Male student in graduation robes jumping into the air in celebration
Student Awards and Honors

Congratulations Class of 2024 and this year's award recipients!

2024 Graduating Senior and University Awards

Chancellor’s Award for Excellence In Undergraduate Research—Dean Keith Simonton Prize

Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior 

Alexandra Serna Godoy


V. Glenn Winslow Jr. Award

Biological Sciences

Andrew Tran


Rost Family Biology K-12 Education Scholarship 

Molecular and Medical Microbiology

Akanksha Pabari


Ronald and Lydia Baskin Research Award 

Biomedical Engineering

Anna Kolesov

Molecular and Medical Microbiology; Computer Science

Anthony Weidner


College of Biological Sciences Undergraduate of the Year

Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity

Kyle Elshoff

Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior

Neha Gondra


College of Biological Sciences Medal 

Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior

Carmina Alves


2024 Undergraduate Scholarships and Awards

Alden S. Crafts Scholarship

Plant Biology

Jaden Darmali

Plant Sciences
  • Ozan Dogrul
  • Sriram Srinivas

Alys Hay Travel Award 

Molecular and Medical Microbiology

Aaron Dukes


Barbara Horwitz and John Horowitz Undergraduate Scholarship in Physiology

Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior
  • Asher Khattak
  • Ya Phoo

Edward Dussich Memorial Scholarship

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Gemma Le


Gary D. Hori STEM Award 

Cell Biology
  • Hamza Abdelrahman
  • Harnejan Atwal
  • Ryan Burke
  • Bilan Ismail Simran Kaur
  • Alexis Lyon
  • Rashmi Parashar
  • Benay Taylor
  • Zhiyuan Yu

George and Ann Lin Honors Scholarship

Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity

Lila Magbilang


Henry and Norma Hom Scholarship

Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior

Alvaro Felix-Estrada


John and Jeanne Pryor Educational Support Award 

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  • Jacqueline Ballesteros
  • Chinemerem Elelleh
  • David Hodges
  • Hector Magana Romero
Biological Sciences
  • Zena Al-Saidali
  • Mustafa Alesmail
  • Jazmin Avalos-Garibay
  • Alyssa Bathke
  • Vanessa Campos
  • Joseph Garcia
  • Jeslyn Garcia Guerra
  • Brandon Mendiola
  • Emily Montes
  • Monica Nava
  • Angelica Ortiz Fernandez
Cell Biology

Campbell Le

Molecular and Medical Microbiology
  • Rachel Lester
  • Aliya Magdaleno
  • Valeria Tinoco Perez
Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior

Mia Calderon

Psychology

Kayli Dela Rosa

Undeclared Life Sciences

Angelique Holguin


Kathleen C. Green Scholarship in Biology 

Biological Sciences
  • Simran Kaur
  • Salsala Nasim
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Gemma Le

Cell Biology
  • Darya Einollahi
  • Bilan Ismail
  • Benay Taylor
  • Sabrina Truong
Human Biology

Simran Gakhal

Molecular and Medical Microbiology
  • Tala Abboushi
  • Samantha Medina
Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior
  • Anika Minoji
  • Ya Phoo

Kathryn S. Hinchee-Rodriguez, Ph.D. Award

Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior

Marisa Carelli


Katrina K. Hoyer and Shane G. Smith Family Scholarship

Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior

Mahmood Ikram


Liliane D. Wells Scholarship

Plant Biology
  • Matthew Part 
  • Katelyn Tung

Lois and John Crowe Scholarship

Biological Sciences
  • Stephanie Bahena
  • Jiho Baik
  • Hailey Davis
  • Stuart Kennedy
  • Girija Swami

Louise and Eric Conn Undergraduate Scholarship in Biochemistry

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Lawrence Cheung


Mark Presky and Marsha Saltman Biological Sciences Scholarship

Molecular and Medical Microbiology
  • Caitlyn Left
  • Simoun Raga

Milauskas Family Scholarship 

Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior
  • Carmina Alves
  • Srutik Nagamalla 
  • Akshaya Ravi

