Engineering Graduate Students Honored for Excellence in Research, Leadership, Safety, Inclusion

Each year, the College of Engineering selects outstanding graduate students who have made significant contributions to research, service, safety and diversity, equity and inclusion to receive a Graduate Student Excellence Award. 

This year’s recipients are honored for their impressive work in cybersecurity, student mentorship, emergency preparedness and efforts to foster belonging across the engineering community. 

Excellence in Graduate Student Research

Hari Venugopalan, Computer Science

Hari Venugopalan's research during his Ph.D. spans computer security, privacy and healthcare to solve real-world problems with novel solutions. Co-advised by Sam King and Zubair Shafiq, professors of computer science, Venugopalan has developed groundbreaking techniques to enhance the security and privacy of digital ecosystems. One example is his credit card fraud research, in which he devised a machine learning model that thwarts fraudsters by rendering stolen credit card images on digital screens. Software from this research has run on over a billion devices and remains in production systems today. Venugopalan also led the work on GlucOS, applying computer security principles to create an end-to-end secure system for automated insulin delivery. GlucOS is currently being used by individuals for diabetes management. His research has produced over a dozen papers appearing in top-tier publications, including USENIX Security and the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, and has been cited over 90 times.

Excellence in Graduate Student Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Tiffany Chan, Biomedical Engineering

Tiffany Chan’s contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion in the Department of Biomedical Engineering reflect a sustained commitment to fostering a supportive, connected and empowering environment for students. As an undergraduate researcher in Assistant Professor of Teaching Xianglong Wang’s Cube3Lab, Chan helped develop a one-unit seminar that addresses issues women may face in engineering while building peer support and community. Now a master’s student, Chan serves as the course’s co-instructor, continuing to mentor students as they navigate identity, belonging and building confidence in the field. As a member of the department’s Health, Equity and Wellness Committee, Chan leads the Professional Edge lunch series, which brings campus speakers to discuss wellness, equity, self-care and professional growth. Chan’s research has explored how student-faculty lunches and first-year women-in-engineering programming can strengthen students’ sense of belonging, resulting in peer-reviewed publications and national conference presentations. Her efforts foster a welcoming space where all engineering students can thrive.

Excellence in Graduate Student Service and Leadership

Alice Dien, Biological and Agricultural Engineering

During her time pursuing her Master of Science and then Ph.D. at UC Davis, Alice Dien has consistently gone above and beyond to support her graduate and undergraduate student peers. In her role as a Graduate Writing Fellow and then Lead Graduate Writing Fellow — the first-ever engineer to hold the position — for Writing Across the Curriculum and Graduate Studies, Dien not only conducted one-on-one consultations and provided tutoring, but also developed and taught new workshops for STEM researchers, such as “Science Communication” and “Organizing Sources for Your Literature Review.” As a Professor for the Future Fellow, she launched writing support groups for graduate students, and as a mentor for the E-SEARCH program, she encouraged undergraduate students to contribute their ideas and skills to collaborative research. She is passionate about educational opportunities that connect engineering with the community, as exemplified by her involvement in courses through the Student Startup Center and the UC Davis D-Lab, the educational arm of the Program for International Energy Technologies.

Excellence in Graduate Student Safety

David MacDonald, Energy Systems

As part of his studies toward a master’s degree in energy systems at the UC Davis Energy and Efficiency Institute, David MacDonald is developing a digital twin model of UC Davis to analyze past catastrophic events, identify infrastructure vulnerabilities, improve energy efficiency and support resource coordination during future crises. His work focuses on strengthening critical systems during emergencies, particularly for vulnerable and disabled populations, a disproportionately affected group. MacDonald’s broader interests include sustainable energy systems, emergency preparedness and improving the reliability of critical infrastructure during crisis situations. He is an active board member of the UC Davis Amateur Radio Communications, which operates in coordination with UC Davis Safety Services. In partnership with campus emergency response teams, the organization serves as a secondary communications resource during campus incidents, infrastructure disruptions and regional emergencies. Through this role, MacDonald helps strengthen resilience and redundancy in critical communication systems while promoting technical preparedness and responsible radio operation among students.