2025 awards honor AE students, faculty and staff

4/29/2025 Debra Levey Larson

Written by Debra Levey Larson

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

Audrey Cochran

Staff Member of the Year 
Audrey Cochran

Dung Quach-Wisdom

Staff Member of the Year
 Dung Quach-Wisdom

Undergraduate Awards

Nicole Artemyev

Boeing Sustainable Aviation Pathways Scholarship
 Nicole Artemyev, Moline, Illinois

Tyler Gralewski

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

Adam Cudzich

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

Anna Marie Buss

H.S. Stillwell Leadership Award, presented to the undergraduate who exemplifies outstanding leadership qualities by participation in departmental extracurricular activities
Nicole Orloff, Bozeman, Montana

Ajax Bachor

H.S. Stillwell Memorial Scholarship – awarded to an aerospace engineering student 

Ajax J. Bachor, Chicago, Illinois

 

Niharika Navin

Robert W. McCloy Memorial Award, presented to a junior or first-semester senior student in recognition of outstanding academic performance
Niharika Navin, Bengaluru, India

Parnet Patil

Lee H. Sentman Memorial Scholarship, presented to an aerospace engineering student in recognition of excellent
academic performance 
Pranet Patil, Mount Prospect, Illinois

Ethan Massey

Michael W. Miller Aerospace Engineering Innovation Award, was established to promote entrepreneurial ideas in the area of aerospace innovation
Ethan Massey, Chicago, Illinois

Mateusz Gromek

Roger A. Strehlow Memorial Award, presented to an undergraduate student in recognition of outstanding academic performance 

Mateusz Gromek, Chicago, Illinois

Junyi Cao

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

Morgan Scott

Lawrence Bergman Undergraduate Research Award,
is given in recognition
for outstanding
undergraduate research
Morgan Scott, Greenup, Illinois

Aadit Vikram Kolar

Scott R. White Memorial Scholarship.

Aadit Vikram Kolar,  Fremont, California

Graduate Student Awards

Elias Waddington

Boeing Sustainable Aviation Pathways Fellowship
Elias Waddington

Michael Zakoworotny

Faculty Endowed Award
Michael Zakoworotny 

Rahil Makadia

AE Alumni Advisory Board Fellowship, presented annually to a graduate student in recognition of outstanding research,
academic performance, and research accomplishments
Rahil Makadia

Nikhil Ashok

Graduate Student Service Award, awarded to a student for service to the unit, beyond merely their academic and research responsibilities
Nikhil Ashok

Thien Le

Kenneth Lee Herrick Memorial Award, given to
an AE graduate student based on outstanding academic
and research performance in the AE department
Thien Le

Wanzheng Zheng

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.

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

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.

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


Share this story

This story was published April 29, 2025.