Student Awards and Recognition

Our students are among the best on the world, and are regularly recognized with honors from departments, our college, the university, and beyond. 

Colorado Engineering Council (CEC) Silver Medal Award

Each year, the Colorado Engineering Council awards the Silver Medal to a student at each of the state’s engineering colleges. The award is based on research skills, academic performance, and service, and is based on nominations from departments within the college and subsequent interviews with candidates.

2022 nominees

electrical engineering senior Kori Eliaz has held three internships with Lockheed Martin
Kori Eliaz – Electrical Engineering
Portrait photo of Carissa Vos, Mechanical Engineering student
Carissa Vos – Mechanical Engineering

Previous winners and nominees

Winner:
Nick Daly, Computer Engineering

Nominees:
Katherine Ascough, Civil Engineering; Brianna Bartlett, Engineering Science; Isabella Brandes, Chemical and Biological Engineering; William Brandt, Electrical Engineering; Delaney Galvan, Environmental Engineering; Mallory Knudsen, Biomedical Engineering & Mechanical Engineering; Sydney McDonald, Mechanical Engineering

Winner:
Caitlin Robinson, Mechanical Engineering

Nominees:
Gillian Fahey, Electrical Engineering; Kyle Howe, Chemical & Biological Engineering; Joseph Keaveny, Environmental Engineering; David Kimmey, Biomedical Engineering + ME; Amanda Merkley, Computer Engineering; Susan Ossareh, Engineering Science; Daniel Sanchez, Civil Engineering

Winner:
Katie Jordan, Chemical and Biological Engineering

Nominees:
Tyler Daniel, Biomedical Engineering + CBE; Nicole Nasi, Civil Engineering; Mitch Hawkins, Computer Engineering; Bassem Faour, Electrical Engineering; Stefan Strutz, Engineering Science; Joey Sinclair, Environmental Engineering; Ray Huff, Mechanical Engineering

Winner:
Hannah Mikelson, Biomedical Engineering;

Nominees:
Joseph Staver, Chemical & Biological Engineering; Kristen Wells, Civil Engineering; Chris Retzlaff, Computer Engineering; Forest Kunkel, Electrical Engineering; Alex Cecil, Engineering Science; Megan Scott, Environmental Engineering; Marco Peyfuss, Mechanical Engineering

2022 Celebrate Undergraduate Research and Creativity Showcase (CURC)

CURC  features more than 200 posters spotlighting undergraduate research from all eight colleges. Engineering students listed below received recognition for their work. 

John O’Donnell-Sloan
Impact of Environmental Factors on Antigen Test Accuracy

Sydney Alderfer
Examining Inclusive Science Communication Training as a Tool to Support Historically Disadvantaged STEM Students

Dominic Dallago
Life Cycle and Techno-Economic Comparison of EV Charging Systems

Jenna Stubbers
A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Conventional and Local Outdoor Lettuce Production Systems

Cavin Alderfer
Analyzing Groundwater Storage Trends in the United States from 1951-2020

2023 CSU Demo Day

More than 300 students, faculty and other community members gathered in the Colorado State University Lory Student Center Ballroom April 18 for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Day, where winners of CSU Demo Day were announced.

For the first time, the celebration combined CSU Demo Day and the Venture RAMS Business Showcase in a joint effort of CSU STRATA and the Institute for Entrepreneurship in the College of Business, to highlight innovations originating from students and faculty across the entire CSU community.

Emilio Molina Rueda – third-year doctoral student in mechanical engineering

“The AirPen: A Wearable Monitor for Particulate Matter and Volatile Organic Compounds”

Main presenter: Elizabeth Steinike – fifth-year undergraduate student in biomedical and mechanical engineering

Spencer Kapayo, Katie Evans, Drew Rackow, Roberto Ortega, Su Nguyen, Heather Young

“Canine Exoskeleton for Rehabilitation”

Main presenter: Sydney Spiegel – undergraduate research assistant in mechanical engineering

“Tensegrity Wheels for Small All-Terrain Robots”

2022 E-Days and Department Awards

During E-Days each year, and during the following weeks, engineering departments recognize the accomplishments of their students with awards and honors, listed below.

Scott Scholars are denoted with an asterisk.

