2021 Best Teaching Assistant Awards
The UC Davis College of Engineering is pleased to recognize one teaching assistant (TA) from each of our eight departments with the Best TA awards. These awards recognize graduate students who show a strong commitment to the mission and vision of the college and consistently perform above and beyond to train and create the next generation of engineers and leaders. These award recipients were nominated and selected by their respective departments.
These students have received awards for their contributions to the college and will be honored at the Graduate Student Awards Celebration in 2022.
Best TA Award Recipients
Boyi Qu, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Boyi Qu is a Ph.D. candidate from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, working in Professor Klaus van Benthem’s research group. She started her graduate studies at UC Davis after obtaining her B.E. in materials science and engineering from China in 2017. Qu’s research focuses on investigating and understanding the mechanisms of metal nanostructure growth behavior under different conditions such as high temperature, gaseous environments and when applying an electric current. In her free time she enjoys spending time on the beach, going camping and trying out new foods.
Sajjad Rahnama, Department of Computer Science
Sajjad Rahnama is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Computer Science at UC Davis, supervised by Professor Mohammad Sadoghi. He is also a member of the Exploratory Systems Lab in the department. Rahnama is the system designer at a blockchain company called Moka Blox and is the leading developer of ResilientDB, a permissioned blockchain fabric. His current research focuses on blockchain protocols, distributed systems and their applications in blockchain and secure transaction processing. He has published papers on Very Large Data Bases, Middleware and Extending Database Technology. He enjoys soccer, tennis and hiking.
Toby Mea, Department of Chemical Engineering
Toby Mea is a rising fourth year Ph.D. candidate at UC Davis but is technically entering into his sixth year, having completed two years of his Ph.D. at his previous institution in Rochester, New York, before transferring with his then and current advisor, Dr. Jiandi Wan. He received his B.S. in engineering in 2016 from Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. His research focuses on engineering a microfluidic intestinal epithelium model system to facilitate the study of host-bacteria interactions. His other research interests include stem cell biology, biomaterials and rapid prototyping/3D printing. In his spare time he enjoys birdwatching, honing his musical skills and serving in his local church community.
Timothy Ambrose, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Tim Ambrose is a Ph.D. student researching robotics and distributed computing clusters. He received his B.S. in computer engineering and a minor in music from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 2015. Prior to joining UC Davis to pursue his Ph.D., he worked as a hardware/software engineering intern at Keysight, as a software test engineer at Tapestry Solutions: A Boeing Company and also as a freelance videographer. Ambrose has since interned three more times for Keysight and is now working there as a part-time, remote computer engineer. He is also a Tesla coil builder, pipe organist and pianist, singer, videographer, element collector and computer-controlled musical Christmas light show designer/builder/programmer.
Sarah Dennis, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Sarah Dennis is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, working with Professor Miguel Jaller. She has a B.S. in public health and a M.S. in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her research interests include the ties between public health and transportation, and the impacts and potential of freight transportation and e-commerce. Outside of school, she enjoys spending time with her partner and their dog exploring all the beautiful nature spots in the region.
Peter James Russell, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering
Peter James Russell is an M.S. student in Dr. Zhiliang Fan’s lab, studying the role of lignin in the enzymatic conversion of wheat straw to bioproducts. He began his education at UC Davis in 2015 and received his B.S. in biological systems engineering in 2019. After enjoying the department’s accessible faculty and welcoming student body, he chose to stay for a second helping. Throughout his time at UC Davis, he has enjoyed baking and selling challah bread with Challah for Hunger at Davis to raise money for the Yolo Foodbank and Swipeout Hunger. In his free time he enjoys indoor gardening, Dungeons and Dragons and using the rock wall at the ARC.
Peter Changmin Lee, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Peter Changmin Lee obtained his B.S. in mechanical and aerospace engineering at UC Davis in 2012. He received his M.S. in 2019. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. and researching automatic flight control for aerospace systems. His research interests are focused around aerospace systems and computational methods.
Emily Moreno, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Emily Moreno is currently a M.S. student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME). She completed her B.S. in bioengineering at UC San Diego. While at UC Davis, Emily has been a teaching assistant for multiple BME undergraduate courses including Biomedical Imaging, Manufacturing Processes and Senior Design. Due to COVID-19, she helped develop a virtual BME manufacturing course and will be presenting her work and findings at the American Society for Engineering Education conference in July 2021. Her current research focuses on studying vascular endothelial signaling mechanisms involved in atherogenesis, the formation of fatty plaques in the arteries. Emily enjoys spending time outdoors, snowboarding, all things Disney and playing with her dog, Odin.
