On Wednesday, May 12, the USC Viterbi School of Engineering celebrated the achievements of its Class of 2021 students at the annual USC Viterbi Undergraduate Awards.
Over 240 attendees — including students, their families and friends and Viterbi faculty — gathered for the online ceremony. Students were recognized for their impressive academic accomplishments, their commitment to positively impacting the surrounding community through service and outreach and their excellence in leadership.
USC Viterbi Dean Yannis C. Yortsos shared his pride over the grit and resilience exemplified by the Class of 2021, even in the midst of a deadly global pandemic.
“I am very pleased to say that the graduating Viterbi class of 2021 is spectacularly equipped not only to deal with today’s unprecedented disruption,” Yortsos said, “but more importantly, to inspire, innovate and lead in the universe unfolding in front of us; to engineer a better world for all humanity, a goal more urgently needed than ever before.”
University-Wide Awards
Renaissance Scholar Prize
Yinghui (Linda) He
Sheetal Madnani
University Trustees Award
Jacob Toney
USC Provost’s Award
Philip Jung
Zhengyu Yang
Discovery Scholar Prize
Zane Durante
Emma Josephine Bradley Bovard Award
Katrina Chandra
Lindsey Marks
Schwarzman Scholars Program
Benjamin Jia-An Ma
Goldwater Scholarship
Zane Durante
Astronaut Scholarship
Zane Durante
Salutatorian
Ashwin Bhumbla
National Science Foundation – Graduate Research Fellowships Program
Diana LaFollette
USC Viterbi-Wide Awards
RESEARCH AWARDS
Viterbi Award for Outstanding Research
Zane Durante
COMMUNITY AWARDS
Center for Engineering Diversity Award
Helen Salinas
Viterbi Award for Women in Engineering
Stephanie Thrift
Viterbi Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Transfer Student
Carlos Acosta
Gary Norris Promise Award
Vihan Krishnan
SERVICE AWARDS
Viterbi Community Impact Award
Connor Powers
Spencer Powers
Neighborhood Service Award
Rhys Richmond
LEADERSHIP AWARDS
Viterbi Award for Outstanding Achievement in Leadership
Hannah Mulroe
Albert Dorman Valedictorian Scholar Award
Jacob Toney
Albert Dorman Future Leader Award
Dominie Miyasato
Albert Dorman Grand Challenge Scholar Award
Robert Sutherland
Viterbi Student Ambassador of the Year
Sheetal Madnani
Viterbi Award for Outstanding Student Organization
Society of Women Engineers
Viterbi Award for Best Design Team
AeroDesign Team of USC
BEST RESEARCH PAPER
First Place: “Bioinspired Catalysis of C-H Hydroxylation: A Computational Approach”
Jacob Toney
Second Place: “Converting Wasted Heat to Electrical Energy: The Emergence of Thermoelectrical Generators”
Jason Trang
Third Place: “FloraVision: Identifying Native California Plants through Machine Learning, A Commercialization Plan”
Roopal Kondepudi
BEST ANALYTICAL/EXPOSITORY ESSAY
First Place: “Engineering Ethics: Grand Challenges and Grander Responsibilities”
Jacob Toney
Second Place: “The Ethics of Implementing Renewable Technologies”
Jason Trang
Third Place: “Ethics of Commercial Genomic Sequencing and Analysis”
Gina Yang
Departmental Awards
USC Viterbi Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Eyre Associates Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Miles Kay
Arpad Kovesdy
The Tony Maxworthy Award for Analytical and Experimental Elegance
Brandon Chong
Daniel Wang
Aaron Ginoza
Kyle Chiu
Alexander Rulke
John Laufer Memorial Prize for Outstanding Achievement
Miles Kay
Miranda Costigan
Criss Edwards
Emma Roberson
The Bleeker Award for Superb Craftsmanship
Patrick Valadez
Steven Douglass
Student Achievement Award for Outstanding Ingenuity and Performance
Tyler Presser
Elliott Hoppe
William Alpert
Nicholas Ilibasic
Arpad Kovesdy
Cameron Spence
Justin Mendelson
Samuel Noy
Hansung Kim
Patrice Nguyen
Lucy Pan
Sean Won
USC Viterbi Department of Astronautical Engineering
Ad Astra Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement
Samuel Noy
Astronautics Faculty Award for Student Achievement
Lauren Potterat
USC Viterbi Department of Biomedical Engineering
Fred S. Grodins Award for Academic Excellence
Kimberly Larson
AMI Award for Academic Excellence by a Junior in Biomedical Engineering
Arjun Aron
AMI Award for Outstanding Research in Biomedical Engineering
Chelsea Mariano
AMI Award for Design Innovation in Biomedical Engineering
Chris Martinez
Olivia Pereira
Michael Peterson
Alana Stein
AMI Award for Leadership in Biomedical Engineering
Dominie Miyasato
Andrew Yock
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science
Lyman L. Handy Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement in Petroleum Engineering
Dylan Chennault
Charles J. Rebert Chemical Engineering Outstanding Student Award
Jacob Toney
Kruthi Annigeri
Ronald G. Minet Award for Best Design Project
Kruthi Annigeri
Diana LaFollette
Goldie Roth
Juliana Tichota
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
David M. Wilson Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Civil Engineering
Douglas Graham Drennan
Matthew Hoge
David M. Wilson Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Environmental Engineering
Christina Najm
USC Viterbi Department of Computer Science
Computer Science Outstanding Student Award
Katrina Bianca Chandra
Philip Jung
Zhengyu Yang
Tong Zhi
Juliette Paule Magdeleine Chirol Hill
Ashwin Bhumbla
Shreya Parag Havaldar
Yinghui He
Mingze Yao
Jincheng Zhou
Computer Engineering/Computer Science Outstanding Student Award
Mingyu Cui
Yizhou Sheng
Computer Science (Games) Outstanding Student Award
Nianxu Wang
Computer Science/Business Outstanding Student Award
Vikash A Mody
Gabrielle Sinacola
Computer Science Outstanding Service Award
Radhika Agrawal
Shreya Parag Havaldar
Computer Science Award for Outstanding Research
Kartik Dhananjay Mahajan
Samuel Alexander Atcheson
Benjamin Jia-An Ma
Zane Durante
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering
Philip S. Biegler Memorial Award For Outstanding Achievement
Yubin Lin
Ming Hsieh Institute Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award
Yubin Li
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Student of the Year
Allison Zubeck
Outstanding Achievement in Leadership
Hannah Mulroe
Capstone Design Award
Astha Aggarwal
Frederick Rio
Winter Valent
Ata Yavuzer
Allison Zubeck
Published on May 19th, 2021
Last updated on May 19th, 2021