CEE Diploma Ceremony Program 2025

CI VI L AND E N V I RO N M E N T A L E N G I N E E RI N G Diploma Ceremony May 9, 2025

What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

PROGRAM WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS

Community and Engagement Excellence Award

This award is presented to a senior who exhibits outstanding leadership and service.

This award is presented to a CEE undergraduate or graduate student who demonstrates exceptional leadership in fostering collaboration among groups—including students, faculty, staff, across different departments, and local and global organizations—to create meaningful academic, social, and cultural impact. The recipient actively initiates, leads or contributes to activities that promote long-term positive community engagement while inspiring others to participate and sustain these efforts.

Lawrence G. Cartwright Service Award

Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award

This award is presented to a senior who exhibits outstanding professional and university service.

This award is presented to a graduate student who exhibits outstanding teaching ability.

Burcu Akinci Department Head and Hamerschlag University Professor Civil and Environmental Engineering

PRESENTATION OF AWARDS ASCE Outstanding Civil Engineering Student Award

H.A. Thomas Sr. Scholarship Award This award is presented to a senior who exhibits outstanding scholarship.

Harold A. Thomas (1885–1973), Professor of Civil Engineering at Carnegie Tech, was an expert in hydraulics and was both an experimentalist and a mathematical modeler.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Research Award This award is presented to a CEE graduating senior who has conducted outstanding research.

James P. Romualdi Civil and Environmental Engineering Award This award is presented to a senior who exhibits excellence in the traditional areas of civil engineering, both academic and practical.

As an alumnus and longtime faculty member, James Romualdi touched the lives of many students in CEE. He was an expert in structural engineering, concrete design, failure analysis and transportation engineering. His research led to the innovation and patent of fiber-reinforced concrete.

Paul P. Christiano Distinguished Service Award This award is presented to a graduate student who exhibits outstanding professional and university service.

Paul P. Christiano (1942–2001), an alumnus and faculty member of the Civil Engineering department, was known for his dedication to Carnegie Mellon. Christiano was an expert in structural and geotechnical engineering and led the graduate program in these areas.

During his tenure at Carnegie Mellon, he served as CEE department head, dean of the College of Engineering and university provost, and helped lead an educational movement that fostered the growth of interdisciplinary research on campus.

Mao Yisheng Outstanding Dissertation Award This award is presented to a Ph.D. student who submits an outstanding doctoral dissertation.

Mao Yisheng was the first recipient of a Ph.D. from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1921. His career was an outstanding example of innovation in civil engineering.

AWARDING OF DEGREES Bachelor of Science Master of Science Doctor of Philosophy

GRADUATES BACHELOR OF SCIENCE Civil Engineering

Beatriz Maria Holzbach

David Michael Abadi Akerman

Augustus James Kamal** ◆

Seth Brandon Altman** ◆

Anusha Tejas Modi

Aeryn Anderson

Miu Nakajima

Purva Bommireddy ◆

Additional Major: Statistics and Machine Learning

Dylan Lane Bonanno ◆

Additional Major: Engineering and Public Policy

Chloe Brown ◆ Minor: Drama

Samuel Chen** ◆ Mia Constantin

Minor: Information Security, Privacy and Policy

Rory Elayne Oden ◆

Additional Major: Engineering and Public Policy

Justin H. Oh

Minor: Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Additional Major: Engineering and Public Policy

Minor: Human-Computer Interaction

Additional Major: Engineering and Public Policy

Krishnav Sekhri ◆

Minor: Business Administration

Luke Matthew Grupp** ◆

Josiah Peter Sespico ◆

Carmen Lee Hagerty ◆

Noah Singer** ◆

Minor: Cybersecurity and International Conflict Additional Major: Environmental and Sustainability Studies

Shria Shyam** ◆ Nicole Adamaris Vera

Additional Major: Engineering and Public Policy

Autumn Maya Swartz

Antara Mageshwaran

Flannery DuPree McNair ◆

Stella Masako Saame

Paul S. Gonzalez

Kate Holland Hanson

Additional Major: Engineering and Public Policy

Dalton Herschel Harmon

Kaity Wang

Aaron Agustin Hernandez

Harrison Jacob Green ◆

Samantha Elizabeth Lee ◆

Christopher Celso Rodas Ochoa

Additional Major: Engineering and Public Policy

Minor: Environmental and Sustainability Studies

Additional Major: Engineering and Public Policy

Emiliano Plaza Grisanty

Kevin Z. Riordan**

Jongwoo Han** ◆

Carla Sofia Gomez-Fonseca

Isabella Krisky ◆

Nolan Pitsenberger

Jane Cassidy Evans Fleischman ◆ ●

Alana Caroline Frederick

Madeline Ruth Falk ◆

Additional Major: Engineering and Public Policy

Minor: Architecture

Additional Major: Engineering and Public Policy

Environmental Engineering

Sophie Isobel Vincens ◆

Additional Major: Engineering and Public Policy

Minor: Chinese Studies

Tianqi Wang

* GRADUATED AUGUST 2024

◆ UNIVERSITY HONORS

● COLLEGE HONORS

** GRADUATED DECEMBER 2024 ANDREW CARNEGIE SCHOLAR

GRADUATES MASTER OF SCIENCE Advanced Infrastructure Systems Maral Doctorarastoo** Paul Roy Twijukye**

