Vivek Sarkar, John P. Imlay Jr. Dean, College of Computing and Chair
Lunch
Presentation of Awards
Closing Remarks
Dean Sarkar
2024 – 2025 College of Computing Awards Committee
Calton Pu, chair
Ashok Goel
Aditya Prakash
Lynn Dombrowski
Richard Vuduc
Vijay Madisetti
Santosh Vempala
Frederic Faulkner
Dana Randall
Ronnie Howard
Cynthia Bryant
Sharon Hamilton
Nickie Cayce-Griffis
Iris Hamilton
Ericka Burley
Francella Tongue
Meg Chambers
Undergraduate Awards
Outstanding 2nd Year Leadership Award
Sofia Vempala
Outstanding 3rd year EDS Leadership Award
Prajval Manivannan
Outstanding Legacy Leadership Award
Sri Ranganathan Palaniappan
Outstanding Undergraduate Head Teaching Assistant Award
Kavya Selvakumar
Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Award
Lucas Zangari
Aryan Patel
Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award
Zhujie Xu
Graduate Awards
Outstanding MS Research Award
Bianca Toto
Neeraj Balkrishna Jadhav
Outstanding Graduate Research Assistant Award
Anish Saxena
Outstanding Graduate Head Teaching Assistant Award
Shail J Patel
Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award
Sunidhi Dhawan
Rising Star Doctoral Student Research Award
Aeree Cho
Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award (ACM)
He Jia
Joanne Truong
Jay Wang
Graduate Awards
The Donald V. Jackson Fellowship
Established by Jeannie Jackson in memory of her husband, Don Jackson, a 1971 master’s graduate of IS and a 1965 bachelor’s graduate of the math department. Don had an extremely successful career in the computing industry which included serving as CIO of Computer Products. The Donald V. Jackson Fellowship supports the master’s program and is awarded to a well-rounded, first-year student of computer science who best embodies Don’s values of academic excellence and leadership.
Established by Billie L. Williamson in memory of her husband, Marshall Williamson, a 1969 master’s graduate of IS. Marshall had an extremely successful career, serving most recently as the general manager of the Garland Division of E-Systems. The Marshall D. Williamson Fellowship supports the master’s program and is awarded to a well-rounded, second-year student who best embodies Marshall’s values of academic excellence and leadership.
Dhyan D Gandhi (CS) Parisa Babolhavaeji (CSE)
Maulishri Bhandari (IC)
2024 Dissertation Awards
He Jia – SCS
Title: Robust Learning in High Dimension
Advisor: Santosh Vempala
Joanne Truong – SIC
Title: Sim2Robot: Training Robots for the Real-World with Imperfect Simulators
Advisors: Dhruv Batra and Sonia Chernova
Zijie ‘Jay’ Wang – CSE
Title: Democratizing Human-Centered AI with Visual Explanation and Interactive Guidance
Advisor: Polo Chau
Faculty Awards
Outstanding Mid-Career Faculty Research Award
Yingyan (Celine) Lin
William Perkins
Outstanding Junior Faculty Research Award
Alexey Tumanov
Outstanding Research Scientist Award
Animesh Chhotaray
Rachel Baker
Outstanding Post-Doctoral Research Award
Seonjin Na
Outstanding Instructional Associate Teaching Award
John Hameier
Susanta K Routray
Outstanding Research Faculty Leadership Award
Ketan Bhardwaj
Outstanding Junior Faculty Teaching Award
Frank Li
Outstanding Faculty Leadership Award
Neha Kumar
The William D. “Bill” Leahy Jr. Outstanding Instructor Award
Nimisha Roy
The Monica Sweat Outstanding Lecturer in External Engagement Award
Pedro Guillermo Feijoo Garcia
William A. “gus” Baird Faculty Teaching Award
This award is given to a faculty member who is recognized by his or her peers for excellence in teaching. That’s not a typo in your program: gus baird had no pretense whatsoever. He never capitalized his name and we will follow his example. It is fitting that “gus” – “the man who wanted nothing more than to teach” – be remembered each time this award is presented. “gus” received his master’s degree from Georgia Tech in 1980 and was a favorite College of Computing undergraduate instructor for nearly 15 years.
Max Mahdi Roozbahani
Dean’s Office Awards
James D. Lester III Family Award
Established by Faye R. and James D. Lester III, this annual award is to recognize faculty members in the College of Computing whose research in Internet phenomena is deemed noteworthy.
(To be announced at ceremony)
The Dean’s Award
The Dean’s Award is selected by the Dean and presented to a member of the college who has contributed significantly to the success of the college this year.
(To be announced at ceremony)
Staff Awards
Outstanding Staff Mentoring Award
David Mercer Reina Grundhoefer
The Ruthie Book Outstanding Staff Team Member Award
The award ceremony appreciates the time and effort put in by all the nominators to recognize their fellow students, staff, and faculty in preparing the nomination packages. The awards committee would like to applaud ALL the nominators for their dedication to growing the excellence in the College of Computing.
