Lucas Bang (PhD ’18) Receives CRA Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentoring Award

Lucas Bang (PhD '18) has received the 2026 Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentoring Award from the Computing Research Association Education Committee (CRA-E), a national recognition of excellence in undergraduate research mentorship. Bang is currently an associate professor of computer science at Harvey Mudd College, where is has built a vibrant undergraduate research program in programming languages and software analysis.  

The CRA Undergraduate Research Faculty Mentoring Award recognized Bang as “deeply committed to undergraduate research mentorship at an institution without a graduate program, where undergraduates serve as the primary drivers and lead authors of research projects.” Over the past seven years, he has mentored more than 65 undergraduate researchers, resulting in numerous student-led publications and research awards.

“This award is deeply meaningful to me because it reflects many years of shared work with students,” Bang said. “Seeing them grow, succeed and go on to support others is the most rewarding outcome.”

Bang completed his PhD at UCSB under the mentorship of Tevfik Bultan, where he conducted award-winning research and received the department’s Outstanding Graduate Student Award in 2017. Bultan noted that Bang was an exceptional researcher and mentor even as a graduate student and that it is especially gratifying to see him recognized for those strengths. In a full-circle moment, one of Bang’s undergraduate mentees at Harvey Mudd, Mara Downing, later joined Bultan’s lab as a PhD student at UCSB in 2020 and defended her dissertation this past December.

We congratulate Lucas on this well-deserved honor and celebrate the continued impact of our alumni across the field.

For the complete story, view the feature article written by Harvey Mudd College.