Civil and Environmental Engineering – Research

Shan Hong** Fengchen Hu**

Stephanie Marilyn Perez

Ava Jahan Biglari** Julane Johnson

Computational Mechanics

Artificial Intelligence Engineering – Civil and Environmental Engineering

Katherine Grace Johnson*

Mehul Bapat

Gibrilla Mohamed Kamara

Samuel Chen

Demetra Dora Karras**

Balaji Pulipakkam Sridhar**

Yuang Hou**

Venkata Alekhya Kasireddy**

Kabir Kedia**

Manoradh Kolli

Environmental Management and Science

Sai Santosh Gaurav Molugu**

Zijie Liang**

Lin Lu

Kaicheng Sheng**

Guanyu Lin**

Adem Taiyr**

Mingyuan Liu**

Architecture Engineering Construction Management

Jing Wu**

Ruoxi Ma**

Akshita Agarwal**

Liyang Zheng**

Benjamin H. Minden

Tarun Alluri Venkatesh**

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Avnish Rajesh Parekh**

Pritesh Anjikar**

Rahul Raj Ponnada**

Jui Pareshbhai Arora**

Xinglin Ren**

Anupika Babar**

Zheng Ren**

Zachary Brigham**

Kenedy Sanchez

Natasha Fernandez**

Shria Shyam

Srujan Gajjala**

Michelle Anne Sung**

Parneet Kaur**

Keegan True**

Tejas Malepati Naidu**

Jiayi Wang**

Pooja Ravikumar**

Keding Wang**

Vaishali Singh**

Winona Wang**

Rishab Umarani**

Ryan Rebecca Albelda Seth Brandon Altman Sorawich Aungsuthar** Nora Awad** Nicolas Kelemen Bosquet** Alexander Harrison Bram** Xinchen Cai** Hannah Victoria Center** William Falasca Marostica** Michael Edward Fetsko III** Willem Alexander Goedecke** Yule Gou Lindsay Kalla Graff** Luke Matthew Grupp Jongwoo Han Hikari Lyane Harrison

Zixuan Wang** Beatrice Wu** Shimin Xu** Dalia Zainal Kewei Zhou** Tiantian Zhou** Yuanhao Zhou**

Chengyi Hong

* GRADUATED AUGUST 2024

◆ UNIVERSITY HONORS

● COLLEGE HONORS

** GRADUATED DECEMBER 2024 ANDREW CARNEGIE SCHOLAR

GRADUATES DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Medinat Akindele**

Civil and Environmental Engineering Development and Evaluation of Portable Reduced-Complexity Air Quality Models for Policy Assessment in Africa Advisor(s): Peter Adams

Zhufeng Fan*

Civil and Environmental Engineering Reshaping Urban Transportation with Micromobility Advisor(s): Corey Harper

Pratapaditya Ghosh

Civil and Environmental Engineering Strategies to Improve Simulations of Cloud and Fog Droplet Number Concentrations in Weather and Climate Models Advisor(s): Hamish Gordon

Lindsay Kalla Graff

Civil and Environmental Engineering Optimizing Mobility Infrastructure, Services, and Subsidies in Multimodal Transportation Networks Advisor(s): Katherine Flanigan; Sean Qian

Nicolas Gratius*

Civil and Environmental Engineering A Simulation Framework for Life-Support Anomaly Response in Deep-Space Exploration Habitats Advisor(s): Mario Berges; Burcu Akinci

Maryam Hakimzadeh**

Computational Mechanics Phase-Field Modeling of Fracture in Geo- and Environmental Mechanics Advisor(s): Kaushik Dayal

Andrew J. Jones Jr.*

Civil and Environmental Engineering Climate Change and the Impact on Energy Insecurity in the Residential Sector: A Place-Based Analysis into the Consumption and Energy Insecurity Heterogeneities within Arizona Advisor(s): Destenie Nock; Constantine Samaras

Zemian Ke**

Carlos Mateo Samudio Lezcano

Civil and Environmental Engineering Proactive System Optimal Routing of Network Traffic Advisor(s): Sean Qian

Uditnarayan Dilip Kouskiya

Computational Mechanics Computational Analysis of a DualityBased Approach for Solving Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations Advisor(s): Amit Acharya

