Celebrating the Class of 2025
The UVA Engineering Class of 2025 has exemplified innovation, resilience and a commitment to engineering for the greater good throughout their academic journey, pushing boundaries and setting new standards for excellence.
As they step into the next chapter, we recognize their achievements and the bright futures they are poised to create.
In Photos: Final Exercises
Click here to view a selection of photos from the Lawn ceremony and department diploma ceremonies.
Meet the Class of 2025
Meet just a few of the exceptional students who make up the Class of 2025 and see how their passion and perseverance have shaped our community and future.
Graduating Stars Prepare To Launch Their Careers
Fourth-year students share memories and show gratitude as they say goodbye.
Outstanding Ph.D. Student Award Recipients
UVA Engineering's exceptional students have demonstrated meaningful contributions to their fields through innovative research, dedicated mentorship and community engagement.
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Celebrating Excellence: 2025 UVA Engineering Outstanding Student Award Winners
Each year, the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science recognizes students who demonstrate exceptional achievement in academics, research, leadership and service.
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Graduating Student’s Path to Dream Job Was a Roller-Coaster Ride
For Mehki Rippey, a Class of 2025 mechanical engineering student, the undergraduate experience has been one heck of a ride. This summer he will start a full-time career with his dream employer, Universal Destinations and Experiences.
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Engineering Hoos Win Hughes Award
The School of Engineering and Applied Science is proud to announce this year’s Thomas Hughes Award winners for undergraduate research, presented at the Fourth-Year Garden Party organized by Engineering Student Council.
Department Celebrations
Many of UVA Engineering’s departments take time during the end of the semester to gather, socialize and celebrate outstanding students and faculty.
Capstone Design Projects
Capstone design projects represent the culmination of undergraduate engineering training in UVA’s School of Engineering and Applied Science. In these team-based projects, fourth-year students apply their technical knowledge and professional skills to tackle real-world challenges, often in partnership with external stakeholders. Through a structured design process — from identifying needs to delivering tested solutions — students demonstrate their abilities in engineering, communication, collaboration and teamwork. Capstones prepare students for success in their chosen professions.
Aerospace Engineering
An aerospace engineering capstone group successfully hot-fired their custom hybrid rocket engine, which they built from scratch.
Biomedical Engineering
Fourth-year biomedical engineering students displayed their capstone projects during a poster session at Ern Commons.
Chemical Engineering
Chemical Engineering students presented their capstone projects during a series of sessions.
Civil Engineering
Civil engineering students presented capstones during a poster session in Olsson Hall.
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Fourth-year electrical and computer engineering students presented their capstone projects during poster sessions in fall 2024.
Materials Science and Engineering
Fourth-year materials science students take part in a two-semester capstone experience where groups of students bring together their entire curricular coursework and laboratory skills to develop solutions to a major engineering design problem.
Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical engineering students presented their capstone design projects during a series of sessions in April 2025.
Systems Engineering
Fourth-year systems and Information engineering students presented their capstone projects alongside students from other universities during the SIEDS conference.
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Students Develop Novel Plan for Low-Cost Hypersonic Research
A Virginia-Based National Security Company Is Investing in the Fourth-Year Capstone Design Project
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From Design to Completion, 6 Capstone Students Build Steel Bridge in Record Time
Students built a 20-foot structurally sound steel bridge under heavy time constraints.
Video: Smart Start
An electrical and computer engineering capstone group was handed a challenge: develop a “smart starting block” that could measure a swimmer’s force at takeoff and potentially help UVA’s elite athletes shave precious fractions of a second off their times.
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Computer Science Final Projects
UVA Computer science students showed off their software engineering skills and creativity in final projects.
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‘Innovation Garage’ Final Presentations
Students in “Innovation Garage,” one of the capstone courses for the engineering business minor, presented final projects.
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Vampire Video Games Expo
Computer Science students taking “Bits & Bytes: Exploring Vampires in Video Games” shared video games they created during a class-wide expo this spring.
Fourth-Year Garden Party
The annual garden party for fourth-year students, sponsored by the Engineering Student Council, is an opportunity for students to gather, socialize and celebrate. Click here to see more photos from the garden party.
Graduate Student Achievements
Graduate students in the Class of 2025 have made remarkable contributions to research, teaching and leadership across the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Their work has advanced discovery, strengthened our academic community, and exemplified the drive and creativity that define UVA Engineering. Here are a few of their many achievements.
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Grad Thesis Slam
Three graduate students represented UVA Engineering in this year’s Grad Thesis SLAM Competition.
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Student Spotlight: Sophia Bakar
Bakar's journey through UVA Engineering has been marked by her commitment to community building and research.
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UVA Honors Its Top Teachers
Daniel Lassiter of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering received a 2025 Graduate Student Teaching Award in the STEM disciplines category.
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BME M.E. Program Final Design Project Expo
Biomedical engineering M.E. students showcased their final design projects.
UVA Researchers Design Innovative 25 MW Rotors To Keep Pace With Wind Turbine Growth
Michael Jeong was the lead author on a paper published in Applied Energy that revealed promising new rotor designs that could significantly enhance power and performance of offshore wind turbines.
Big Molecules, Boundless Possibilities
Israt Jahan Duti is part of a team that designs hydrogels to mimic the physical properties of living tissue.
Cooler Faster Better: UVA Engineers Uncover a New Way to Stop Electronics from Overheating
Will Hutchins was first author of a study published in Nature Materials in which a team of engineers at the University of Virginia and their collaborators revealed a radical new way to move heat, faster than ever before.
UVA Students Earn NASA’s Michael Freilich Visualization Award
Benjamin D. Goffin was among the 2023 winners of the American Geophysical Union’s prestigious Michael H. Freilich Student Visualization Competition.
Farjana Tonni Earns Fellowship
Tonni’s research identifies specific characteristics of 2D materials and thin films with unique electronic, mechanical, thermal and optoelectronic properties that make them efficient conductors of heat and electricity.
UVA Multifunctional Thin Film Group Lends Expertise to Electric Vehicle Battery Challenge
Ian Brummel studies materials that will make lithium batteries used in electric cars safer and allow them to charge faster.