Nieland Family Award

Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity

Andrew Matayoshi


Oliver Leonard Memorial Scholarship

Plant Biology

Dustin Lower


Robert A. Kucer Student Research Award

Plant Biology

Dustin Lower


Robert Thornton Memorial Award

Plant Biology

Abigail Broderick


Robyn L. Smith Family Scholarship 

Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior

Soren Johnson


Steve and Tammy Conston Scholarship 

Biological Sciences

Salsala Nasim

Molecular and Medical Microbiology

Simoun Raga


Verne and Katinka Mendel Scholarship

Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior
  • Carmina Alves
  • Srutik Nagamalla

Wilfred William Robbins Award

Plant Biology

Dustin Lower


Debbie and Rick Yaver Scholarship in Molecular and Medical Microbiology

Molecular and Medical Microbiology
  • Marissa Brooks
  • Emily Xu

2024 Undergraduate Research Awards

Alumni to Aggie Student Research Award 

Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior

Rohini Sambyal

Biological Sciences

Di Yang


Charles and Nanci Cooper Undergraduate Research Award 

Cell Biology

Peiyi Liu

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Jedidiah Peek


Dean’s Circle Undergraduate Research Award

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Sydney Becker

Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity

Nadia Sparenberg

Genetics and Genomics

Neha Hariharan

Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior

Tianna Le


John Cuppoletti and Danuta H. Malinowska Award in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Angel Perez


Kendra M. Chan Award 

  • Theo Kyser
  • Aishu Santosh

Khaira Family Experiential Learning Award 

Biological Sciences

Azucena Virgen

Cell Biology

Darian Debortoli

Human Biology

Conrad Tang


Maud Wrightson Hinchee, Ph.D. Undergraduate Research Award 

Biological Sciences

Ethan Perez 


Robert and Rosabel Osborne Undergraduate Research Awards

Biological Sciences

Shay Xinying Wang

Environmental Science and Management
  • Kaelin Campbell
  • Caroline Donohew
Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity
  • Siiri Hamberg
  • Mingyuan Zhu
Marine and Coastal Science
  • Zoe Fricker
  • Lainie Mikeska
Undeclared

Saira Erfan

Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology

Valentina Montes


Roy H. Doi Undergraduate Research Award 

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Cheryl Yee


Stacey Roberts and Michael Lassner Award 

Biological Sciences

Max Kelly

2024 Outstanding Senior and Distinguished Scholar Awards

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

  • Evan Gehres (outstanding senior)
  • Evan Roybal (outstanding senior)
  • Eli Bejarano
  • Ellianna Damozonio
  • Gemma Le
  • Sebastian Liu
  • Michelle Lopez Ramos
  • Kayla Louie
  • Aishini Singh
  • Aman Singla
  • Michael Tsortos
  • Melinda Wong

Biological Sciences

  • Jonah Abu-Ghazaleh (outstanding senior; distinguished scholar)
  • Madison An
  • Harnejan Atwal
  • Amrit Bains
  • Ali Dehghani
  • Ryan Hioe
  • Aisha Saiyed
  • Jalal Saleh
  • Jalena Wouters
  • Zhiyuan Yu

Cell Biology

Jackson Crane (outstanding senior)


Evolution, Ecology, and Biodiversity

  • Kyle Elshoff (outstanding senior; distinguished scholar)
  • Sindhu Bala

Genetics and Genomics

  • Meghana Mahantesh Magadum (outstanding senior; distinguished scholar)
  • Jaskaran Halait
  • Ella Halberstadt
  • Claire Hsieh
  • Nathan Ng
  • Liana Williams

Human Biology

  • Alec Gerges (outstanding senior; distinguished scholar)
  • Laila Mae Canosa
  • Simranpreet Gakhal
  • Puneet Kaler
  • Bohan Li
  • Nathan Shimamoto
  • Gabriella Tenret
  • Ma The Su Thu

Marine and Coastal Science

Zoe Brumbaugh (outstanding senior; distinguished scholar)


Molecular and Medical Microbiology

  • Akanksha Pabari (outstanding senior; distinguished scholar)
  • Ariana Enriquez
  • Ethan Hintz
  • Anthony Weidner

Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior

  • Ansh Jain (outstanding senior; distinguished scholar)
  • Carmina Alves
  • Avalon Babros
  • Liebe Cho
  • Jenna Dohner
  • Kareelynn Donjuan Fernandez
  • Massie Gardizi
  • Neha Gondra
  • Cameron Hawk
  • David Hunter
  • Zara Imran
  • Kriti Iyer
  • Kiruba Jeyaseelan
  • Alexandria Long
  • Wen Min
  • Anika Minoji
  • Rosalyn Muniz
  • Shreyas Raj
  • Aalia Raza
  • Jordan Shore
  • Sweta Tummala
  • Tanishq Vaidya
  • Faith Zirkelbach-Ngai

Plant Biology

  • Dustin Lower (outstanding senior)
  • Xiaoyan Liu
  • Yuchen Liu

Systems and Synthetic Biology

Jonathan Sunkan (outstanding senior)

2024 Department Citations

Department citations are given to graduating seniors with a UC GPA of 3.7 or higher, and who graduate between summer of the year prior through spring of the current year. Students are listed below by major. 


Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

  • Taha Al Tekreeti
  • Taeyeon Cha
  • Ezra Chan
  • Ross Charboneau
  • Carolyn Chiu
  • Amelia Chu
  • Ellianna Damozonio
  • Tracy Dao
  • Justin Dinh
  • John Abram Flores
  • Evan Gehres
  • Ayesha Ghazali
  • Rianna Gonzales
  • Noman Hashimi
  • Erik Hay
  • Oksana Hura
  • Isabelle Jacobsen
  • Angela Jiang
  • Sumi Kimura
  • Allison Kwon
  • Dylan Kwong
  • Gemma Le
  • Sebastian Liu
  • Michelle Lopez Ramos
  • Kayla Louie
  • Wayson Luo
  • Marwa Mayar
  • George Mo
  • Elissa Nakano
  • Brian Nguyen
  • Kimberly Nguyen
  • Katelyn Nielsen
  • Chi Phan
  • Ezequiel Ponce
  • Noel Riely
  • Evan Roybal
  • Aishini Singh
  • Aman Singla
  • Colin Snell
  • Akshanth Srivatsa
  • Audrey Telkamp
  • Kathy Ton
  • Ethan Tran
  • Trish Tran
  • Jenevieve Weissman
  • Melinda Wong
  • Simon Wu
  • Michael Yasuda
  • Isaac Yu
  • Xinran Yu
  • Jiakun Zhai
  • Yilin Zheng

Biological Sciences 

  • Jonah Abu-Ghazaleh
  • Zakee Ahmed
  • Fahad Alhworani
  • Madison An
  • Amrit Bains
  • Ashley Betchart
  • Deepika Bhardwaj
  • Sania Bhella
  • Emily Bogetich
  • Lucas Bubica
  • Sophia Buckley
  • Ryan Burke
  • Adam Bynder
  • Erin Cashin
  • Tianrong Chen
  • Grace Cheng
  • Sally Chenh
  • Carmen Chow
  • Lily Crook
  • Julissa De La Torre
  • Ali Dehghani
  • Rance Del Mar
  • Anna Dethlefson
  • Maria Do
  • Francisco Fabregas
  • Anika Freimuth
  • Lisa Gu
  • Dillon Hallman-Cook
  • Yuzhou Hong
  • Grant Huez
  • Ahmad Ikram
  • Bilan Ismail
  • Jasmine Jackson
  • Elika Javaheri
  • Ashmeet Kaur
  • Simran Kaur
  • Kaitlyn Keshishian
  • Amir Khorsand
  • Morgan Krueger
  • Donnawhitte Le
  • Mao Li
  • Weini Lin
  • Jingqi Liu
  • Tongtong Liu
  • Leah Ma
  • Atticus Mackey
  • Zach Mccauley
  • Aeddon Mckaba
  • Yu-Ping Meng
  • Manu Moganti
  • Ryan Moran
  • Sara Mukai
  • Karthik Nandakumar
  • Salsala Nasim
  • Han Nguyen
  • Caitlin Nix
  • Yingzhou Pan
  • Arshpal Parmar
  • Veronica Patton
  • Claire Pearson
  • Khloe Rosemund Rodriguez
  • Renee Rosiles
  • Khalid Saif
  • Aisha Saiyed
  • Ronak Sancheti
  • Jonathan Schurr
  • Ye Shu
  • Garja Singh
  • Kristin Tam
  • Benay Taylor
  • Andrew Tran
  • Evelyn Vega
  • Rebecca Wang
  • Michelle Weiby
  • Jalena Wouters
  • David Yang
  • Zhiyuan Yu