Herbert Riehl Memorial Award

Kevin Yang

Alumni Award

Ting-Yu Cha

Atmospheric Science Awards Page

Outstanding Sophomore – for outstanding achievement in the sophomore classes 
Zach Mouton 
Caroline Loewecke 
Amanda Mohrlang 

Outstanding Junior – for outstanding achievement in the junior classes 
EmmaKate Raisley 
John (Jack) O’Donnell-Sloan  
Sebastian Lawton 
Kalyn Kosmiski 
Mary Skillicorn 
Nick Chastain 

Outstanding Senior – for outstanding achievement in the senior classes 
Lauren Robertson 
Allison Shad  – Goldwater receipient 
Abigail Fennell  
Ethan Green  
Alaa Eldeiry  

Professional Involvement 
Michelle Hefner  
Kate Boyd  

Research Excellence 
Hayley Ma  
Sara Dmytriw  

Academic Excellence 
Hannah Park  
Julia Friederich  

Green and Gold 
Sydney Alderfer  

Outstanding Civil Engineer of the Future Award:

Michael Berg

Civil Engineering Achievement Award:

Lily Drum-Parce

Civil Engineering Student Leadership Award:

Brady Durham

Environmental Engineering Achievement Award:

Emma Adams

Outstanding Environmental Engineer of the Future Award:

Casey Johnston

Environmental Engineering Student Leadership Award:

Priya Bhowmik

Ralph Parshall Award:

David Thormodsgard

This award is given to a civil engineering senior with an outstanding record and professional interest in hydraulics, hydrology, water resources or environmental engineering.

Top E-Days Projects for ECE

#1: Regenerative Braking Electric Skateboard
https://projects-web.engr.colostate.edu/ece-sr-design/AY21/skateboard/
Fawzi Al Hadrab
Ryan Hawkins
Brendan DeJonge
Brad George

#2 Electric GoKart
https://projects-web.engr.colostate.edu/ece-sr-design/AY21/GoKart/
Rico Barela
Nikola Durand
Andrew Groeling
Ryan Guidice
Vani Kapoor
David Neitenbach
Matt Gilmore

#3 Emulation of Aerospace Actuation Systems
https://projects-web.engr.colostate.edu/ece-sr-design/AY21/actuation/
Jacob Dorsett
Kori Eliaz
Dylan Gaub

Best by Underclass Award

RamBOTs
https://csurambots.github.io/about/
Kristopher Alquist
Oscar Coronado Rosales
Jarred Davis
Craig Olson
Devin Pohl
Ritwik Vadapally
Thomas Veldhuizen
Taro Gwyn
Alex Kolodzik

Best Professor Awards

Dr. Jim Cale
Dr. Mario Marconi

Outstanding Engineering Science Student

Brianna Bartlett

Outstanding Biomedical Engineering Junior Researcher

Abigail Fennell

Outstanding Biomedical Engineering Junior Researcher

Chole Brekhus

Outstanding Biomedical Engineering Senior Researcher

Nathan Waanders

Outstanding Biomedical and Chemical & Biological Engineering Academic & Research Achievement

Sydney Alderfer

Outstanding Biomedical and Electrical Engineering Academic Achievement

Macklin Harrington

Outstanding Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering Academic Achievement and Service

Ethan Barron

School of Biomedical Engineering Passion to Purpose

Peter Lohrisch

Outstanding Biomedical Engineering Service

Sarah Verderame

SBME Leadership and Innovation

Joyce Bohn

Outstanding Project 2021-2022

  • James Kirwan
  • Steve Shudy

Outstanding Thesis 2021-2022

Athul Krishna Sundarrajan

Outstanding Dissertation 2021-2022

  • Paulo Younse
  • Aleksandra Scalco

Other Department Awards

2020-2021 Tau Beta Pi Scholarship

Kira Cunniff

Gradshow Awards

The Graduate Student Showcase awards recognize excellence in research, creativity, and entrepreneurship in a variety of categories, presented by the college, Graduate School, and the Office of the Vice President for Research.

