Columbia Engineering’s 2026 Graduate Student Award Winners

The Graduate Student Life Leadership Awards recognize two students whose leadership and vision have enhanced graduate student life on campus. This year’s honorees are Bernard Steyaert PhD’26 and Jagannaath Shiva Letchumanan PhD’26, both from the Department of Electrical Engineering. 

Bernard Steyaert 

Bernard "Bert" Steyaert is graduating with a PhD in electrical engineering from the Motor Drives and Power Electronics Lab (MPLab), advised by Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering Matthias Preindl. His research focuses on motors and power electronics for electric vehicles, and has produced numerous peer-reviewed publications, as well as two patents. Bert's journey through Columbia Engineering spans eight years, beginning as a 3-2 program transfer in 2018 and continuing through his BS (2020), MS (2022), and now PhD (2026).

Bert has been deeply involved in shaping graduate student life at Columbia. He served as President of the Graduate Electrical Engineering Council (GEEC) in 2024, where he launched a mentorship program with the undergraduate IEEE chapter to bridge the graduate-undergraduate community. He has mentored BS and MS students through research projects, several of whom have co-authored publications with him, and served as a TA, CA, and LA across multiple courses. From 2018 to 2023, Bert was a core member of Columbia University Formula Racing, helping bring the team's first electric vehicle to competition in 2023. He has also represented Columbia on the club triathlon team, competing at USA Triathlon Collegiate Club Nationals in 2025 and 2026, and qualifying for the Sprint and Olympic Distance National Championships at 2026 USA Triathlon Nationals. In 2025, he received the EE Department Graduate Service Award.

Jagannaath Shiva Letchumanan 

Jagannaath Shiva Letchumanan is a PhD candidate in Electrical Engineering, advised by Lau Family Professor of Electrical Engineering and Professor of Biomedical Engineering Ken Shepard, and his thesis is titled "A Wearable Ultrasound Imager for Chronic Point-of-Care Settings." He began his student life journey in Columbia in January 2020 when he joined the board of GEEC (Graduate Electrical Engineers at Columbia) as the social chair. He was among the few people who championed socially distanced events, such as open-air coffee hours, to encourage student interaction and foster a sense of community at a time when the world was in a panic. He remained the GEEC social chair in 2021 while also serving as the Interschool chair of EGSC (Engineering Graduate Student Council) in Fall 2021. He was vital in bringing back interactions with fellow student councils in other schools and pushed for the first large event in over 2 years in December 2021, which was a great success and led to his presidency of both EGSC and GEEC in 2022. 

Shiva has been a fierce defender of student life and re-established the regular calendar of Columbia Engineering events that still continue to this day, and revived the quality of life (QoL) survey after a 3-year hiatus to give students a voice again. He also helped secure the first union contract passed in 2022 and worked with individual departments to provide specific feedback from the QoL survey to help their own student councils lobby for change in the students’ benefit. During his tenure as EGSC president, several student groups were revived or newly formed, including department councils, and he was instrumental in negotiating a large budget for student life in SEAS, which benefited both EGSC and individual groups.

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