Academic honors abound for students and faculty across the global network
Each year, Northeastern celebrates students and faculty who have demonstrated excellence in scholarship, research, or teaching.
It was hard to tell whether Northeastern student Sima Bou Jawde or her brother Samer were more excited when they saw a poster on the Boston campus announcing Sima as a recipient of the Outstanding Ph.D. Student Award in Leadership.
But what was clear was that pictures were in order.
“Education in just books is nothing, but education in practice is essential,” Samer said later in recalling the impromptu photo shoot. “We’re so proud.”
Students and their families, faculty, staff and mentors gathered Thursday for the 16th Annual Academic Honors Convocation, a ceremony honoring students and faculty who have demonstrated excellence in scholarship, research or teaching.
President Joseph E. Aoun congratulated the honorees and called the audience to offer them a round of applause.
The ceremony was held on Thursday in Blackman Auditorium on Northeastern’s Boston campus and was livestreamed across the global university system.
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“Over the past year, our honorees have pushed the boundaries of what is possible in scholarship, research, teaching and innovation,” said Beth Winkelstein, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs.
She noted that students and faculty have earned prestigious awards, fellowships and appointments from some of the most respected organizations in their disciplines. And while all the awardees couldn’t be called onstage during the ceremony – there were over 200 total honors to be recognized for students and faculty across the global university system – Winkelstein said: “These accolades speak for themselves.”
“Northeastern is home to some of the most exceptional students and faculty in the world,” Winkelstein said.
Faculty Awards
The ceremony kicked off by recognizing Gregory Abowd, the dean of Northeastern University’s College of Engineering, and Eduardo Sontag, university distinguished professor in electrical and computer engineering and bioengineering as well as an affiliated faculty member in chemical engineering. Abowd was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Sontag was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
Abowd was recognized by the academy for his distinguished work in the social impacts of computing as it rapidly expanded into the classroom, the household and the health care industry and recent focus on “sustainable electronics,” a field that looks at how to make computing more environmentally friendly. Sontag was recognized for his work applying mathematics to real world problems from engineering, immunology and biology.
Several faculty received prominent university honors.
These include:
Michelle Carr, who teaches film and TV production, received the university’s Global Educator Award for her impactful Dialogue of Civilizations program which enables students to go to London to create their own documentaries focused on the city.
Koen Pauwels, associate dean of research and distinguished professor of marketing at Northeastern, was the recipient of the 62nd annual Robert D. Klein University Lecturer Award, an honor established in 1964 which highlights a faculty member who has contributed with distinction to their field of study. Pauwels delivered his lecture, “The AI Authenticity Paradox: Why Machines are Making Us More Human,” in March on Northeastern’s Boston campus.
Erin Islo, assistant professor of law, and Laurent Lessard, an associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, received this year’s University Excellence in Teaching Awards. Nominated by students, the recipients are noted for their depth of knowledge in their respective subjects, the rigor of their course content and their ability to link course content, research and experiential learning.
Other faculty received recognition from beyond the university.
The National Academy of Inventors, one of the largest and most prestigious organizations of its kind which is affiliated with more than 300 institutions and has more than 4,600 individual members, bestowed honors on three Northeastern faculty this academic year. Abowd and Mansoor Amiji, a distinguished professor in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences, were elected as fellows to the academy while Aatmesh Shrivastava, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, was elected as a senior member of the academy.
Alessandro Vespignani, director of the university’s Network Science Institute and Sternberg Family distinguished university professor, was recognized with the European Physical Society’s Statistical and Nonlinear Physics Division award for his work helping lay the foundation for physics-based models of the spread of infectious diseases like Ebola and COVID-19.
Soheil Behnezhad, assistant professor of computer science, and Mona Minkara, assistant professor of bioengineering, were honored with Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowships. The fellowships recognize early-career researchers employed in a higher education institution “who have the potential to revolutionize their fields of study,” according to the foundation.
Yizhi You, an assistant professor of physics who studies quantum computing, was named a Cottrell Scholar. The award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement is bestowed on promising early-career academics studying chemistry, physics or astronomy.
Also this year, Psyche Loui was named president-elect of the Society for Music Perception and Cognition.
Indeed, music was a continuing theme, as the Northeastern University Wind Ensemble played interludes throughout the ceremony. These included pieces by students Sofia Stafford and Emily Ryan.
Undergraduate Awards
But faculty weren’t the only members of the Northeastern community honored on Thursday. Students from across the global network and across multiple disciplines received recognition from the university and beyond.
These included:
One of Northeastern’s highest honors for graduating seniors, the Hodgkinson Award recipients are selected by faculty on the basis of scholastic and experiential achievement.
This year’s recipients were:
- Zachary Eisbach, computer science and mathematics
- Leah Morningstar Fitzpayne, political science
- Pablo Flores-Munoz, biochemistry
- Andrew William Lynch, bioengineering and biochemistry
- Faith Nguyen, architecture
- Nicole Ramenda, business administration
- Dina Yacoub, health science
Named in honor of Sears B. Condit, a member of Northeastern University’s Corporation from 1936-1951, the Condit Award honors juniors or seniors with scholarships for outstanding scholastic achievement.
This year’s recipients were:
- Nikki Dong, political science
- Chloe Ariel Geller, speech language pathology and audiology
- Grace Autumn Jansen, chemical engineering
- Jess Montgomery, landscape architecture
- Sari Nostramo, economics and business administration
- Mark Teh, biochemistry
- Hannah Wimpy, independent studies.
The most prestigious undergraduate science scholarship in the United States, the Goldwater Scholarship is granted annually to top sophomores and juniors studying math, science or engineering and who demonstrate outstanding potential for and interest in pursuing a career in research.
This year’s recipients were:
- Numair Elahi, biochemistry
- Sophia Guerra, cell and molecular biology
- Maren Ritterbuck, bioengineering and biochemistry
Chancellor and Senior Vice President for Learning Ken Henderson lauded the three students as they walked to the stage to receive recognition.
Meanwhile, Laurel Walsh, who graduated from Northeastern in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and a minor in art, received a prestigious National Institutes of Health Oxford-Cambridge doctoral scholarship which will allow her to earn her Ph.D. and study the genomics involved in infectious disease monitoring.
“I cannot wait to see what all of you do and what marks the next stage of your career,” Henderson said.
Other awards recognized included:
The Luce Scholars Program offers opportunities for a student to deepen ties and understanding of the countries, cultures and peoples of Asia, aiming to forge stronger and more compassionate global relations. Lauren Kulhanjian Conrow, this year’s honoree, is characteristic of the scholars, who are described as open minded, curious and engaged in the world.
The Critical Language Scholarship Program partners with universities and nonprofits around the globe to provide cohorts of students from the United States with an opportunity to study the language and culture of a particular country/location. Anastasia Lindquist, who studied computer engineering and computer science, was this year’s honoree.
Northeastern graduates Debbie Madueke and Su Cizem were named Schwarzman Scholars and this fall will begin an international graduate program based in Beijing for young leaders who hope to make a global impact. Madueke graduated from Northeastern with her bachelor’s in economics and business administration in 2019 and is currently pursuing her master’s degree at the University of Oxford. Cizem graduated from Northeastern University London with her master’s degree in artificial intelligence and ethics in 2024.
The U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program enables students of limited financial means to study or do an internship abroad, providing them with skills critical to U.S. national security and economic prosperity.
This year’s honorees were:
- Colombe Akpaca, data science
- Tristan Bernard, mechanical engineering
- Celine Chreiha, biology
- Bethanya Masresha Daniel, international business
- London Blair Jones, computer science
- Kayleen Kang, computer science
- Segenet Andalem Mulaw, sociology
- Ian Rocha, chemical engineering
- Diego Tellez Diego, business administration
- Brittani Westberry, political science.
More than a dozen students were semi-finalists for Fulbright Scholarships, which are awarded to exceptional students to research, study or teach English abroad in order to foster diplomacy and mutual understanding among the United States and other countries.
This year’s honorees were:
- Mary Raines Alexander, international affairs
- Lucia Barrera, environmental science
- Grayson Bunting, international affairs
- Linden Rigel Burack, physics and mathematics
- Juliana Castro, industrial engineering and construction
- Mia Chen, behavioral neuroscience and East Asian studies
- Samuel Cho, nursing
- Ashley Cristal Conde, marine biology and Latin American studies
- Lauren Kulhanjian Conrow, business administration
- Magda Dawit, health science
- Jonas Feit, design
- Elda Gobena, behavioral neuroscience and data science
- Shanthi Hegde, psychology and history
- Amarachukwu Ifeji, political science and philosophy
- Anika Soni Jaswal, data science and behavioral neuroscience
- Lucas McCauley, bioengineering and biochemistry
- Hannah McCormick, law
- Alexis Musaelyan, data science
- Sowon Park, health science
- Sasha Pavlov, civil engineering and architecture
- Sydney Pollock, behavioral neuroscience
- Ethan Ross Rogers, architecture
- Katrina Shonka, computer science and social science
- Chloe Sivitz, biology and international affairs
- Angela Woronko, behavioral neuroscience and global health
Graduate Awards
Finally, graduate students received many honors for their contributions to the Northeastern community and beyond.
