Award Recipients

Distinguished Research Award

The Distinguished Research Award is the Link Lab's most prestigious award honoring a Ph.D. student who showcases the highest quality research in cyber-physical systems happening in the Link Lab. This award is given twice per year to Ph.D. candidates who have defended their dissertation proposal and have conducted significant research towards their Ph.D dissertation. This award is sponsored by Leidos.

Past Awardees

  • Fall 2024: Kayla Boggess - "Human-Centric Explanations for Autonomous Systems"
  • Spring 2024: Lauren Bramblett - "Epistemic Planning for Multi-Robot Systems"
  • Fall 2023: Xinjian Liu – “Nanowatt-scale Energy-Harvesting Systems-on-Chip for In-Textile Sensors” and Trent Weiss – “Motion Prediction & Trajectory Synthesis for Autonomous Racing” (two awardees due to tie)
  • Spring 2023: Md Mofijul Islam - "Multimodal and Multitask Representation Learning for Perceiving Embodied Interactions"
  • Fall 2022: Nurani Saoda - "Broadening the Capabilities of Self-Powered Energy-Harvesting Systems"
  • Spring 2022: Sonia Baee - "Modeling Human Behavior with Reinforcement Learning"
  • Fall 2021: Wenqiang (Winston) Chen - "Harnessing Vibrations for Intelligent Interactions for Real Users in the Real World"
  • Fall 2020: Esen Yel - "Runtime Monitoring and Predictive Planning for Safe Autonomous Robotic Operations"

Early-Stage Research Award

The Early-Stage Research Award honors Link Lab graduate students who have demonstrated excellence in research and scholarship during the early and mid-stages of their graduate studies. The Early-Stage Research Award is awarded once per year in the Spring.

Past Awardees

  • 2024: Kshitij (Horizon) Bhatta & Mehdi Taghizadeh
  • 2023: Kay Hutchinson & Md Mofijul Islam
  • 2022: Vaibhav Verma & Sirat Samyoun
  • 2021: Esen Yel & Ben Bowes
  • 2020: Meiyi Ma & Faysal Shezam

Outstanding Service and Leadership

The Outstanding Service and Leadership Award recognizes Link Lab graduate students who have gone above and beyond to lead in building a positive culture within the Link Lab by supporting others and fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Link Lab community. The Outstanding Service and Leadership Award is awarded once per year in the Spring.

Past Awardees

  • 2024: Maral Zhiyanpour & Zack Landsman
  • 2023: Haley Green & Aya Yehia
  • 2022: Jake Nelson & Lahiru Wijayasingha
  • 2021: Luis Lopez & Lauren Bouchard
  • 2020: Minghui Sun & Arash Tavakoli