Texas A&M, The Association Of Former Students Announce 2023 Distinguished Graduate Students

The Graduate and Professional School and The Association of Former Students have selected 15 Aggies as Distinguished Graduate Students for 2023. The Distinguished Graduate Student Award represents one of Texas A&M’s highest honors for outstanding achievements by graduate students in research or teaching.

“The Distinguished Graduate Student Awards recognize the top tier of Texas A&M’s graduate students for exemplifying our core values in classrooms and laboratories. These awards have been presented annually since 1965 thanks to generous gifts to The Association of Former Students’ Annual Fund,” said Porter S. Garner III ’79, President and CEO of The Association of Former Students. “We are pleased to be able to honor these exceptional Aggies for their important contributions to Texas A&M’s world-class teaching and cutting-edge research.”

Dr. Fuhui Tong, interim associate provost and dean of the Texas A&M Graduate and Professional School thanked the Association of Former Students for supporting the Distinguished Graduate Student Awards: “Graduate students support Texas A&M’s research and teaching missions in ways that make a positive impact on our university and the world. I am grateful to The Association of Former Students for their support in helping us recognize 15 of our most exemplary graduate and professional students this year,” Tong said.

Awardees will be presented with an engraved watch and a framed certificate at a ceremony and will be honored on April 24 at a university awards ceremony luncheon in the MSC Bethancourt Ballroom.

The 2023 Distinguished Graduate Student research and teaching award recipients, along with their majors, colleges/schools and faculty advisors are as follows:

Awards in Research

Akansksha Baranwal, aerospace engineering, College of Engineering
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Diego Donzis

Michelle Jonika, genetics and genomics, College of Arts and Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Heath Blackmon

Bryton Praslicka, electrical engineering, College of Engineering
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Hamid Toliyat

Peter Renner, mechanical engineering, College of Engineering
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Hong Liang

Matthew Vaughan, materials science and engineering, College of Engineering
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Ibrahim Karaman

Kunyu Wang, chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Hong-Cai Zhou

Seoin Yoon, management, Mays Business School
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Joel Koopman

Awards in Teaching

Shelby Blair, psychology, College of Arts and Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Naomi Nagaya

Miriam Catalan, ecology and conservation biology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Carol Loopstra

Janet Cho, English, College of Arts and Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Shawna Ross

Jeffrey Cragin, chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Daniel Singleton

Meaghan Devlin, educational psychology, School of Education and Human Development
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Erinn Whiteside

Audrey Earnhardt, physiology of reproduction, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Thomas Welsh

Hadear Hassan, mechanical engineering, College of Engineering
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Astrid Layton and Dr. Marwan Khraisheh

Nathan Lanning, oceanography, College of Arts and Sciences
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jessica Fitzsimmons