Honors & Awards
Asaiah Gifford, a mechanical engineering student graduating this spring, has been selected by the Colorado Engineering Council to receive this year’s Silver Medal Award. One of the state’s top honors for undergraduate engineers, the Silver Medal recognizes students who embody the values of academic excellence, personal integrity, professionalism and community service.
Nine students from the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering have earned graduating student awards from the College of Engineering and Applied Science in 2026. These awards honor seniors who are nominated by faculty, staff or fellow students for their outstanding contributions to the college and campus community.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has recognized Blake Maly, a graduate student in theÌýPaul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering at ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½Æƽâ°æÏÂÔØ, with a Graduate Research Fellowship Program award. These major awards honor and support outstanding graduate students from across the country in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees.
The ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½Æƽâ°æÏÂÔØ Graduate School has announced that Assistant Professor Cara Welker has earned one of this year's Exceptional Graduate Faculty Mentor Awards. The award honors faculty members for their outstanding contributions either to mentoring individual graduate students, improving the overall climate of graduate education within their program, or improving the graduate program itself.
PhD student Rylan Hodgson recently created a video that won the American Physical Society's (APS) 2026 Gallery of Soft Matter contest at the APS Global Physics Summit. The video demonstrates a unique view of the dynamics of granular flow with a rolling drum experiment that could one day be used to reveal key information about the mechanics and behavior of avalanches.
Assistant Professor Nicole Xu has been selected as a 2026 RIO Faculty Fellow. The program supports faculty in achieving their research and innovation goals and promotes collaboration through tailored training, experiential learning and leadership development opportunities.
Mechanical engineering students Jack Mulvaney, Josh Shrewbridge, Hayden Dondlinger, Kai Groudan, Duncan Laird and Gregory Reilly shined at this year's Colorado Sustainable Challenge, receiving nearly $8,500 in awards during the two-week hackathon-style event designed for anyone passionate about solving problems and building a solution to impact sustainability.
Assistant Professor Nicole Xu has been selected as a recipient of the 2025 Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering. The award provides some of the nation’s most promising early career scientists and engineers flexible funding to test novel ideas and lead research that drives real-world impact.
Associate Professor Nathalie Vriend has been selected as a 2025 Outstanding Postdoc Mentor of the Year Award recipient. The postdoc-nominated award recognizes faculty members who provide exceptional mentoring, training and leadership to postdoctoral scholars at ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½Æƽâ°æÏÂÔØ. Vriend is described by her nominators as an "unparalleled mentor who not only guides research but also creates a profoundly supportive environment" for postdocs in her lab.
PhD students Marissa Dauner and Elijah Miller have been selected by the Graduate School to receive the Graduate Peer Mentoring Impact Recognition, an honor awarded to those who have demonstrated exceptional dedication to supporting their peers through mentorship. These outstanding mentors were nominated by their mentees for providing not only practical guidance, but also meaningful personal support and connection.