Graduate students and faculty mentors honored at the Graduate School's 2024 awards reception
Students and faculty were honored at the Graduate School’s annual awards reception in late March. Held during Graduate Education Week, with its theme of recognizing superpowers, the event 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 excellence awards, and outstanding dissertation and thesis awards. Outstanding master’s degree and Ph.D. students chosen by each college received honors, as did faculty members chosen by the colleges.
The work of many of the award winners focused on the research they have done or are engaged in at Virginia Tech, or on teaching students in classes across the university’s programs.
Student of the year and service awards
- Graduate Student of the Year: Roan Parrish, Ph.D. student, science, technology, and society, College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
- Graduate Service Excellence Award: Jiayuan Dong, Ph.D. student, industrial and systems engineering, College of Engineering
Thesis and dissertation awards
- Outstanding Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Dissertation Award: Yuxin Zhang, chemistry, College of Science
- Outstanding Social Sciences, Business, Education, and Humanities (SSBEH) Dissertation Awards: Tanya Mitropoulos, psychology, College of Science
- Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award, STEM: Shivani Goyal, psychology, College of Science
- Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award, SSBEH: Maguette Sembene, agriculture and applied economics, College of Agriculture and Animal Sciences
Teaching awards
- Teaching Excellence Instructor of Record Award: Reed Byg, Ph.D., political science, College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
- Teaching Excellence Assistant Award: Adam McNeeley, Ph.D., chemical engineering, College of Engineering
Outstanding doctoral degree students
- College of Agriculture and Life Sciences: Kayla Farrell, School of Animal Science
- College of Architecture, Arts, and Design: Christine Kelley, architecture
- College of Engineering: Neeti Gandhi, chemical engineering.
- College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences: Kulyash Zhumadilova, science, technology, and society
- College of Natural Resources and Environment: Nicholas Corline, forest resources and environmental conservation
- College of Science: Abigail Lewis, biological sciences
- Pamplin College of Business: Charis Tucker, hospitality and tourism management
- Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine: Pallavi Rai, biomedical and veterinary science
- Interdisciplinary doctoral student: Erin Nuckols, environmental design and planning in the College of Engineering and the bio-inspired buildings interdisciplinary program
Outstanding master's degree students
- College of Agriculture and Life Sciences: Kate Albi, biological systems engineering
- College of Architecture, Arts, and Design: Diksha Pilania, architecture
- College of Engineering: Ayden Cohn, mechanical engineering
- College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences: Mahmut Sami Gurdal, human development and family science
- College of Natural Resources and Environment: Indunil Dharmasiri, geography
- College of Science: Julia Shapiro, mathematics
- Pamplin College of Business: Shannon Lawrence-Montes, business administration
- Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine: Sai Navya Vadlamudi, biomedical and veterinary science
Outstanding faculty mentors
- College of Agriculture and Life Sciences: Associate Professor Donna Westfall-Rudd, agricultural, leadership, and community education
- College of Architecture, Arts, and Design: Professor Susan Piedmont-Palladino, architecture
- College of Engineering: Professor Emily Sarver, mining and minerals engineering
- College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences: Assistant Professor Rebecca Hester, science, technology, and society
- College of Natural Resources and Environment: Associate Professor William Mark Ford, fish and wildlife conservation
- College of Science: Professor Sophia Economou, physics
- Pamplin College of Business: Associate Professor Idris Adjerid, business information technology
- Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine: Professor Kylene Kehn-Hall, biomedical and veterinary science
For more information about the awards, visit the Graduate School’s awards and honors webpage.
