On April 19, the Dean's Office announced the winners of the Outstanding Graduate Research and Teaching Awards (GRA/GTA) at the Engineering Research Building Collaborative Hub. The program also recognized graduate students who have won awards over this academic year.
Outstanding Graduate Service Award
The Outstanding Graduate Service Award goes to a graduate student who is active in giving back to the community.
This year’s winner, Salih Sarp from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been a volunteer at VCU computer science summer camp and has mentored girls in an engineering student club at Granby High School to build a remotely operated marine vehicle for competitions.
Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award
The Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award goes to a graduate student who exemplifies what a teaching assistant should be: a person who communicates complex topics effectively with students, is patient when working with students who are struggling, holds consistent office hours, and goes above and beyond to help students.
This year’s winner, Clint Cuffy from the Department of Computer Science, has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses for Database Theory, Intro to Natural Language Processing and Intro to Operating Systems. One professor stated that Cuffy is an excellent role model for graduate teaching at VCU and demonstrates that graduate teaching can be a rewarding option for Engineering students.
Congratulations to Johane Bracamonte from the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering. He displays impressive logical thinking and intellectual curiosity and is described as hardworking, organized and insightful. Bracamonte is developing research in the Engineered Tissue Multiscale Mechanics and Modeling Laboratory where he has participated in the design of custom-made dynamic bioreactors for engineered tissue culture and characterization.
The second winner is Steven Hernandez from the Department of Computer Science. Hernandez shows perseverance, is responsible, works hard and quickly grasps new ideas and technologies. He is working on “WiFi sensing” through the usage of Channel State Information in WiFi communication that rely on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing and learning of signal propagation changes due to environmental changes and objects.
In addition to the Outstanding Graduate Awards, the Dean’s Office also recognized the following award recipients.
Koerner Foundation Fellowship
- Ethan Brown, BME
- Caroline Campbell, MNE
- Dimitris Killinger, MNE
- Sarah Saunders, MNE
Graduate School Dissertation Fellowship
- Michael Berger, BME
- Ivan Carmona-Tortolero, MNE
- Franck Kamga Gninzeko, BME
- Lukasz Korycki, CS
- Yuanhang Yang, MNE
American Heart Association Pre-doctoral Fellowship
- Johane Bracamonte, MNE
Honorable Mention for the NSF-Graduate Research Fellowships Program
- Emily Wandling, BME
Congratulations to all graduate award recipients. Thank you for giving back to your community through service and research.