Three graduate students were honored with the Outstanding Master’s Student Award in Teaching, which recognizes students who, through teaching or teaching assistantship, have inspired and supported the learning of others and positively impacted their academic success.
This year’s honorees were:
- Amelia Ballingall, speech language pathology
- Mary Schwenzener, biotechnology
- Andykan Tom-James, chemical engineering
The Outstanding Master’s Student Award in Leadership recognizes graduate students who have showcased exceptional leadership skills, positively impacting the academic community, projects or extracurricular activities.
This year’s honorees were:
- Jhumi Jain, regulatory affairs
- Samihah Khan, speech language pathology
- Addya Khasne, cell and gene therapies
Four graduate students were honored with the Outstanding Master’s Student Award in Community Impact, which celebrates master’s students who have significantly contributed to Northeastern’s community, displaying a commitment to instigating positive change within and beyond the academic sphere.
This year’s honorees were:
- Gab K. De Jesus, information design and data visualization
- Mohamed Danish Khan, information systems
- Cassidy Loft, history
- Abhishek Sagar Sanda, information systems
The Outstanding Ph.D. Student Award in Experiential Learning recognizes graduate students who have shown an extraordinary capacity to integrate academics and professional work and establish themselves as emerging leaders in their field.
This year’s honorees were:
- Nicole Cavanaugh, biology
- Claire Lavarreda, history
- Nathan Miner, interdisciplinary design and media
- Aayushi Mishra, interdisciplinary engineering
Graduate students who, through their education, have integrated human literacy with data and technology in their learning or research are recognized with the Outstanding Ph.D. student Award in Humanics.
This year’s honorees were:
Morgan Gomez, psychology
Ha Le, computer science
Maharshi Pathak, civil engineering
The Outstanding Ph.D. Student Award in Leadership recognizes graduate students who have demonstrated significant leadership and a deep commitment to give back to members of Northeastern’s community or surrounding neighborhoods.
This year’s honorees were:
- Daniel Chambers, chemistry
- Vasuretha Chandar, bioengineering
- Sima Bou Jawde, population health
Winners of the Outstanding Ph.D. Student Award in Research have shown exceptional ability to conduct high-level research and make contributions to the scholarly literature in their fields.
This year’s honorees were:
- Clara Bay, network science
- Nicolas Casilli, electrical engineering
- Alaina Kinol, public policy
- Julia Rose Manczurowsky, human movement and rehabilitation science
- Yasamin Masoumi, physics
The Outstanding Ph.D. Student Award in Teaching recognizes doctoral students who have demonstrated an exceptional ability to communicate ideas and concepts in the classroom and a talent for inspiring students.
This year’s honorees were:
- Naira Keshishian, chemical engineering
- Durgalakshmi Sivasankar, chemistry
- Guangyuan Weng, computer science
The Outstanding Professional Doctorate Student Award in Practicum and Clinical Performance recognizes a student who has demonstrated exceptional engagement and excellence in their clinical or practicum experiences. This year’s winner was Elisabeth Anne Bonocore, who is a nursing practice-nurse anesthesia student.
Annabel Dah-Shin Shu, law student, earned the Outstanding Professional Doctorate Student Award in Community Impact by showing remarkable dedication to creating positive change within Northeastern’s community and beyond.
The Outstanding Global Network Student Award recognizes students pursuing master’s or professional doctorate degrees at one of Northeastern’s global network campuses who have demonstrated excellence in one or more of the following areas: academics, research, leadership, teaching or impact.
Arlington: Jamin Yang, MS Information Systems
Charlotte: Demi M Bernard, MS Speech Language Pathology
Miami: Chris Martin Hernandez, MS Project Management
Oakland: Diya Wadhwani, MS Computer Science
Portland (Roux): Anusha Mukunda Devanga, MS Computer Science
Seattle: Junfeng Ian Ouyang, MS Information Systems
Silicon Valley: Aisha Abdur Rahim, MS Computer Science
Toronto: Sandra Ama Kesewaa Williams, MPS Analytics
Vancouver: Kalhar Kinjal Pandya, MS Computer Science
At the conclusion of the ceremony, Aoun said that the ceremony had changed since first being held 16 years earlier.
“Because we keep expanding, now the venue cannot be just Boston anymore,” Aoun said. “As you saw, we have recipients in the global network.”
He also added that more awards were to come.
“Some were recognized today, and some have not been recognized yet, because we keep receiving notices of other external awards,” Aoun said.
Addya Khasne, who received the Outstanding Master’s Student Award in Leadership, said it was “incredible to be recognized” by the university. But she added that the honor was not just for her.
“It’s more than a personal win,” Khasne said. “It’s a win for all the students who have held these leadership roles.”
