Selected Student and Alumni Achievements

Tufts engineering students and alumni are changing the world — and beyond, with some work extending into space — through service, research, careers in industry, and more.

Alumni: Bill Edgerton (CEE) received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Underground Construction Association in recognition of his impact across a 50-year career in construction. Thomas Coons, Christopher Simotas, and Brian Barrows (all ME) worked with a team from Tufts’ Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine to fine-tune a new tool for equine health that they first developed as a senior design project in Associate Professor Kristen Wendell’s class.

James Kaklamanos (CEE) received a 2021 USUCGER Early Career Educator Award in recognition of his demonstrated excellence in teaching as a faculty member at Merrimack College. Y.A. Liu (ChBE) was honored by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers for innovation in green process engineering.

Students: In recognition of their outstanding academic achievement, campus and community participation, and leadership, Amma Agyei (BME), Emma Downey (BME), and Olif Soboka Hordofa (ME) received Tufts Senior Awards. Arrietty Bui (BME), Kyla Levin (ChBE), Tue Nguyen (ME), and Deepti Srinivasan (BME) were named Tufts Laidlaw Scholars, pursuing funded research projects over the course of two consecutive summers. Avis Carrero (CEE) received a Tufts Presidential Award for his work promoting and supporting communities underrepresented in STEM fields.

Evana Gizzi (CS) developed artificial intelligence software to help NASA repair spacecraft faster and more efficiently. René LaPointe Jameson (CEE) delivered the 2022 Wendell Phillips Address at the Baccalaureate Ceremony. She was the sole undergraduate student selected to speak at 2022 Commencement events, and was only the third engineering major to be chosen for the annual honor since 1988.

Rachel McGinn (BME), Sarah Radway (CS and The Fletcher School), and Jessica Rosendorf (ME) were named Fellows of the 2022 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, which awards exceptional graduate students nationwide. Christopher Nguyen (BME) received an Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship from SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. Farakh Zaman’s (ME) research was recognized by the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society with the Virtual Environments Technical Group Best Student Paper Award.

James Kaklamanos

Evana Gizzi