Cell Biology 

  • Rutab Anjum
  • Madhulika Appajodu
  • Jordan Burrise
  • Jackson Crane
  • Brian Huang
  • Meera Mallya
  • Julia Michels
  • Lorin See
  • Yibo Shi
  • Nicole Tng
  • Sabrina Truong
  • Sohaib Usman
  • Brian Wong

Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity

  • Sindhu Bala
  • Kyle Elshoff
  • Miranda Lowe-Webb
  • Maya Michels

Genetics and Genomics

  • Sophia Chen
  • Anthony David
  • Jaskaran Halait
  • Claire Hsieh
  • Junda Huang
  • Ana Jauregui
  • Shiyu Ji
  • Nicholas Kaiser
  • Xingchen Liu
  • Amina Muhic
  • Nathan Ng
  • Clarissa Otto
  • Melody Shiau
  • Alexandria Skinner
  • Urmi Vaidya

Human Biology 

  • Erica Chiu
  • Gloria Devitt
  • Marissa Durst
  • Scarlette Ernst
  • Simranpreet Gakhal
  • Alec Gerges
  • Jeanne Huynh
  • Puneet Kaler
  • Jasprit Kaur
  • Peter Mazzotta
  • Alan Nava
  • Gurshan Rai
  • Nathan Shimamoto
  • Gabriella Tenret
  • Thae Su Thu
  • Angelina Tran
  • Georgia Tucker

Marine and Coastal Science – Marine Ecology and Organismal Biology

  • Zoe Brumbaugh
  • Sammuel Huang

Molecular and Medical Microbiology

  • Tala Abboushi
  • Aiperi Aruueva
  • Gregory Bui
  • Juhi Desai
  • Ariana Enriquez
  • Ethan Hintz
  • Anhha Ho
  • Cassie Huang
  • Kavya Khandelwal
  • Evan Maher
  • Macey Mcadams
  • Daisy Montoya
  • Alyssa Nguyen
  • Akanksha Pabari
  • Micah Suan
  • Kayla Valdez
  • Anthony Weidner

Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior

  • Takhmina Abdul
  • Darren Adela
  • Sasha Afroz
  • Marco Alarcon
  • Carmina Alves
  • Laila Ardalan
  • Luxi Arnold
  • Vishalakshi Arun
  • Caroline Au
  • Rohin Ayuby
  • Beatrice Begley
  • Kandace Bui
  • Vinh Bui
  • Jalen Chang
  • Divya Chimmi
  • Liebe Cho
  • Olivia Cho
  • Soham Choudhary
  • Jenna Dohner
  • Michael Donoghue
  • Ella Fenstermaker
  • Diana Freed
  • Massie Gardizi
  • Brandon Gatanaga
  • Neha Gondra
  • Emily Guo
  • Vinayak Harikumar
  • Julienne Harmon
  • Cameron Hawk
  • Brandon Hong
  • Katie Huang
  • Sophie Huang
  • Athena Huntalas
  • David Hunter
  • Zara Imran
  • Kriti Iyer
  • Ansh Jain
  • Oriana Jalal
  • Soren Johnson
  • Bhavdeep Kahlon
  • Gabriella Kaiser
  • Yoonah Kang
  • Jonathan Kaslow
  • Navdeep Kaur
  • Michelle Khuong
  • Katherine Kim
  • Paul Kim
  • Ehlen Kokka
  • Matthew Lee
  • Jessie Lei
  • Haocheng Li
  • Kendra Liu
  • Jessica Lu
  • Ashraf Mansur
  • Ksenia Medvedeva
  • Anika Mehndiratta
  • Natalie Mejia
  • Anastasia Mifsud
  • Lourd Xedric Miguel
  • Wen Min
  • Anika Minoji
  • Alay Adeen Moustafa
  • Rosalyn Muniz
  • Aubrey Nguyen
  • Karen Nguyen
  • Mauricio Ojeda
  • Dev Patel
  • Dhruti Patel
  • Ya Phoo
  • Ritvik Punati
  • Shreyas Raj
  • Yuxin Ren
  • Gloria Rodriguez
  • Ella Rogers
  • Daltrey Schmidt
  • Siddhi Shenoy
  • Jordan Shore
  • Anna Si
  • Andrea Smith
  • Ahya Snyder
  • Christian Stan
  • Lia Stocking
  • Jeetu Sujith
  • Andrew Tran
  • Dathan Tran
  • Emily Tran
  • Theodore Tran
  • Thuy Tran
  • Sweta Tummala
  • Tanishq Vaidya
  • Srinidhi Viswanathan
  • Jacquelyn Vo
  • Matthew Vu
  • Rhea Zachariah
  • Karen Zhai
  • Jay Zhang

