Founders’ Day is a celebration of the exceptional accomplishments of UCF’s faculty, staff and students. This year, nearly 50 members of the College of Engineering and Computer Science have been recognized for excellence in teaching, research, academics and service.

Six of the honorees are graduating students who have earned the Order of Pegasus, the most prestigious award a UCF student can receive.

“The students we recognize at our Founders’ Day Student Honors Celebration are extraordinary not just for what they’ve achieved, but for how they’ve shaped their time at UCF. They’ve pursued opportunities, challenged themselves and lifted others along the way,” says John Buckwalter, UCF’s provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. “When you look at this group, you see trajectory — students whose experiences here are opening doors in meaningful ways and changing the direction of their futures, the trajectories of their families and the communities they inhabit.”

CECS also boasts two Reach for the Stars awardees, a newly inducted Pegasus Professor and the recipient of this year’s Medal of Societal Impact. The full list of college awardees is below:

Medal of Societal Impact
Zhihua Qu, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Reach for the Stars Awardees
Kevin Moran, Department of Computer Science
Hao Zheng, Department of Electrical Engineering

Pegasus Professor
Hassan Foroosh, Department of Computer Science

Excellence in Mentoring Postdoctoral Students, Tenured Faculty: University Level
Thomas Wahl, Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering

Excellence in Mentoring Postdoctoral Students: University Level
Kausik Mukhopadhyay, Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Excellence in Mentoring Doctoral Students: University Level
Subith Vasu, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Excellence in Graduate Teaching
Shaurya Agarwal, Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering
Tanvir Ahmed, Department of Computer Science
Wei Sun, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Excellence in Research
Subith Vasu, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Employee Excellence Award: Service and Partnership
Lorna Rodriguez, HR

College Founders’ Award
Ossyris Bury, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Outstanding Dissertation
Michael Pierro, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Outstanding Master’s Thesis
Reeshoon Sayera, Department of Computer Science

Outstanding Honors Undergraduate Thesis
Shreya Pawar, Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant
Brent Pappas, Department of Computer Science

Order of Pegasus
Megan Bailey, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Akash Hari Bharath, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Ossyris Bury, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Kyle Coutray, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Pritha Sarkar, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Om Vishanagra, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Five Years of Service
Angela Lehmen, Contracts and Grants
Reyner Martinez, Travel and Purchasing
Mary Rush, Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering
Jennifer Stalzer, Dean’s Office

15 Years of Service
Nicholas Schenk, Academic Affairs, and Patricia Colyer, Human Resources

20 Years of Service
Aman Behal, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Mark Calabrese, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
Joseph Laviola , Department of Computer Science
Kevin Mackie, Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering
Nina Orlovskaya, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Jun Wang, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Cecilia Elias, Finance
Tonya Walker, School of Modeling, Simulation and Training

25 Years of Service
Ivan Garibay, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
Mikhail Klimov, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Sumanta Pattanik, Department of Computer Science
Abdulbaset Benwali, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Steven Dick, IT

30 Years of Service
W. Linwood Jones, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Chuck Reilly, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems

35 Years of Service
Issa Batarseh, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Alain Kassab, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Mansooreh Mollaghasemi, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems

40 Years of Service
Ahmad Elshennawy, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
Michael Georgiopoulos, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Mubarak Shah, Department of Computer Science
Kalpathy Sundaram, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Faculty Senate: 20 Years of Service
Ahmad Elshennawy, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems