Seven Engineering Students Receive Outstanding Graduate Student Awards
July 23, 2025 - The UCI Samueli School of Engineering honored seven graduate students for excellence in research and leadership with the Outstanding Graduate Student Awards. The awards ceremony commemorated six graduate students for the Outstanding Ph.D. Student Research Award and one graduate student for the Outstanding Graduate Student Leadership Award.
The Outstanding Ph.D. Student Research Award was given to one student in each engineering department for research excellence and academic achievement. The committee assessed applicants based on the students’ excellence in scientific journal publications, conference participation, external recognition, and impact of the students’ research. The Outstanding Graduate Student Leadership Award was given to one graduate student in the Samueli School of Engineering for exemplifying leadership or service activities in engineering. Each winner was awarded with a certificate and a $500 stipend. Eleven students received honorable mentions.
“These awards are important for the students' career development when they get in the job market. They are common practice in other universities, and I am very pleased that we also have that now,” said Athina Markopoulou, the former associate dean for graduate and professional studies. “Beyond celebrating and motivating our graduate students, these awards are also a way to signal our values and aspirations as a school and build community and culture.”
The newly established Outstanding Graduate Awards recognize motivated graduate students for their achievements in research and outstanding leadership roles. The office of Graduate Student Affairs and Samueli graduate advisors hosted the awards. “I would like to particularly recognize the role of Professor Sungwoo Nam (the current chair of the GSC committee) and of Nadine Achkar in the GSA office, who were instrumental in making this finally happen,” said Markopoulou.
2024-2025 Academic Year Winners
Shravan Thaploo, BME Ph.D. Research Award Winner
Shravan Thaploo is a Ph.D. student in the biomedical engineering department. He was awarded for “contributions to biomedical device technologies to advance stroke recovery.” His research focus is stem cells and brain computer interfaces that work to convert human brain signals to stimulation patterns for stroke rehabilitation.
Yuyao Kuang, CBE Ph.D. Research Award Winner
Yuyao Kuang is a Ph.D. candidate in the chemical and biomolecular engineering department. Kuang was awarded for “fundamental understanding and developing biomaterial-based platforms that probe and modulate cardiac tissue behavior.” His research focuses on furthering cardiovascular disease modeling, drug development, and other therapeutic strategies. He has already published over ten publications in the fields of soft materials and tissue engineering and has presented at major research conferences.
Nazak Rouzegari, CEE Ph.D. Research Award Winner
Nazak Rouzegari is a third-year Ph.D. candidate in the civil and environmental engineering department. She was awarded for “significant contributions to remote sensing of precipitation.” Rouzegari’s research focuses on the application of AI-based techniques for precipitation estimation and forecasting, particularly for extreme rainfall.
Yuhang Yao, EECS Ph.D. Research Award Winner
Yuhang Yao is a Ph.D. student in the electrical engineering and computer science department. He was awarded for “fundamental contributions to the theory of quantum information theory.” Yao’s research focuses on information theory, quantum information theory and their applications to distributed computation, security and privacy.
Zahra Zanjani Foumani, MAE Ph.D. Research Award Winner
Zahra Zanjani Foumani is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the mechanical and aerospace engineering department. She was awarded for “innovative contributions to cost-aware multi-fidelity Bayesian.” Her research focuses on the optimization of complex engineering systems under coexisting challenges, resulting in cheaper low-fidelity sources. Foumani has received the Henry Samueli Endowed Fellowship and has contributed to the advancement of open-source software packages which have been presented at multiple conferences.
Huiming Guo, MSE Ph.D. Research Award Winner
Huiming Guo is a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in the materials science and engineering department. She was awarded for “innovative contributions to functional oxides to advance clean energy and decarbonization technologies.” Her research focuses on developing functional oxides which contribute to the advancement of sustainable energy technology. Guo is a Junior Research Fellow in UCI’s National Science Foundation Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) program.
Dain Kim, Graduate Student Leadership Award Winner
Dain Kim is a Ph.D. student in the civil and environmental engineering department. She was the sole winner of the Leadership Award for “exceptional leadership in advancing student engagement, fostering a spirit of service, and demonstrating outstanding initiative in the organization of scientific conferences.” She is the student representative in the Samueli School of Engineering CEE Graduate Studies Committee. Kim also chaired the UCI planning committee for the 2025 SoCal CEE Symposium. Kim’s research focuses on hydrologic extremes and cascading hazards in the Western United States.
Salla Kim, Jack Lang, Jialin Dong, Oyku Deniz Kose, Min-Wan Seo, Esther Hessong, Trisha Mendoza, Christopher Liu, Mohamed Benomar El Kati, and Alex Nguyen were also awarded honorable mentions for their outstanding achievements as graduate students.
– Caroline Lu