Plant Biology 

  • Noah Kulchin
  • Xiaoyan Liu
  • Sadie Peters

2024 Graduate Fellowships and Awards

CBS Dean's Mentorship Award

Animal Behavior Graduate Group
  • Meredith Lutz
  • Sabrina Mederos
Plant Biology Graduate Group

Anna Cowie

Population Biology Graduate Group

Jonathan Aguiñaga


Barbara Chapman Neuroscience Award

Neuroscience Graduate Group
  • Rose Victoria De Kock
  • Sarah Gooding
  • Tracy Warren

Barbara Horwitz and John Horowitz Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology Award

Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology Graduate Group
  • Nathaniel Herrera
  • Shisheng Li
  • Amy Parkhurst
  • Pauline Trinh

David L. Weaver Award

Neuroscience Graduate Group

Quimby Lee


Dean’s Circle Travel Award

Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Graduate Group

Joey Truong


Dr. Ronald J. Smith Distinguished Teaching Fellow in Quantitative Biology

Ecology

Hannah Houts


Elsie Taylor Stocking Fellowship in Plant Physiology

Plant Biology Graduate Group
  • Alex Gueorguieva
  • Katherine Hand
  • Tamera Taylor

Eric and Louise Conn Graduate Student Award in Plant Biochemistry

Plant Biology Graduate Group
  • Yujie Meng 
  • Gabrielle Wyatt

Irving I. Hertzendorf Memorial Award in Physiology

Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology Graduate Group

Nathaniel Herrera


Jack Major Memorial Award

Ecology Graduate Group
  • Sabine Dritz
  • Rebecca Wynd
Horticulture and Agronomy Graduate Group

Daisy Huang

Population Biology Graduate Group

Deva Holliman


Karen Sigvardt, Ph.D. Neuroscience Fellowship

Neuroscience Graduate Group

Stephanie Lozano


Larry and Charlotte Mitich Memorial Fund

Horticulture and Agronomy Graduate Group

Katherine Brafford


Ling-Lie Chau Graduate Student Award for Brain Research

Neuroscience Graduate Group
  • Caroline Keeshen 
  • Ksenia Vlasov

Loren D. Carlson Prize in Physiology

Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology Graduate Group
  • Sarah Mendoza
  • Ross Wohlgemuth

Luc Bossuyt/Bristol-Myers Squibb Scholarship

Chemistry and Chemical Biology Graduate Program

Jeff Cheng


Monsanto Endowed Student Fund in Agricultural Biotechnology Award

Integrative Genetics and Genomics Graduate Group
  • Mariele Lensink
  • Anna Muhich

Richard G. Coss Wildlife Research Award

Animal Behavior Graduate Group
  • Alice Michel
  • Abigail Morris

Sharon Gray Memorial Award 

Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Graduate Group
  • Maria Ayala Hernandez 
  • Hannah Tan (undergraduate mentee)
Plant Biology Graduate Group 
  • Gabrielle Wyatt
  • Ayna Muftic (undergraduate mentee)

Simon Chan Memorial Fellowship

Plant Biology Graduate Group
  • Ashley Chrisman 
  • Tamera Taylor

Walter R. and Roselinde H. Russell Graduate Fellowship in Plant Biology

Calvin Huang