Awards and competitions

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.

Suchita Mukherjee Receives College of Engineering Master’s Thesis Excellence Award

Suchita Mukherjee is the first recipient of the annual Master’s Thesis Excellence Award in the College of Engineering. She is graduating from UC Davis this spring with a master’s degree in computer science and will be joining Zillow Group as a software developer.

She was selected for this award based on her research, “Fixing Dependency Errors for Python Build Reproducibility,” under the mentorship of computer science Professor Cindy Rubio-González.

Kathryn Tarver Receives the 2021 M.S. Ghausi Medal

Growing up, Kathryn Tarver would have never believed she would one day be an engineer. Now, she is graduating with a B.S. in biological systems engineering, having become a dedicated machinist and problem-solver. At UC Davis, she fostered her love of machines in the biological and agricultural engineering (BAE) shop and has worked to create a better world both in the community and on campus by founding the Women Machinists’ Club at UC Davis.

2021 College of Engineering Undergraduate Student Awards

The UC Davis College of Engineering congratulates the students who have received Outstanding Senior Awards, Department Citations and Scholar Awards. These students demonstrate the best in leadership, academic achievement and service both in and out of the classroom.

Dr. Sima Asadi Receives the 2021 Zuhair A. Munir Award

Dr. Sima Asadi is this year’s recipient of the Zuhair A. Munir Award for the best doctoral dissertation in the College of Engineering. She received her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from UC Davis in 2020 and is now a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Asadi’s dissertation, “Airborne Infectious Disease Transmission via Expiratory Aerosol Particles and Aerosolized Fomites,” focuses on airborne infectious disease transmission.

Chidubem Nnaji Wins Donald A. Strauss Foundation Scholarship

Civil and environmental engineering student Chidubem Nnaji has been named a 2021 Donald A. Strauss Foundation Scholar for his project titled “Using Solar Power to Empower.” The annual scholarship was established as a memorial to the late Don Strauss—a successful business executive who had a lifelong interest in education and public service—and awards $15,000 to up to fifteen college sophomores or juniors from pre-selected institutions in California.

2021 College of Engineering Graduate Student Awards

Starting this year, the UC Davis College of Engineering is proud to recognize four outstanding graduate students with the College of Engineering Graduate Student Awards.

These awards honor the achievements and contributions of engineering graduate students for their research and service. Nominations were open to any M.S. and Ph.D. student enrolled in a graduate program in the college. Each award recipient will receive a $500 scholarship and their name will be added to a permanent display located in the Kemper Hall lobby.