2026 Inclusive Excellence awards celebrate Engineering community

The Office of Inclusive Excellence in the Cornell Duffield College of Engineering recognized outstanding undergraduate and graduate students, student organizations and staff at their Annual Awards Banquet on April 30.

The banquet, which is the office's signature event, was co-emceed by Adrian Judnarine '29 and doctoral student Ayana Monroe and featured remarks by Vanessa Morales '26, who served as the senior class speaker and discussed her experiences within the Duffield Engineering community.

"In this annual event we celebrate our community - our students and colleagues who engage together in creating and sustaining our environment of inclusive excellence in our college," said Lisa Schneider-Bentley, the senior director of the Office of Inclusive Excellence. "This is the work which facilitates the experiences and connections through which our students, and all of us, learn and grow and thrive."

Each year, the office bestows student of the year awards to honor those who modeled Duffield Engineering's core values and enriched the college environment in bold and innovative ways. The following students were recognized this year:

• Undergraduate Student of the Year: Kavya Mittha '26
• Graduate Student of the Year: Alexander Cruz, Ph.D. candidate

The Inclusive Excellence Partner of the Year Award, which honors a partner who has made significant strides in promoting an inclusive environment for all students, was presented to Carl Cornell, assistant director of undergraduate advising in Cornell Bowers Computing and Information Science.

For the first time, an award was given honoring excellence in undergraduate research, the inaugural recipient of which was Anjali Asthagiri '28. The following students also received awards recognizing mentorship, peer educators, service and leadership:

• Cornell Empower Outstanding Peer Mentee: Anthony Querbach '29
• Cornell Empower Outstanding Peer Mentor: Vanessa Morales '26
• Ephrahim Garcia Graduate Excellence in Mentoring Awards: Rena Fukuda, Ph.D. candidate, and Shenghao Tan, Ph.D. candidate
• Undergraduate Distinguished Service Award: Emma Weiss '26
• The Robert Mozia Graduate Distinguished Service Award: Dharani Prasad Vadlamudi, Ph.D. candidate
• Undergraduate Excellence in Leadership Award: Maguette Diop '26
• Graduate Excellence in Leadership Award: Jonathan Palumbo, Materials Science Ph.D. candidate

Awards that debuted in 2025 highlighting members of the community who exemplify inclusive and effective teaching practices were given out once again. The following students received this year's peer educator awards:

• Inclusive Peer Educators of the Year: Amber Belk '28, Darcy del Real '26 and Ryan Korakis '26
• Inclusive Graduate Educator of the Year: Filippos Tzortzoglou, Ph.D. candidate

This year's recipients of scholarships from the Society of American Military Engineers - Patrick Evuleocha '26, Mackenzie Fountain '26 and David Musheyev '27 - were also recognized and celebrated at the event.