2026 ECE Annual Award Winners
Eleven students and faculty were recognized during the annual department ceremony
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Northwestern Engineering recognized 11 students and faculty during its annual awards ceremony on May 29.
“One of the most rewarding moments of the academic year is our annual awards ceremony, where the impressive accomplishments of our students and faculty are recognized and celebrated,” said Randall Berry, John A. Dever Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the McCormick School of Engineering.
“It was a pleasure to serve as chair of the ECE Awards Committee and help recognize the outstanding achievements of this year’s award winners,” said Koray Aydin, professor of electrical and computer engineering. “Their accomplishments reflect the excellence, dedication, and collaborative spirit that make our ECE community so strong.”
Allen Taflove Best Teacher Award
Igor Kadota, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, earned the student-nominated Allen Taflove Best Teacher Award.
Nominator notes: “Professor Kadota is an exceptionally attentive, patient, polite, and enthusiastic instructor who creates a welcoming and supportive learning environment. His lessons are always delivered with clear instructions and thoughtful explanations. His passion for teaching, student-centered approach, and unwavering dedication make him truly deserving of this award.”
Best Teaching Assistant Award
Patrick Koller, a PhD candidate in electrical and computer engineering advised by Professor Aggelos Katsaggelos, received the Best Teaching Assistant Award for his support of ELEC_ENG/COMP_ENG 395, 495: Scientific Machine Learning.
Nominator notes: “Patrick was professional, clear, and genuinely committed to helping students succeed, and that made a big difference in my understanding and confidence in the course. I appreciated how encouraging and intellectually curious he was during discussions related to AI research and technical problem-solving.”
Best Computer Engineering PhD Thesis Award
PhD candidate Payal Mohapatra received the Best Computer Engineering PhD Thesis Award for “Efficient, Robust and Interpretable Multimodal Learning for Time-Series.” She is advised by Professor Qi Zhu.
Nominator notes: “Payal combines strong technical depth with independence and the ability to execute in collaborative, real-world settings. Her publication record is both prolific and consistently high-quality, spanning top venues in machine learning, systems, speech, and interdisciplinary science.”
Best Electrical Engineering PhD Thesis Award
PhD candidate Jordan Thomas, who is advised by Professor Prem Kumar, earned the Best Electrical Engineering PhD Thesis Award for “Quantum Entanglement and Teleportation Coexisting With Classical Communications in Optical Fiber.” Kumar and Thomas discussed their research integrating quantum and classical networks in the same optical fiber infrastructure in a recent Optics & Photonics News article.
Nominator notes: “Jordan has collaborated with the researchers at Fermilab to upgrade the entanglement swapping experiments from dark fibers to fibers with classical signals. He has made many creative contributions in those experiments, which speaks highly of Jordan’s leadership ability.”
Best Computer Engineering MS Thesis Award
Hongjun Xu won the Best Computer Engineering MS Thesis Award for “A Runtime-Free Deployment Pipeline for Mamba on Microcontrollers.” Combining embedded systems engineering, machine learning deployment, and practical systems optimization, the work addresses an important challenge in embedded AI systems: enabling efficient deployment of modern deep learning architectures on highly resource-constrained microcontroller platforms. Xu is advised by Professor Stephen Xia.
Best Undergraduate Researcher Awards
Pavel Belakurski and Diego Hernandez Nunez earned Best Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Researcher Awards.
Nominator notes: “Pavel is an independent thinker, and his contribution goes well beyond executing assigned tasks. With a sense of ownership and systems thinking, he functioned as the natural leader of a project team that included two master’s degree students.”
“Diego consistently demonstrates initiative, creativity, and intellectual curiosity. He is not satisfied with simply completing assigned tasks, he actively proposes new directions, asks insightful questions, and seeks to understand the broader implications of the work.”
Abby Hou received the Best Computer Engineering Undergraduate Researcher Award.
Nominator notes: “Abby has been fantastic collaborator and is a significant contributor to a paper on the embodied textile hand sensing project.”
Belakurski and Hou worked in the VAK Embodied System Lab with Professor Nivedita Arora. Hernandez Nunez was advised by Kadota, who directs the Network+X Research Group.
Outstanding Graduating Seniors
Outstanding Seniors are selected based on undergraduate academic performance. Eric Chen was awarded Outstanding Graduating Computer Engineering Senior. Jesse Cho was named the Outstanding Graduating Electrical Engineering Senior.
Outstanding Service Award
The ECE Awards Committee also recognized the outstanding service of Professor Randy Berry, who has served as chair of the department for two terms with exceptional dedication and leadership.