Student Awards

Since 2021, the SSPB Program solicits faculty and student nominations for the following SSPB graduate student awards to recognize exceptional student academic performance in and dedication to the program. Awards are given annually and recipients are recognized during each commencement season.

Graduate Student Award Recipients


SSPB Thesis Award
In recognition of an outstanding Ph.D. thesis
2023: Lauren Gambill
2022: Kathryn Brink, Qi Wang
2021: Ilenne Del Valle Kessra

SSPB Research Award
In recognition of an outstanding doctoral research as marked by a first-authored publication
2023: Xiaoyu (Helen) Lu, Shubham Tripathi
2022: Zhuo Chen, Jeannette Ingabire (COVID-19 Research), Baiyang Lu
2021: Jihwan (James) Lee, Shubham Tripathi, Qi Wang

SSPB Leadership & Service Award
In recognition of demonstrated commitment and leadership to improve the graduate student experience in the SSPB program
2023: Wei-Hao Lee, Alex Raterink
2022: Max Hunt, Zach Jansen
2021: Matthew Carpenter, Kshitij Rai, Caleigh Roleck

SSPB Early Achievement Award
In recognition of demonstrated excellence during the first three years in the SSPB program
2023: Matthew Dysart, Matheus Mello, Sofia Vargas
2022: Esteban Dodero Rojas
2021: Rosa Selenia Guerra Resendez

SSPB Student Travel Award
In support of students presenting their research at professional conferences and meetings
2023: Sofia Vargas-Hernandez, Xiaoyu Yang
2022: Lauren Gambill, Andrew Gilmour, Dhiraj Jain, Zachary Jansen, Prashant Kalvapalle, Baiyang Lu, Xiaoyu Lu, Swetha Sridhar