2026 Computer Science Department and Campus Awards

Congratulations to the graduate and undergraduate awardees of the Computer Science Department who were honored at the 2026 CS Awards Ceremony for their outstanding work and achievements throughout the year. We are so proud of all student recipients and the entire Class of 2026! 

2026 Computer Science Graduate Student Awards (presented by Professor Daniel Lokshtanov):

National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Awards for Sustainable Computer System Design:
Pranjali Jain, PhD (Advisor: Tim Sherwood)

National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Recipient:
Naomi Rehman (Advisors: Jonathan Balkind and Tim Sherwood)

Inaugural Mihai Pătrascu Best Paper Award - SIAM Symposium on Simplicity in Algorithms (SOSA26):
Ajaykrishnan Edamana Illam Satheeshkumar (Advisor: Daniel Lokshtanov)

UCSB Graduate Division - Chuck Dana Research Accelerator Fellowship Award:
Ajaykrishnan Edamana Illam Satheeshkumar (Advisor: Daniel Lokshtanov)

UCSB Graduate Division - Zhu Family Foundation Fellowship Award:

• Gyuwan Kim (Advisors: Tao Yang and Xifeng Yan)
• Xiao Pu (Advisor: William Wang)

UCSB Graduate Division - Neal Fenzi Resonant Founder Fellowship Award:

• Sylee Beltiukov (Advisor: Arpit Gupta)
• Kali Hale (Advisor: Dahlia Malkhi)
• Laasya Koduru (Not pictured, Advisors: Elizabeth Belding and Arpit Gupta)

UCSB Graduate Division - Graduate Opportunity Fellowship Award:
Parker Carlson (Advisor: Tao Yang)

UCSB Graduate Division - Graduate Dissertation Fellowship Award:
Yujian Liu (Advisor: Shiyu Chang)

UCSB Academic Senate - Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award:
Junrui Liu (Advisor: Yu Feng)

UCSB Robert Mehrabian College of Engineering - Outstanding Teaching Assistant:
Sanjay Chandrasekaran (Advisor: Arpit Gupta)

UCSB Computer Science - Outstanding Teaching Assistant of the Year Awards:

• Li An (Not pictured, Instructor: Kate Kharitonova)
• Sarah Canto Hyatt (Instructor: Diba Mirza)
• Will Corcoran (Instructor: Eric Vigoda)

UCSB Computer Science - Outstanding Publication of the Year Awards:

• Arthur Caetano (Advisor: Misha Sra)
• Zhen Zhang (Advisor: Eric Wang)

UCSB Computer Science - Outstanding Mentoring Award & UCSB Graduate Division - Goodchild Mentoring Award:
Parker Carlson (Advisor: Tao Yang)

UCSB Computer Science - Outstanding Dissertation Award:
Mara Downing (Advisor: Tevfik Bultan)

The Caitlin Scarberry Memorial Award: Computer Science BS/MS Student of the Year:
Will Corcoran (Advisor: Ambuj Singh)

UCSB Computer Science - MS Student of the Year:
Ofir Dvir (Advisor: Dahlia Malkhi)

UCSB Computer Science - PhD Student of the Year:
Pranjali Jain (Advisor: Tim Sherwood)

2026 Computer Science Undergraduate Student Awards (presented by Professor Jianwen Su):

UCSB Computer Science - Outstanding Undergraduate Research Awards, Honorable Mention:

• Tom Shangguan (Advisor: Dahlia Malkhi)
• Wong Zhao (Advisor: Maryam Majedi)

UCSB Computer Science - Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award:
Gabriel Pizarro (Advisor: Giovanni Vigna)

UCSB Computer Science - Outstanding Undergraduate Mentor Awards:

• Alvin Lee (Advisor: Maryam Majedi)
• Nathan Ngo (Advisors: Kate Kharitonova and Richert Wang)

UCBS Computer Science - Computer Science Student of the Year Award:
Nikhil Kapasi (Advisors: Diba Mirza, Luke Theogarajan, and Yoga Isukapalli)

UCBS Computer Science - Computer Science Student of the Year Award:
Sammy Lesner (Advisors: Maryam Majedi, Eric Vigoda, Rich Wolski, Tao Yang)

2026 Barry Holdwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Award:
Eirini Schoinas (Advisor: Michael Beyeler)

Computing Research Association's (CRA) - Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award, Honorable Mentions:

• Javin Zipkin (Advisor: Divy Agrawal)
• Eirini Schoinas (Advisor: Michael Beyeler)
• Gabriel Pizarro (Advisor: Giovanni Vigna)
• Ziv Weissman (Advisors: Elizabeth Belding and Arpit Gupta)

International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) Team UCSB-WA - North American Championship, 16th-Place and World Finalists:
Erza Furtado-Tiwari (Not pictured)
Om Mahesh
David Qiao

National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Recipient:
Rohil Shah

UCSB 27th Annual New Venture Competition (NVC) - 1st-Place Winner: LegalTime AI:

• Quinn Godfredsen (Not pictured)
• Joaquin Del Pago

UCSB Robert Mehrabrian College of Engineering - Tirrell Award for Distinction in Undergraduate Research:
Sammy Lesner (Advisors: Maryam Majedi, Eric Vigoda, Rich Wolski, and Tao Yang)

UCSB Robert Mehrabrian College of Engineering - Hynes-Wood Award:
Nikhil Kapasi (Advisors: Diba Mirza, Luke Theogarajan, and Yoga Isukapalli)

UCSB Robert Mehrabrian College of Engineering - Outstanding Senior Award in Computer Science:
Sammy Lesner (Advisors: Maryam Majedi, Eric Vigoda, Rich Wolski, and Tao Yang)

UCSB Computer Science - Capstone, 1st-Place Project (Health Cate Agent):
Aden Jo
Benjamin Soo (Not pictured)
Cooper Hawley (Not pictured)
David Duenas (Not pictured)
John Hagerdon

UCSB Computer Science - Distinction in the Major (DIMAP):