Pengkun Liu*

Civil and Environmental Engineering Trustworthy Civil Infrastructure Inspection Through Human-Machine Intelligence Integration Advisor(s): Pingbo Tang

Zia J. Lyle

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy Informing Climate Change Risk Decision Making for Drinking Water Utilities Advisor(s): Jeanne M. VanBriesen; Constantine Samaras

Sofia Martinez**

Civil and Environmental Engineering Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Battery Electric Bus Deployment, Mineral Efficiency, and Onshoring Critical Mineral Production Advisor(s): Constantine Samaras; Corey Harper

Civil and Environmental Engineering Data-driven Quantification of Societal Impacts from Emerging Transportation Technologies Advisor(s): Destenie Nock; Corey D. Harper

Marissa Webber*

Civil and Environmental Engineering Monitoring and Modeling Urban Stormwater Infrastructure and Nature-Based Solutions for Effective and Equitable Climate Change Adaptation Advisor(s): Constantine Samaras; David Rounce

Chunzhi Wu**

Computational Mechanics Molecular Modeling of Transport in Membranes Advisor(s): Gerald J. Wang

Ruoxin Xiong*

Civil and Environmental Engineering Human-Machine Adaptation in Lean Waste Elimination for Customized Building Manufacturing Systems Advisor(s): Pingbo Tang

Rachel Alexis Mole

Civil and Environmental Engineering Colloidal Activated Carbon for In Situ Remediation of Perfluorinated Alkyl Substances: Effects of Groundwater Chemistry and Implications for Technology Use and Longevity Advisor(s): Gregory V. Lowry

Sanaz Saadatifar**

Architecture-EngineeringConstruction Management Occupant-Centric Digital-Twin: An Interactive Real-Time Display, Influencing Human Perception Factor in Thermal Satisfaction Decisions Advisor: Azadeh Sawyer

* GRADUATED AUGUST 2024

◆ UNIVERSITY HONORS

● COLLEGE HONORS

** GRADUATED DECEMBER 2024 ANDREW CARNEGIE SCHOLAR

SCHOLARSHIPS AND FELLOWSHIPS Medinat Akindele

Dalton Harmon

Sorawich Aungsuthar

Uditnarayan Kouskiya

Thomas and Maria Fok Presidential Fellowship Fulbright Scholarship

Samuel Chen

George Washington Prize

Mia Constantin

ASCE Achievement Award

Pratapaditya Ghosh

Menard-DFI Educational Trust Scholarship Thomas and Maria Fok Presidential Fellowship

Zia Lyle

Thomas and Maria Fok Presidential Fellowship PA AWWA David A. Long Scholarship

Stephanie Perez

National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships Program (GRFP) GEM Fellowship Claire, MM 1965, and John Bertucci, E 1963, TPR 1965, Fellowship in Engineering

Mateo Samudio

Dr. Elio D’Appolonia Graduate Fellowship

Air Quality Research and Study Scholarship; Air & Waste Management Association

College of Engineering Presidential Fellowship

Sophie Vincens

Lindsay Graff

Sofia Martinez

Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Graduate Fellowship

Marissa Webber

Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship K&L Gates Presidential Fellowship

Carmen Hagerty Fifth Year Scholar

Rory Oden

National Academy of Construction Scholarship

Kate Hanson

Andrew Carnegie Scholar Freeman Fellowship Dwight D. Eisenhower Transportation Research Fellowship

Beatrice Wu

Menard-DFI Educational Trust Scholarship

Ruoxin Xiong

Meeting of the Minds Undergraduate Environmental Award

Bradford and Diane Smith Graduate Fellowship

FACULTY Amit Acharya

Susan Finger

Matteo Pozzi

Peter Adams

Katherine A. Flanigan

Zhen (Sean) Qian

Burcu Akinci

James H. Garrett Jr.

David Rounce

Mario Bergés

Kelvin Gregory

Constantine Samaras

Jacobo Bielak

Corey Harper

Mitchell J. Small

Sarah Christian

Chris T. Hendrickson

Pingbo Tang

Donald Coffelt

Gregory V. Lowry

Jeanne VanBriesen

Kaushik Dayal

Joe D. Moore

Gerald J. Wang

David A. Dzombak

Destenie Nock

Damon Weiss

Sarah Fakhreddine

Fethiye Ozis

STAFF Brian Belowich

Geena Provenzano

Mei Tao

Lindsey Breyak

G. Ronald Ripper

David Vey

Andrea Francioni Rooney

Melissa Ritchie

Maya Westcott

Ryan Gent

Cathy Schaefer

Christian Woodfin

Allison McLachlan

Shannon Smith

The faculty and staff of the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department would like to thank you for attending our diploma ceremony.