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 2025 Award Recipients

Alumni Excellence

Victor Godlewski

CECE

Class of ’78, ’80MS
Sr. Project Manager and Vice President, Carollo Engineers, Inc.

Hala ElAarag

Class of ‘01PhD
Professor of Computer Science, Stetson University

Jia Di

ECE

Class of ’04PhD
Head of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department and Rodger S. Kline Endowed Leadership Chair, University of Arkansas

Andres Vargas

IEMS

Class of ‘15
Program Manager for Portfolio Planning, Walt Disney Company
SI SE PUEDE! Scholarship Foundation, Chief Executive Officer

Andrea Wesser-Brawner

MAE

Class of ‘04 ‘08MS
Chief Strategy Officer, The Corridor

Sameer Deshpande

MSE

Class of ’04MS ’07PhD
Senior Director of Product Marketing & Management, Applied Material

Dean’s Excellence

Ricardo Zaurin

Distinguished Faculty

Class of ‘08MS ‘09PhD
Professional Engineer and Senior Lecturer, UCF

Alvaro Velasquez

Distinguished AlumKnight Dean’s Impact

Class of ’14 ’16MS ’18PhD
Program Manager, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

Michael Ferrante

Distinguished AlumKnight Leadership & Service

Class of ‘15MSEM
Senior Systems Engineer (retired), Naval Air Warfare Center

Diala Gammoh

Distinguished AlumKnight Engineer of the Year Award

Class of ’07MS ’10PhD
Vice President, Data Strategy & Monetization, NBCUniversal

Sathvik Prabhudeva

Distinguished Student Award

Thank You To Our Sponsors

Gold Sponsor

Black Sponsor

Past Award Recipients

UCF College of Engineering and Computer Science

Distinguished Awardees
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
2023 – Katie Stretch ‘06 ‘13MS

Ad Astra Awardees
2015 – Jason Dunn ’07 ’09MS
2016 – Justin Corini ’09
2020 – Rana Rian
2021 – Brianna LaBarge ’13
2022 – Kadi Gashlin ’19
2023 – Sanna Siddiqui ‘12 ‘14MS ‘18PhD

Dept. of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering

2012 – Leila Jammal ’82
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
2023 – Catherine Felter ‘15

Dept. of Computer Science

2011 – Lee Carrick ’80
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
2023 – Donna Kocak ’89 ’97MS ’11MS

Dean’s Award

2013 – Dr. Robert Kersten
2018 – Dr. Martin Wanielista

Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering

2011 – Dr. James Vinson ’98PhD
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
2023 – Wenkai Wu ‘03PhD

Dept. of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems

2011 – Dr. Grace M. Bochenek ’98PhD
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
2023 – Dayana Cope ’00 ‘02MS ‘08PhD

Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering

2013 – Dr. Christina Drake ’07PhD
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
2023 – Jing Liu ’04MS ‘07PhD

Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

2011 – Dr. Munir Sindir ’73
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
2023 – Eduardo Divo ’96MS ‘98PhD