Student Awards

Undergraduate

2017 EE Biegler Award – $500: Ben Kaito Shiroma

2017 EE Biegler Award – $500: Richelle Smith

2017 USC EE Ming Hsieh Institute Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award – $500: Yan Zhu

Professor Philip S. Biegler, Chair of the Electrical Engineering department, was the first USC Dean of Engineering. Under Biegler’s leadership, the new College of Engineering moved from the Red Barns, a temporary structure put up during World War I, to headquarters in Bridge Hall. Biegler began laying a foundation for further growth by recruiting a number of excellent teachers and expanding into the new Petroleum and Chemical Engineering Building. In his honor, this award honors the EE student with the highest GPA.

Ming Hsieh Institute Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award: Spencer William Congero

The Ming Hsieh Institute was launched in 2010, after a generous endowment of $35 million dollars from USC Electrical Engineering Alumnus and Trustee Mr. Ming Hsieh. The goal of the institute is to position the Ming Hsieh Department at the forefront of the world in thought leadership in the area of electrical engineering, specifically in the development of intelligent technologies to empower mankind.

Key activities sponsored by the Ming Hsieh Institute include supporting ground-breaking proposals by our faculty to launch research and other academic endeavors that enhance the electrical engineering department in significant ways. This includes venture funding for activities under three well-defined themes to initiate research and academic programs that are strikingly innovative and forward-looking.

Graduate

Charles Weber Memorial Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award

Pedro Enrique Gomes Da Silva

Honorable Mentions – Outstanding Teaching Assistant ($100 each)

Pezhman Mamdouh
Sanmukh Rao Kuppannagari
Fangzhou Wang
Mohsen Hassanpourghadi

EE Nominations for the Ballhaus Best Viterbi Dissertation Prize ($100 each)

Hooman Abidiasl
Ren Chen

Best TA Awards:

Roberto Martin del Campo Vera (Advisor: Prof. Edmond Jonckheere)

Honorable Mention:

Zeming Jiang
Justin Huang
Sucha Supittayapornpong

Best EE Dissertation Awards

Brandon Franzke (Advisor: Prof. Bart Kosko)
Dissertation Title: Noise Benefits in Markov Chain Monte Carlo Computation

NingFeng Huang (Advisor: Prof. Michelle Povinelli)
Dissertation Title: Light Management in Nanostructures: Nanowire Solar Cells and Optical Epitaxial Growth