Undergraduate Excellence in Leadership Award
This award salutes student leaders who not only participated in DPE events but have made significant contributions guiding a student organization to achieving its organizational goals and supporting its members’ needs.
Peter Thais ’25, Biological Engineering
As co-president of American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), Peter helped send members to three conferences this year. As the first Cornell student to be elected U.S. National Student Representative for AISES, he gives a voice to Indigenous students in STEM across Indian Country and is a non-voting member of the AISES Board of Directors. He also collaborates with Engineering Admissions on recruitment efforts for the class of 2027. He serves on the e-board for Native American and Indigenous Students at Cornell and is Ambassador for the Indigenous Studies Program.
Graduate Excellence in Leadership Award
This award honors a graduate student who is a leader that has motivated, guided, and supported their engineering organization working effectively with their colleagues, honoring the contributions of every member of the organization, and encouraging others to excel on their own while striving to improve the organization.
Natalia Lopez-Barbosa, Chemical Engineering, PhD Candidate
Natalia has made an impact as a graduate student both through her leadership and mentorship within and outside her lab. She helped create a new class, which teaches young engineers about leadership utilizing her skills as a senior member of the DeLisa Group. Her nominator noted her research mentorship: “she is always up for answering questions and making sure you fully understand a concept before proceeding with her work.”
Undergraduate Distinguished Service Award
This award is given to an undergraduate student who has made outstanding contributions through efforts to reach out to the Cornell community as well as beyond the University by applying their skills, knowledge, and experiences as related to their undergraduate education.
Arianna Curillo ‘23, Computer Science
As president of URMC in 2022, Arianna fostered the leadership growth of her e-board, assisted students academically via weekly office hours and review sessions, and developed community through events. She is dedicated to helping students academically as a course staff for CS 3110 and as a CS 1110 AEW facilitator. She is also a Residential Advisor and works to build community. She is an active mentor for URMC, WICC and CSMore to help guide students in their early college careers.
Robert Mozia Graduate Distinguished Service Award
This award is presented in memory of Robert Mozia, a Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering, who was extremely committed to inspiring the next generation of engineers, dedicated a significant amount of energy to engaging in outreach activities and who took pride in developing a close-knit community at Cornell.
This award is given to a graduate student who has made outstanding contributions through efforts to reach out to the Cornell community as well as beyond the University by applying their skills, knowledge, and experiences as related to his or her graduate education.
Mayleen Cortez-Rodriguez, Applied Math, PhD Student
Mayleen is the founder and coordinator of the Center for Applied Mathematics’ first peer mentoring program. She dedicated herself positively impacting the graduate student experience for those most vulnerable. She also volunteers on campus and participates in local outreach efforts. Her nominator notes, “Mayleen’s knack for service is an invaluable part of the Cornell community at large”
Return to 2023 Annual Awards list