Graduate School honors students, faculty, and staff at annual awards reception
The Graduate School honored students and faculty, and staff at its annual awards reception on March 27.
The event was held during Graduate Education Week and recognized master’s and doctoral degree students as well as faculty mentors from across Virginia Tech’s campuses and programs for their work.
Award winners included the graduate students of the year and students who received the service excellence award, graduate teaching assistance excellence awards, and outstanding dissertation and thesis awards. Outstanding master’s degree and Ph.D. students, and faculty members chosen by each college received honors. Their award-winning work focused on research they have done or are engaged in at Virginia Tech or on teaching students in classes across the university’s programs. The Graduate School also launched a new award honoring an outstanding advisor or mentor who significantly assisted students as they pursued their degrees.
Student of the year and service awards
- Graduate Students of the Year: Tolupe Odimayomi, Ph.D., civil and environmental engineering, College of Engineering
- Graduate Service Excellence Award: Jacob Robinson, Ph.D., sociology, College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Thesis and dissertation awards
- Outstanding STEM Dissertation Award: Nathaniel Esteves, biological sciences, College of Science
- Outstanding Social Sciences, Business, Education, and Humanities (SSBEH) Dissertation Award: Malle Schilling, engineering education, College of Engineering
- Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award, STEM: Logan Benninghoff, physics, College of Science
- Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award, SSBEH: Stephanie Pham,psychology, College of Science
Teaching awards
- Graduate Teaching Assistant Instructor of Record Excellence Award: Erin Drolet, Ph.D., biochemistry, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
- Graduate Teaching Assistant Excellence Award: Meagan Sweet, biological sciences, College of Science
Outstanding doctoral degree students
- College of Agriculture and Life Sciences: Navdeep Godara, plant and environmental sciences
- College of Architecture, Arts, and Design: Tianming Zhao, architecture
- College of Engineering: Tolulope Odimayomi, civil and environmental engineering
- College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences: Savannah Mandel, science and technology studies
- College of Natural Resources and Environment: Abasali Masoumi, sustainable biomaterials
- College of Science: Ainul Huda, neuroscience
- Pamplin College of Business: Sara Easterwood, finance
- Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine: Charlotte Nyblade, biomedical sciences and pathobiology
- Interdisciplinary doctoral student: Kelsey King, genetics, bioinformatics, and computational biology
Outstanding master's degree students
- College of Agriculture and Life Sciences: Juan Romero, plant and environmental sciences
- College of Architecture, Arts, and Design: Megan Wysocki, architecture
- College of Engineering: Emma Oare, biological systems engineering
- College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences: Elena Roe, political science
- College of Natural Resources and Environment: Chrishma Perera, geography
- College of Science: Alison Tobar-Santamaria, psychology
- Pamplin College of Business: Sally Steppling, business administration
- Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine: Mahfuzul Islam, biomedical sciences and pathobiology
Outstanding Advising/Mentoring Award, A/P faculty and staff
- Rabeya Rahman, assistant director, information technology, Pamplin College of Business
Outstanding faculty mentors
- College of Agriculture and Life Sciences: Associate Professor Justin Lemkul, biochemistry
- College of Architecture, Arts, and Design: Assistant Professor Nate King, School of Visual Arts
- College of Engineering: Assistant Professor Chris Brown, computer science
- College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences: Associate Professor Matthew Fullen, School of Education
- College of Natural Resources and Environment: Associate Professor Thomas Adam Coates, forest resources and environmental conservation
- College of Science: Professor Birgit Sharf, biological sciences
For more information about the awards, visit the Graduate School’s awards and honors webpage.