2022 Awards

Excellence in Research Awards

The Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering Excellence in Research Awards is sponsored by the College. Congratulations to the following three recipients of these awards:

  • Jacob DeRoo, School of Biomedical Engineering
  • Sam Winston, Mechanical Engineering
  • Kevin Barry, Atmospheric Science

CSU STRATA – Drivers of Innovation

  • Platinum award
    • Ming-Hao Cheng, Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Silver award
    • Nipa Khair, School of Advanced Materials Discovery

Great Minds in Research

  • 1st place
    • Emma Rettner, School of Advanced Materials Discovery
  • Honorable Mention
    • Abby Otten, School of Advanced Materials Discovery
    • Sohaib Habiballah, Chemical and Biological Engineering
    • Daniel Sanchez, Civil and Environmental Engineering
    • Abhishek Bhattacharjee, School of Advanced Materials Discovery

Graduate Student Council – New Graduate Student

  • Research Top Scholar
    • Carter Dojan, School of Advanced Materials Discovery

Winners from previous years

The Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering Excellence in Research Awards is sponsored by the College. Congratulations to the following three recipients of these awards:

  • Abdo Elsayed Soliman – Mechanical Engineering
  • Austin Banks – Mechanical Engineering
  • Tracey Wick – Biomedical Engineering

The Drivers of Innovation: The CSU Ventures Awards highlight the leading edge of the most innovative research originating from CSU research. Awardees in this category have presented innovative research capable of solving commercial needs that benefit society. Additionally, the awardees have demonstrated a solid capability to communicate their science clearly as well as a superior ability to visually represent their research in a manner that is accessible to all audiences.

  • Iman Naseri – Mechanical Engineering

Research Top Scholar for the New Graduate Student Award

  • Lisa Wang, Civil and Environmental Engineering, “Effect of Building Wind-Retrofit Strategies on Socio-economic Community-Level Resilience Metrics.”

Research Top Scholar for the Undergraduate Choice Award

  • Avpreet Othee, Systems Engineering, “A Modeling Framework for Electrical Distributions Containing Harmonic Producing Loads.”

CSU Ventures Drivers of Innovation – Platinum award

  • Peter Chen, Mechanical Engineering, “Assessment of Plant Waste as a Mixotrophic Algae Substrate”
  • Mo Hussein, Systems Engineering, “System for Grocery Shopping Recommendations Based on One’s Health Profiles”

CSU Ventures Drivers of Innovation – Silver award

Diego Bernardi Bestel, Mechanical Engineering, “Development of a High-Efficiency Ultra-Low Emissions Heavy-Duty Natural Gas Engine.”

Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering – Excellence in Research

  • Audrey Beattie, Mechanical Engineering: “A Probabilistic Economic and Environmental Evaluation of Biofuel from Cyanobacteria”
  • Marija Krunic, Systems Engineering: “Keeping Public Restrooms COVID19 Free: Cell Phone Sanitizer and Charger”
  • Morteza Ziaee, Mechanical Engineering: “Advanced Manufacturing of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites”

Great Minds in Research

1st Place, Katie DeRose, Mechanical Engineering

2nd Place, Abdelrahman Abdallah, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Honorable Mention

Audrey Beattie, Mechanical Engineering
Jimmy Johnson, Mechanical Engineering
Hailey Summers, Mechanical Engineering

CSU Ventures Drivers of Innovation – Platinum award

Mitchell Page, Mechanical Engineering

Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering – Excellence in Research

Sohaib Habiballah – Chemical and Biological Engineering
Sid Jain – School of Biomedical Engineering
Tara Wigmosta – School of Biomedical Engineering

Great Minds in Research 

1st Place, Mohammadhasan Hedayati, Chemical and Biological Engineering

Honorable Mention, Katie DeRose, Mechanical Engineering

College of Business Sustainability Award

Evan Sproul, Mechanical Engineering

Founder’s Award

Michael Nguyen-Truong – School of Biomedical Engineering

Undergraduate Choice – Research Top Scholar

Matthew Cackovic, Chemical and Biological Engineering

Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering – Excellence in Research

Faith Groff – Atmospheric Science
Marissa Karpack – Civil and Environmental Engineering
KC Young – Civil and Environmental Engineering

Great Minds in Research 

1st Place, Mohammadhasan Hedayati, Chemical and Biological Engineering

Honorable Mention

Jessica Baker, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Andrea Jenney, Atmospheric Science

Undergraduate Choice – Research Top Scholar

Yusra Obeidat, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering – Excellence in Research

Nicole Opalinski, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Naufal Razin, Atmospheric Science
Blake Fullenwider, Mechanical Engineering