The Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University celebrated the successful contributions of students, faculty and staff at its annual Spring Banquet and Awards Ceremony on March 7.
The banquet was hosted by the department’s student organizations and funded by the Industrial Affiliates Program (IAP).
Throughout the evening, department leaders shared successes from the past year and those in attendance enjoyed dinner, a presentation of awards and recognition, and a dance that ended the night.
“It is such a privilege to be able to recognize the great work done by my colleagues, our students, and our staff,” said Dr. Dilma Da Silva, department head and professor. “It is also a great opportunity to thank our supporters. Our scholarship holders have the opportunity to spend the evening with the alumni and industry partners who are investing in their success. And then we dance!”
More than 500 guests filled the Bethancourt Ballroom in the Memorial Student Center to celebrate. Here is a list of the award winners of the night:
2019 Distinguished Former Student Award
In 2004, the department created this award to recognize the exceptional contributions of former students in the fields of computer science and engineering.
Lydia Tapia, Class of 2009
Lydia Tapia, associate professor of computer science at the University of New Mexico, performs research in the area of computationally efficient algorithms for the simulation and analysis of high-dimensional motions, both in robotics and biological domains. Based on this work, she has been awarded two patents, one on a novel unmanned aerial vehicle design and another on a method to design allergen treatments. Tapia is the recipient of the 2016 Denice Denton Emerging Leader Abie Award from the Anita Borg Institute, a 2016 National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and the 2017 Computing Research Association Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research Borg Early Career Award.
Peer Teacher Excellence Award
William Flores
Teaching Assistant Excellence Award
Andrew Lam
Undergraduate Faculty Teaching Excellence Award
Dr. James Caverlee
Graduate Faculty Teaching Excellence Award
Dr. Theodora Chaspari
Dr. Guni Sharon
Undergraduate Leadership Excellence Award
Hannah Gooden
Graduate Leadership Excellence Award
Larry Powell
Undergraduate Research Excellence Award
Carson Hanel
Graduate Research Excellence Award
Qingquan Song
Mentoring Excellence Award
Muin Momin
Staff Excellence Award
Karrie Bourquin
IAP Research Project Competition winners
First Place: Sensor Fusion for Robotic Surface and Subsurface Infrastructure Inspection by Chieh (Jay) Chou (Advisor: Dr. Dez Song)
Second Place: Explainable Artificial Intelligence by Fan Yang (Advisor: Dr. Ben Hu)
Third Place: Online Fake Reviews Detection by Parisa Kaghazgaran (Advisor: Dr. James Caverlee)