Students Win 2024 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Columbia University's Department of Electrical Engineering celebrates the exceptional achievements of four students who have been awarded the prestigious 2024 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). These fellowships recognize and support outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees. 

Here are the remarkable students and their accomplishments:

Andy Cheng

Andy Cheng, a senior at SEAS, is double majoring in Computer Engineering and Applied Mathematics. His research spans across the hardware-software spectrum, addressing topics such as operating systems, computer architecture, and brain-computer interface devices. He has worked under the mentorship of esteemed professors Jason Nieh, Ken Shepard, Asaf Cidon, and Luca Carloni. Beyond his research endeavors, Andy has dedicated much of his time to teaching, serving as a teaching assistant for Advanced Programming, Operating Systems I, and Advanced Systems Programming courses alongside Professor Jae Woo Lee, and offering peer tutoring through the Center for Student Advising. Next year, Andy will pursue a Ph.D. in computer architecture at Harvard University.

Jackie Yang

Jackie Yang, an Egleston Scholar, is a senior studying Electrical Engineering and Applied Mathematics. She has been a research assistant in both the Lightwave Research Laboratory and the Wright Group at Columbia. Jackie is also the president of the NY Alpha chapter of Tau Beta Pi and has served as a teaching assistant for a variety of courses, including Intro to EE, Electronic Circuits Lab, Signals & Systems Lab, Fundamentals of Computer Systems, and Multivariable Calculus. Additionally, she has taught robotics to high school students in NYC through the Education Experience for Undergraduates Program. Outside the realm of engineering, Jackie is passionate about running, playing the cello, and chamber music. After graduation, she plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, supported by the SGF in Science & Engineering and the NSF GRFP.

Tess Fallon

Tess Fallon graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University in 2023, majoring in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Biomedical Engineering. Her undergraduate research involved developing a novel assay for the functional analysis of patient-derived kidney models to accelerate drug screening and discovery. She also contributed to computational research aimed at understanding how biochemical networks process and transduce oscillatory information. Currently, Tess is a first-year Ph.D. student in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics through the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology (HST) Program, working in Dr. Kristin Knouse's lab. Her research focuses on using functional genomics to gain a mechanistic understanding of metastatic dormancy in breast cancer, with the goal of identifying targetable vulnerabilities in dormant cancer cells to prevent disease relapse.

Shilpita Mitra-Behura

Shilpita Mitra-Behura is a senior in SEAS majoring in Electrical Engineering. Her research focuses on producing engineering solutions to women's health (and broader health) issues, using various imaging and signal processing methods to gain a better understanding of the human body. She has worked with an array of incredible faculty across different universities, but has done most of her undergraduate research with Professor Christine Hendon at Columbia. Beyond research, Shilpita has dedicated much of her time to abortion-access advocacy across New York State, and assistant teaching for labs and classes, including Intro to EE Lab, Signals and Systems Lab, and Intro to Communications. In the fall, Shilpita will be pursuing a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis.

These students exemplify the dedication, innovation, and academic excellence that Columbia University fosters. Their NSF fellowships are a testament to their hard work and the impactful research they are conducting in their respective fields. The EE community eagerly anticipates their future contributions to science and engineering.