CECS Honors Reception
Every year, CECS recognizes and honors distinguished alumni for their remarkable professional contributions and their dedication to the college and UCF. The University of Central Florida was established in the spirit that if we reach for the stars, dreams come true.
Meet the 2023 Award Recipients

Sanna Siddiqui
Ad Astra
Class of ‘12 ‘14MS ‘18PhD
Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department/Florida Polytechnic University


Katie Stretch
CECS
Class of ‘06 ‘13MS
Senior Vice President of Worldwide Safety, Health, Engineering & Sourcing for the Disney Company



Dayana Cope
IEMS
Class of ’00 ‘02MS ‘08PhD
General Manager, Operations Decision Science/Delta Air Lines

Eduardo Divo
MAE
Class of ’96MS ‘98PhD
Senior Associate Dean College of Engineering/Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University


Austin Flynn
Student Excellence
Class of ‘23
LUXE Retail Design Operations Management Trainee/L’Oréal
Thank You To Our Sponsors



Past Award Recipients
UCF College of Engineering and Computer Science
2011 – Benjamin Patz ’85MS
2012 – Oscar Rodriguez ’86
2013 – Vinod Philip ’00MS
2014 – Angel Ruiz ’78
2015 – Ian Ippolito ’93
2016 – Dr. Arun Ramaswamy ’92MS ’94PhD
2018 Spring – Dr. Ankush Oberai ’83 ’18PhD
2018 Fall – Frank A. St. John ’87 ’91MS
2021 – Thomas “Tom” Riordan ’78 ’79MS
2022 – Nicole Stott ’92MS
Ad Astra Awardees
2015 – Jason Dunn ’07 ’09MS
2016 – Justin Corini ’09
2020 – Rana Rian
2021 – Brianna LaBarge ’13
2022 – Kadi Gashlin ’19
Dept. of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering
2013 – Dr. Tyng-Lin Yang ’92PhD
2014 – David Mulholland ’93
2018 Spring – Jeremy Dilmore ’02 ’05MS
2018 Fall – Dr. Anurag Pande ’03MS ’05PhD
2019 – Denver Stutler, Jr. ’87, ’89MS
2020 – Debra Reinhart
2021 – Taylor Lochrane ’08 ’09MS ’14PhD
2022 – Timothy “Tim” Smith ’98
Dept. of Computer Science
2012 – Jay Hackett ’87 ’89MS
2013 – Dr. Robert Franceschini ’92MS ’99PhD
2014 – Craig Miller ’89MS
2018 Spring – Dan Schiappa ’87-’90
2018 Fall – Dr. Kathryn Kinsley ’79MS ’83PhD
2019 – John Stevens ’96
2020 – Yaser Sheikh
2021 – Omar Javed ’05PhD
2022 – Steve Leonard ’04
Dean’s Award
2018 – Dr. Martin Wanielista
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
2012 – Brian Crutcher ’95
2013 – Dr. Richard Hull ’93MS ’96PhD
2014 – Terence Murphy ’85 ’89MS
2018 Spring – Dr. Shamik Sengupta ’07PhD
2018 Fall – Herb Gingold ’91 ’14MBA
2019 – Philip Dumas ’05
2020 – Randy Morgan
2021 – Osama Abdel-Rahman ’05MS ’07PhD
2022 – Samuel M. Richie ‘80
Dept. of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
2012 – Dr. Adedeji Badiru ’84PhD
2013 – LTC Gregory Fortier ’06MS
2014 – Dr. Thomas O’Neal ’96MS ’96MBA ’05PhD
2018 Spring – Amanda Mitskevich ’92MS
2018 Fall – Dr. Lucy Morse ’82MS ’87PhD
2019 – Tandreia Bellamy ’98MS
2020 – Mark Calabrese
2021 – Angela Balles ’95
2022 – Christal LaVecchia ’01 ’03MS
Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
2014 – Ajay Kale ’99MS
2018 Spring – Dr. Petya Georgieva Fernlund ’06PhD
2018 Fall – Dr. David Reid ’12PhD
2019 – Dr. Catherine Kammerer ’13MS, ’15PhD
2020 – Nidhi Nidhi Bhardwaj Bhardwaj
2021 – Islam Salama ’03PhD
2022 – Othmane Benafan ’08BSME ’09MSME ’12PhDME
Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
2012 – Joanne Puglisi ’73
2013 – Dr. Daniel Rini ’95 ’97MS ’00PhD
2014 – Paul Mirabella ’75MS
2018 Spring – Zachary Quandt ’84
2018 Fall – Mark Blue ’89 ’08MS ’10MBA
2019 – Michael Piatek ’02, ’05MBA
2020 – Scott Keller
2021 – John Sparkman ’13 ’15MS
2022 – Jennifer Lyons ’92MS