Each year, the Columbia Electrical Engineering Department recognizes its most outstanding EE/CE seniors with prestigious awards honoring excellence across research, teaching, and service. The 2025 Senior Awards spotlight the exceptional talents, passions, and impact of this year’s graduating class.
Edwin Howard Armstrong Memorial Award
Named for the legendary inventor and Columbia professor Edwin Howard Armstrong, this award is presented to one distinguished Bachelor of Science student.
- Recipient: Junhe (Brian) Zhang
- Major: Electrical Engineering
- Contributions: Research on nanophotonic fabrication and photonic integrated circuit simulation in the Lipson Nanophotonics Group and Lightwave Research Laboratory, as well as work on van der Waals materials in the Basov Infrared Laboratory.
- Future Plans: Pursuing a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at MIT.
Student Excellence Award in Information and Systems
Recognizing exceptional achievement in the field of Information and Systems.
- Recipient: Arnaud Lamy
- Major: Electrical Engineering
- Minor: Computer Science
- Contributions: Research with the Wright Group and service as a Teaching/Course Assistant for several classes.
- Future Plans: Ph.D. program in Quantum Computing at UC San Diego.
Student Excellence Award in Electronics, Circuits, and Physics
Awarded to a senior demonstrating outstanding dedication in electronics, circuits, and physics.
- Recipient: Nicolas Alarcon
- Major: Electrical Engineering
- Minor: Computer Science
- Contributions: Four-year Superuser at the Columbia Makerspace, Teaching Assistant, and research assistant in the Bioelectronic Systems Lab.
- Future Plans: Continuing studies with an M.S.E.E. at Columbia University.
Department Research Award
Recognizing extraordinary undergraduate research accomplishments.
- Recipient: Mingyue (Tracy) Zhao
- Major: Electrical Engineering
- Contributions: Research assistant in the Lightwave Research Laboratory.
- Future Plans: Pursuing an M.S. in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University.
- Recipient: Anya Trumbach
- Major: Electrical Engineering
- Contributions: Research assistant in the Wireless and Mobile Networking Lab, with presentations at Data Science Day 2025, and previous research with the Translational NeuroElectronics Lab.
- Future Plans: Completing the B.A. portion of the B.S./B.A. 4-1 Program through Columbia College.
Department Service Award
Honoring service to the department and broader community.
- Recipient: Xiyan Zhu
- Major: Electrical Engineering
- Minor: Operations Research and Economics
- Contributions: President of Columbia's IEEE Student Chapter and research assistant in the Structural Biology Lab.
- Future Plans: Working as a Distribution Planner at Orange & Rockland.
Computer Engineering Award of Excellence
Celebrating outstanding achievement in the Computer Engineering program.
- Recipient: Ruizhe Fu
- Major: Computer Engineering
- Contributions: Teaching Assistant for multiple Computer Science courses and research assistant in the Nebula Group, focusing on high-performance systems for machine learning.
- Future Plans: M.S.E. in Computer Science at Princeton University.
- Recipient: Sadie Freisthler
- Major: Computer Engineering
- Minor: Music
- Contributions: Teaching Assistant across several Computer Science and Electrical Engineering courses.
- Future Plans: Working as a Software Engineer at SeatGeek.
The 2025 Senior Awards recognize these exceptional students for their contributions to research, education, and the Columbia Engineering community. Their achievements are a testament to the department’s spirit of innovation, collaboration, and excellence.
