Roundup: EECS student awards, prizes and fellowships, 2018-2019

EECS PhD candidate Arman Rezaee, who received MIT’s 2019 Collier Medal, was among many EECS students honored over the past year.  (L to R) MIT Police Captain Craig Martin, Rezaee, MIT Police Chief John DiFava, and MIT President L. Rafael Reif. Photo: Justin Knight.

EECS Staff

EECS undergraduates and graduate students regularly win major scholarships, fellowships, and awards. Following is a sampling of EECS student honors from the 2018-2019 academic year.

30 Under 30 Asia: EECS PhD student Nelson X. Wang was named to the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list in the Industry, Manufacturing, and Energy category.

Burchard Scholars: Several EECS majors are among 36 MIT undergraduates selected as 2019 Burchard Scholars. The program, run by the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS), brings together MIT faculty and promising MIT sophomores and juniors who have demonstrated excellence in some aspect of SHASS fields for seminars and discussions. EECS Burchard Scholars include: Fiona Chen, Isabelle Chong, Patricia Gao, Robert Henning, Catherine Huang, Natasha Joglekar, Tara Liu, Erica Weng, Isabelle Yen, and Yiwei Zhu.

Collier Medal: EECS PhD candidate Arman Rezaee received MIT’s 2019 Collier Medal, which celebrates an individual or group whose actions demonstrate the importance of community. The award honors the memory of MIT Officer Sean Collier, shot and killed on campus during the manhunt for suspects following the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013.

Fulbright Fellowships: Four EECS students were among 12 MIT students who received 2019 Fulbright U.S. Student Fellowships. All will spend the 2019-2020 academic year in research or teaching assignments for studying, teaching, or conducting research in other countries. EECS recipients include Annamaria Bair ’18, MEng ’19; Abigail Bertics ’18; Miranda McClellan ’18, MEng ’19; and Samira Okudo ’18.

Google PhD Fellowships: Two EECS students received 2019 Google PhD Fellowships. Amy Greene ’14, SM ’16 received the Google Fellowship in Quantum Computing, while Shibani Santurkar SM ’17 received the Google Fellowship in Machine Learning.

Hertz Fellowship: First-year EECS PhD student Dylan Cable was among 11 scholars from nine U.S. research universities selected for a 2019 Hertz Research Fellowship from the nonprofit Fannie and John Hertz Foundation. Fellowship recipients receive up to $250,000 for up to five years.

Imperial College Exchange: Four EECS undergraduates were selected to participate in the new MIT-Imperial Academic Exchange program, allowing them to study at Imperial College London for the spring and summer 2019 terms. They are: Lily Bailey, Michael Hiebert, Dain Kim, and Chase Warren.

Siebel Scholars: Five EECS graduate students are among 96 worldwide chosen for the Siebel Scholars Class of 2019. Each will receive a $35,000 award to cover the final year of graduate study. The 2019 EECS Siebel Scholars include Nichole Clarke ’18, MEng ’19; Logan Engstrom ’19, MEng ’19; Alireza Fallah SM ’19; James Mawdsley ’18, MEng ’19; and Andrew Mullen ’17, MEng ’19.

Soros Fellowship: Helen Zhou ’17, MEng ’18, and current PhD student Jonathan Zong were among just 30 people nationwide to receive 2019 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. The awards are for U.S. immigrants or children of immigrants, based on their potential to make significant contributions to U.S. society, culture, or academia. They will receive up to $90,000 apiece to fund their doctoral educations.

Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship: EECS graduate student Joana M. F. da Trindade was among 10 students nationwide who received a 2019 Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship. The prestigious fellowships cover tuition and fees for two academic years and provide a $42,000 stipend to help with living expenses and conference travel. Recipients also receive invitations to interview for salaried research internships and to attend the PhD Summit at Microsoft.

MIT School of Engineering Graduate Student Extraordinary Teaching and Mentoring Award: Omer Tanovic, PhD ’19, received this award from the School of Engineering in November 2018 for outstanding work as a teaching student and graduate instructor.

In addition, EECS presented awards to a variety of students at the annual EECS Celebrates ceremony in May 2019.

Send additions or changes to eecs-awards@mit.edu. For a list of awards from the 2019-2020 academic year, please see this more recent roundup. Please send news about EECS student awards to eecs-awards@mit.edu.