4/29/2025
2025 awards honor AE students, faculty and staff
Every spring, the Department of Aerospace Engineering, in The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign recognizes undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff with awards for their scholastic achievement and other contributions. Below is a listing of this year’s departmental awards as well as a partial listing of college, university, and external awards.
Faculty and Staff Awards
AIAA Teacher of the Year
Jason Merret
Staff Member of the Year
Audrey Cochran
Staff Member of the Year
Dung Quach-Wisdom
Undergraduate Awards
Boeing Sustainable Aviation Pathways Scholarship
Nicole Artemyev, Moline, Illinois
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Scholastic Achievement Award, awarded to the senior graduating with the highest GPA
Tyler Gralewski, Crete, Illinois
H. Everett Sutter Passion for Flying Scholarship, presented to a junior-level
Aerospace Engineering student
who exhibits a passion for flying
LaMya Powell, Chicago, Illinois
H.S. Stillwell Problem Solving Scholarship was established by a generous alumnus as a tribute to H.S. Stillwell and the role he played as a mentor to students. It is given to a junior-level or first-semester senior majoring in aerospace engineering who exhibits exemplary
problem-solving skills
Adam Cudzich, Niles, Illinois
H.S. Stillwell Leadership Award, presented to the undergraduate who exemplifies outstanding leadership qualities by participation in departmental extracurricular activities
Nicole Orloff, Bozeman, Montana
H.S. Stillwell Memorial Scholarship – awarded to an aerospace engineering student
Ajax J. Bachor, Chicago, Illinois
Robert W. McCloy Memorial Award, presented to a junior or first-semester senior student in recognition of outstanding academic performance
Niharika Navin, Bengaluru, India
Lee H. Sentman Memorial Scholarship, presented to an aerospace engineering student in recognition of excellent
academic performance
Pranet Patil, Mount Prospect, Illinois
Michael W. Miller Aerospace Engineering Innovation Award, was established to promote entrepreneurial ideas in the area of aerospace innovation
Ethan Massey, Chicago, Illinois
Roger A. Strehlow Memorial Award, presented to an undergraduate student in recognition of outstanding academic performance
Mateusz Gromek, Chicago, Illinois
Robert Lee Chandler, BS ’54, and Carole Leslie Chandler Memorial Scholarship, is presented to an undergraduate student in recognition of outstanding academic performance
Junyi Cao, Shanghai, China
Lawrence Bergman Undergraduate Research Award,
is given in recognition
for outstanding
undergraduate research
Morgan Scott, Greenup, Illinois
Scott R. White Memorial Scholarship.
Aadit Vikram Kolar, Fremont, California
More information is available on AE’s website about undergraduate awards and scholarships.
Graduate Student Awards
Boeing Sustainable Aviation Pathways Fellowship
Elias Waddington
Faculty Endowed Award
Michael Zakoworotny
AE Alumni Advisory Board Fellowship, presented annually to a graduate student in recognition of outstanding research,
academic performance, and research accomplishments
Rahil Makadia
Graduate Student Service Award, awarded to a student for service to the unit, beyond merely their academic and research responsibilities
Nikhil Ashok
Kenneth Lee Herrick Memorial Award, given to
an AE graduate student based on outstanding academic
and research performance in the AE department
Thien Le
Harry H. and Lois G. Hilton Fellowship, established
to provide support for graduate students
with a preference to those who study aeroelasticity
Wanzheng Zheng
More information is available on AE’s website about graduate awards.
Additional undergraduate awards, scholarships and recognitions
Aalia Angirish, Phi Eta Sigma Founder's Fund Undergraduate Scholar
Yair Guerreo, Aviation Week Network Class of 2025 - 20 Twenties.
