The 2025 Paul E.Torgersen Graduate Student Research Excellence Award
PhD Student Winners
2025 top four scores from the PhD category
Margaret “Maggie” Webb
Engineering Education
Advisor: Dr. Marie Paretti
Systems to Transform Interdisciplinary Graduate Education: An Ecological Systems Analysis of STEM Graduate Students’ Longitudinal Interdisciplinary Identity-Based Motivation
Allison Nelson
Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics
Advisor: Dr. Pam VandeVord
Experimental Evaluation of Combat Helmet Performance in Mitigating Blast Loading on the Head
Connor Herron
Mechanical Engineering
Advisors: Dr. Alexander Leonessa and Dr. Kaveh Akbari Hamed
Design and Control of a Structurally Elastic Humanoid Robot
Elham Nassarian
Industrial and Systems Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Kwok Leung Tsui
Enhancing AI-Clinician Communication: Building Trust to Improve Patient Outcomes
Top Ten Finalists List
First Place: Margaret “Maggie” Webb
Engineering Education
Advisor: Dr. Marie Paretti
Systems to Transform Interdisciplinary Graduate Education: An Ecological Systems Analysis of STEM Graduate Students’ Longitudinal Interdisciplinary Identity-Based Motivation
Tie for 2nd Place: Allison Nelson
Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics
Advisor: Dr. Pam VandeVord
Experimental Evaluation of Combat Helmet Performance in Mitigating Blast Loading on the Head
Tie for 2nd Place: Connor Herron
Mechanical Engineering
Advisors: Dr. Alexander Leonessa and Dr. Kaveh Akbari Hamed
Design and Control of a Structurally Elastic Humanoid Robot
3rd Place: Elham Nassarian
Industrial and Systems Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Kwok Leung Tsui
Enhancing AI-Clinician Communication: Building Trust to Improve Patient Outcomes
Abdelrahman Munther Kh. Alsardi
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Alba Yerro Colom
Simulating coseismic landslides using isogeometric multiphase MPM
Ahmed Aredah
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Hesham Rakha
CargoNetSim: An Open-Source Integrated Simulation Framework for Energy, Emissions, Cost and Delay Optimization in Multi-Modal Freight Transport
Sparsh Jain
Biomedical Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Miguel Perez
Towards a Comprehensive Evaluation of Driving Impairment and Assessment Technologies
Reachsak Ly
Department of Building and Construction
Advisor: Dr. Alireza Shojaei
Smart Building Operations and Virtual Assistants Using Large Language Models
Ibrahim Tahmid
Computer Science
Advisor: Dr. Doug Bowman
Immersive Sensemaking with Rich Semantic Interaction
Xueyao Zhang
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Zhiwu Wang
Harnessing Haloferax mediterranei for bioplastic production from organic waste
Masters Student Winners
2025 top four scores from the Masters category
Héctor Rafael De La Coromoto Montilla Peña
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Dr. David Nelson Ford
Optimizing Post-Extreme Natural Hazard Event Habitation Recovery: A System Dynamics Approach to CIIS Classification, Procedural Delays, and Mitigation Strategies
Chinecherem Dimobi
Computer Science
Advisor: Dr. Dan Williams
Preventing Unintended Data Access: Information Flow Control in eBPF
Emma Szczesniak
Biomedical Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Aaron Brantly
Frequency Interception and Manipulation Vulnerabilities in Myoelectric-Computer Interface Signal Transmission
Leah Rebecca Thomas
Biomedical Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Chris Arena
Patient-Centered Usability Evaluation of LymphaVibe: A Novel Device for Upper-Extremity Lymphedema Management
Top Ten Finalists List
First Place: Héctor Rafael De La Coromoto Montilla Peña
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Dr. David Nelson Ford
Optimizing Post-Extreme Natural Hazard Event Habitation Recovery: A System Dynamics Approach to CIIS Classification, Procedural Delays, and Mitigation Strategies
2nd Place: Chinecherem Dimobi
Computer Science
Advisor: Dr. Dan Williams
Preventing Unintended Data Access: Information Flow Control in eBPF
3rd Place: Emma Szczesniak
Biomedical Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Aaron Brantly
Frequency Interception and Manipulation Vulnerabilities in Myoelectric-Computer Interface Signal Transmission
4th Place: Leah Rebecca Thomas
Biomedical Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Chris Arena
Patient-Centered Usability Evaluation of LymphaVibe: A Novel Device for Upper-Extremity Lymphedema Management
Sindhura Kommu
Computer Science
Advisor: Dr. Xuan Wang
Prediction of Gene Regulatory Connections with Joint Single-Cell Foundation Models and Graph-Based Learning
Dominick Perini
Electrical & Computer Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Tim Talty
Explainable Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning for Real-Time Spectrum Situational Awareness
David Spadaccia
Mechanical Engineering
Advisors: Dr. Prahalada Rao and Dr. Christopher Williams
Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) of a Complex Aerospace Component: Exploring the Effect of Layerwise Process Control on Part Quality
Adithya Harish Srinivasan Manikandan
Computer Science
Advisor: Dr. Eli Tilevich
An Adaptive AI Tutor for Seamless Learning of Secure Programming Fundamentals
Musab Waqar
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Landon Marston
Predicting Field-Level Irrigation Water Sources: A Machine Learning Approach
James Weichert
Computer Science
Advisor: Dr. Hoda Eldardiry
AI Education for the AI Generation: A Study of CS Student Attitudes Towards AI Ethics and Implications for CS Curricula