On April 10, the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) held its 17th annual Roger P. Webb Awards Program, which honors the students, staff, and faculty who have shown exceptional dedication to their professions and studies.

Event hosts were Leslie Sibert (BEE ’85), vice president for Grid Edge Technology and Development at Southern Company, and Gina DeSimone (MSEE ’82), vice president of Division Operations (retired) from The Boeing Company.

Students and faculty receiving awards and recognitions at the Georgia Tech Faculty/Staff Honors Luncheon, Women in Engineering Awards Banquet, Faculty & Staff Service Recognition Luncheon, Sigma Xi Awards Banquet, and Georgia Tech Student Honors Celebration were also recognized.

ECE Outstanding GTA Award winners were also recognized for awards they would receive at the Eta Kappa Nu Spring Picnic on April 13; they were Aravind Balasubramanian, Gad Ilunga, Sizhuang Liang, Akshay Nagendra, and Bige Deniz Unluturk. ECE Academic Advisor Tristin Carmichael was recognized for his upcoming graduation with an Ed.D. in Leadership (concentrating in Higher Education Leadership) from Valdosta State University.

Below are the recipients of the 2018 Roger P. Webb Awards. Congratulations to everyone on another fantastic year!

Student Awards

Outstanding ECE Sophomore Award                                           

Ranveer Uppal

Eta Kappa Nu, the honor society for ECE, recognizes the electrical or computer engineering student who is in their second year and who has the highest scholastic average.

ECE Junior Scholar Award                                                            

Cameron Pepe

This award is presented to the student who is in their third year and who has the highest GPA in ECE.

ECE Undergraduate Research Award                                           

Jake Smith

This award recognizes an undergraduate student who has demonstrated an unusually strong aptitude for research.

Most Outstanding ECE Senior Co-op Award                  

Connor Zachary Napolitano

This award is presented to the ECE senior co-op student who is considered of the highest caliber by his/her co-op employer.

Outstanding Service to Georgia’s Community Award               

Angelique McCoy

Investing time in community activities can have significant rewards for Georgia Tech in the future, and recognizing students who participate in and organize such activities helps to motivate other students to do the same.

ECE Faculty Award                                                                         

Hiba Murali

This award is given to the electrical or computer engineering student who, in the opinion of the ECE faculty, has done the most to improve the educational environment within ECE or Georgia Tech and has contributed significantly to both student welfare and student-faculty interactions.

Outstanding Electrical Engineering Senior Award                    

Jake Smith

Eta Kappa Nu, the honor society for ECE, recognizes the senior electrical engineering student who has a very high scholastic average and who plays an active role in extracurricular activities.

Outstanding Computer Engineering Senior Award                   

Darshan Patel

Eta Kappa Nu, the honor society for ECE, recognizes the senior computer engineering student who has a very high scholastic average and who plays an active role in extracurricular activities.

ECE Senior Scholar Award                        

Jason Bick, Ari Bleemer, Jason T. Calvert, Vincent Ceyssens, Alizain D. Charania, Rachel Clark, Jeremy P. Feltracco, Douglas Grosch, Zixi (Jack) Huang, Benjamin Lazar, Grayson Noah, Kartik Prabhu, Alexander Saad-Falcon, Carlos Tallard, Jeffrey Wu Teng, Micah Wells, Michael Yu, Siyan Yu, Ruo Zhang, Jeffrey Zhao, Danial Zuberi

These awards are given to the electrical or computer engineering senior(s) with the highest academic average.

Colonel Oscar P. Cleaver Award                                                   

Rui Zhang, Nujhat Tasneem

These awards are made to the outstanding graduate students in ECE, as determined by scores made on the doctoral preliminary examinations during 2017-18.

ECE Graduate Teaching Assistant Excellence Award                

Richard Connor Lawson, Chunmeng Xu

Teaching undergraduates is one of ECE’s most important missions. Teaching assistants are necessary to ensure that every student has the opportunity for personal attention during their course of study.

ECE Graduate Research Assistant Excellence Award                

Sean Rodrigues, Saeed Zeinolabedinzadeh

Research is the cornerstone to ECE’s success. Nurturing bright and hardworking graduate research assistants (GRAs) are among the most important factors in ensuring that ECE remains a leader in the research community. These awards will be given to the GRAs who have demonstrated particular excellence in performing their duties.

Staff Awards

Hats Off Performance Award                                                         

Leslie Durham, Raquel Plaskett, Sharon Pugh

These awards recognize the classified staff members who have demonstrated exceptional job performance and/or service to ECE above and beyond the call of duty.

Research Spotlight Award                                                              

Chenyun Pan

This award is presented to a researcher who has made a significant contribution to the research efforts in ECE.

Academic Spotlight Award                                                             

Tom Brewer

This award is presented to the researcher, classified employee, or general faculty member who has made a significant contribution to the ECE teaching or academic program.

Faculty Awards

Outstanding Junior Faculty Member Award                               

Omer Inan, Arijit Raychowdhury

This award recognizes the most outstanding assistant professors and/or associate professors in ECE with less than 10 years since their initial faculty appointment.

D. Scott Wills ECE Distinguished Mentor Award                                  

Madhavan Swaminathan

This award is presented to a faculty member whose mentoring of junior faculty–in connection with teaching or research activities over an extended period of time–is judged to be outstanding.

Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award                                  

Magnus Egerstedt

This award is presented to the senior faculty member who has made significant contributions throughout his/her career.