ECE Announces 2026 Annual Awards with Ceremony and Reception

On Tuesday, September 8th, the ECE Department held its annual Fall Awards Ceremony and Reception. Awards were presented to students, staff and faculty by ECE Chair Sennur Ulukus. The following awards were presented:

The George Corcoran Memorial Award for Faculty, presented annually to a young faculty member who has shown exemplary contributions to teaching and educations leadership: Professor Zhambyl Shaikhanov

Jimmy H.C. Lin Award for Innovation and Invention awarded annually to a faculty member who has transformed their ideas into innovations through invention and technology commercialization: Professor Cheng Gong for his patent, “Energy Efficient Ferroelectric Device and Method for Making the Same”

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Staff Service Award in recognition of a staff member for outstanding service to faculty, staff and students: Paris Christian, Coordinator, Chair’s Office

The David Bader Graduate Student Service Award in recognition of exceptional service to the department: Irem Didin

George Corcoran Memorial Award for a Graduate Student presented to a graduate teaching assistant in recognition of excellence in teaching: Chidiebere Udenze

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Distinguished Dissertation Award, in recognition of recent doctoral recipients who have already made unusually significant and original contributions to their fields. This year’s recipients are:

Sagnik Bhattacharya, advised by Professor Prakash Narayan

Dissertation: Global computation from local information: classical and quantum

Shanchuan Liang, advised by Professor Cheng Gong

Dissertation: Magnetoelectric Effects in Two-Dimensional Multiferroic Heterostructures

Sahan Liyanaarachchi, advised by Professor Sennur Ulukus

Dissertation: Freshness-Based Remote Estimation and Control

Sydney Overton, advised by Professor Reza Ghodssi

Dissertation: An Ingestible Capsule for Gastrointestinal Serotonin Sensing to Investigate the Gut-Brain Axis

Supratik Sarkar, advised by Professor Mohammad Hafezi

Dissertation: Intersection of many-body physics and photonics: 2D semiconductors and PICs

Published September 11, 2026