Ariette Kaberlein, Knights of St. Patrick
Michaela McBride, NASA Pathways Internship Program
Tushar Khosla, Illinois Engineering Achievement Scholarship, Illinois Engineering Outstanding Scholarship, and the Southwest Airlines® Community Scholarship
Aliah Rubio, Fellow of the inaugural Sally Ride Fellowship, Class of 2025
Matthew Svatora, Zeta Psi - Alpha Epsilon Chapter: Most Dutiful Active Brother 2024-2025, and Zeta Psi - Spring 2025 Scholarship
Adil Gill, Fuad Rashid Scholarship
Hayden Schillinger, Grainger Engineering International Engineering Scholarship for a summer short-term study abroad
Boeing Aerospace Research Scholarships
Teagan Arndt
Parker Lenkaitis
Alison Nazaruk
Aerospace Engineering John R. Dennis Scholarship
Mia DavLantis
Illinois Space Grant Consortium Undergraduate Scholarships
Jacqueline Arroyo
Santiago Zapata Zuluaga
Joshua Ahnert
Alana Falter
Vivian Nguyen
A. Franklin Pilchard Foundation Scholarship
Luke Sadowski
Morgan Scott, McDonnell Memorial Scholarship, Legacy Scholarship, Illinois Engineering Achievement Scholarship, President's Award Scholarship
Eugene Yong Jin Lim, Ruth and Harold Hayward/Tau Beta Pi Award Fund, James B. Busey, IV Scholarship, Illinois Engineering Achievement Scholarship, Illinois Engineering Outstanding Scholarship
Aerospace Engineering Academic Scholarship Recipients
Margaret Brummel
Sofia DeLaTorre
Margaret Falkenberg
Jacob Fries
Margaret Hibbard
Brianna Hopf
Lillian Hunt
Anabelle Stevenson
Adora Ude
Abel Yohannes
Engineering Visionary Scholarship Recipients
Aleksandar Bargoz
Finn Benjamin
Madeline Clark
Sebastian Jorgensen-Garcia
Eduardo Gutierrez
Natalie Kowalski
Abdulgafahr Lawal
Htat Naing
Gabriela Pawlowski
Diego Zaragoza
Engineering Visionary Scholarships are supported by the following: Rodney L. Burton Aerospace Engineering Visionary Scholarship Fund; Craig and Annette Bolt Aerospace Engineering Visionary Scholarship Fund; Class of 1977 Aerospace Engineering Visionary Scholarship Fund; Lembeck/Carmichael Aerospace Engineering Visionary Scholarship Fund; Scott R. White Aerospace Engineering Visionary Scholarship Fund; Geisinger Aerospace Engineering Visionary Scholarship Fund
Engineering Visionary Scholarship Recipients
Emily Grzyb
Emily Henning
Gabriela Zabiegaj
Sidney Lewensohn
Margaret Meacham
Aubrey Brown
Annalise Goodman
Carlo Alvarez
Emily Douglas
Sofia Aiquipa
Alexander Herrera
Julian Chawla
Engineering Visionary Scholarships are supported by the following: Rodney L. Burton Aerospace Engineering Visionary Scholarship Fund; Craig and Annette Bolt Aerospace Engineering Visionary Scholarship Fund; Class of 1977 Aerospace Engineering Visionary Scholarship Fund; Lembeck/Carmichael Aerospace Engineering Visionary Scholarship Fund; Scott R. White Aerospace Engineering Visionary Scholarship Fund; Geisinger Aerospace Engineering Visionary Scholarship Fund
Additional graduate awards and recognitions
Nikhil Ashok, Best Poster at the 2nd Annual Birck Symposium at Purdue University
Cade Boggan, Visionary Award for Research Live! contest
Ruthvik Bommena, John V. Breakwell Best Student Paper Award from the American Astronautical Society
Bryan Cline, NASA’s Heliophysics Mission Design School
Vijeth Hebbar, NCCR Automation Fellowship from NCCR Automation in Switzerland
Asim Shahzad, Outstanding Technical Paper Awards for SAMPE 2025
Ally Leeming, NASA’s Planetary Science Mission Design School and a National Science Foundation Graduate Student Research Program Fellowship
Ning Li, ASME Materials Division Best Student Presentation Award Winner
Allison Timm, 2024 Outstanding Scholar Award for the Directed Energy Directorate
Cutler Phillippe, NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunities award
Davut Vatansever, Research article included in Physics of Plasmas’ 2024 Early Career Collection
Ivan Zanardi, Top presenter – Data Science Summer Institute Slam at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Illinois Space Grant Consortium Graduate Fellowships
Bryan Christopher Cline
Margaret Shepherd
Mavis Memorial Fund Scholarship for Future Faculty Fellows
Srikumar Balasubramanian
Tuhin Bandopadhyay
Vijeth Hebbar
Jongwon Lee
So Sasaki
Graduate Teaching Assistants Ranked as Excellent by Their Students
Spring 2024
Son Nguyen
Department Fellowships for Outstanding Academic and Research Achievement
are supported by the Graduate College Block Grant Fund.
Front row left to right: Allison Timm, Nicholas Anderson, Zoey Flynn, Irmak Taylan Karpuzcu, Taha Shafa, Tuhin Bandopadhyay, Minjae Cho, and Professor, Associate Head, and Director of Graduate Studies Ioannis Chasiotis.
Second row left to right: Blaine Vollmer, Ning Li, Kratin Sanghvi, Yao Yao and Michael Zakoworotny. Not pictured Grayson Schaer, Vijeth Hebber, Alan Hong, Bryan Cline, HyeongJu Lee, and Michael Harrigan.
Graduate Programs Research Poster Competition
Best Overall: Himmat Panag
Best Oral Delivery: Minjae Cho
Best Technical Accomplishment: Tuhin Bandopadhyay
Best Visual Presentation of Research:
Izzy Mata
Joey Tindall
Michael Zakoworotny
Faculty awards and recognitions
Phillip J. Ansell – National Academy of Engineering early-career researcher and 2025 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research
Melkior Ornik - 2025 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program award
Laura Villafañe Roca – Class of 2025 Associate Fellows of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Hiroyasu Tsukamoto – MIT’sTechnology Review 2024 Innovator Under 35
Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students
Spring 2024
Phillip Ansell
Fabien Evrard
Andres Goza
Jason M. Merret
Fall 2024
Daniel J. Bodony
Tim Bretl
Wayne Chang
Fabien Evrard
John Lambros
Melkior Ornik
Hiroyasu Tsukamoto
Brian S. Woodard