael Williams

Texas Society of Professional Engineers Overall Outstanding Senior Engineering Student

  • Samantha Jean Stergar Elliott

Thomas J. Watson Fellowship

  • Madhuri Saroja Venkateswar
  • Allison Yu

Thomas Michael Panos Family Engineering Student Award

  • Isabelle Ainsley Cochran

Torkild Rieber Award in Geology

  • Savannah Lee Ezelle

Wagoner Scholarship

  • Yasna Haghdoost
  • Lauren Iris Howe-Kerr
  • Emily Marie Jacobson
  • Jacob Maxwell Krauss
  • Neethi Nayak
  • Zoe Renee Tao
  • Katherine Anne Thomas
  • Huilin Yang

William C. Howell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research and Scholarship

  • Ryan David Pappal

William D. Darden Award

  • Daniel Heinrich Kuehn

William W. Akers Senior Process Design Award in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

  • Natalya Marie Johnson
  • Kelly Maria Kidder
  • Alexander John Metcalf
  • Michael Thomas Nelms
  • Daniel Nathan Plants
  • Yue Shao

William Ward Watkin Traveling Fellowship

  • Toshiki Niimi

 

About Arie Passwaters

Arie Wilson Passwaters is editor of Rice News.