Student Achievements

Bailey Banach, a Ph.D. student in bioengineering, won first place in KU’s Three Minute Thesis competition for her presentation titled “The World’s Smallest Game of Chess: Engineering Antibody Proteins.”

Bioengineering Ph.D. student Aparna Chakravarti received a one-year, $20,000 fellowship from the American Association of University Women.

Architectural engineering major Toni Englund was named a University Scholar and received a $1,500 scholarship from KU.

Darene Essa, a junior in mechanical engineering, was one of 15 KU students selected to the university’s Global Scholars Program, which recognizes students for their demonstrated interest in global and international studies and potential for high academic achievement and leadership.

Civil engineering major Grace Ewell was named a University Scholar and received a $1,500 scholarship from KU.

Erika Ibarra, a recent graduate in electrical engineering and computer science, received a $2,000 scholarship from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE) Power and Energy Society Scholarship Plus Initiative.

Pamela Johnson, graduate student in chemical and petroleum engineering, was selected as an American Chemical Society Chemical Abstracts Service Future Leader.

Electrical engineering and computer science graduate student Christian C. Jones won second place in the 2020 IEEE International Radar Conference Student Paper Competition. Jones’ paper was also a top five finalist for the Best Paper Award at the 2019 IEEE Radar Conference in Toulon, France. Brittany Kracht, a recent graduate in civil engineering, received a $1,000 scholarship from the Kansas Chapter of the American Public Works Association.

Hao Liu, a Ph.D. student in geotechnical engineering, received a $5,000 fellowship from the Geosynthetics Institute for his research proposal “Internal Reinforcement of Abutment Backfill to Mitigate Bumps at the End of Integral Bridges.”

2020 environmental science master’s degree graduate Chelsea Linvill received the J. Lloyd Barron Award.

Charles Mohr, a Ph.D. student in electrical engineering, took second place in the Student Paper Competition at the 2019 IEEE Radar Conference.

Abby Percich, an undergraduate student who works in a lab in civil, environmental and architectural engineering, won the KU 2020 Student Employee of the Year Award.

Sal Rahmani, doctoral student in aerospace engineering, received honors during the 17th annual Capitol Graduate Research Summit in Topeka for the project “Reduction of Supersonic Jet Noise by Modifying the Nozzle Exit Geometry.”

2020 environmental engineering master’s degree graduate Stacy Tinner received the Bruce W. Long Scholarship.

Swarnagowri Vaidyanathan, a doctoral student in bioengineering, received honors during the 17th annual Capitol Graduate Research Summit in Topeka for the project “Development of Nanofluidic Device for Detecting Cancer.”

Karen Vazquez, a senior in civil, environmental and architectural engineering, was awarded a $34,000 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Students from KU earned honors in two competitions at the ASCE Geo-Institute National Student Competition in February in Minneapolis. A team formed by civil engineering Ph.D. student Sarah Morton Rupert and visiting students Chen Chen and Fengjuan Tao won first place in the GeoVideo competition. Tanya Walkenbach won the GeoShirt award for the second straight year. Engineering students Chenhui Liu, Dawson Rooney and Jarrett Zeliff are among the six KU students selected to be on the inaugural varsity Jayhawk Esports team.

A team of KU Engineering students qualified for nationals after winning a regional “traffic bowl” competition in June 2019. “This was a huge win for all of us,” Nikhila Gunda, third from left, holding trophy, said after KU won the Midwestern District Traffic Bowl, sponsored by the Institute of Transportation Engineers. KU previously won the regional competition in 2009, 2011 and 2014. The regional win qualified KU for ITE’s grand championship, where eight other regional champions — including one from Canada — also participated. The University of Texas-Austin was named grand champion.