Winners of the 2024 New Horizons Awards Announced
The winners of the 2024 New Horizons Awards were announced at the end of the 2023-2024 academic year. These awards recognize and honor individuals within the EAS community who have actively contributed to our goal to be a diverse, equitable, and inclusive engineering community.
Zachary Ahmad, a graduate student in Materials Science and a 2022 EAS Chair Scholar, is recognized for being a primary advocate for the formation of the inaugural EAS Graduate Student Advisory Board (GSAB), and for being a Graduate Summer Research Institute (GSRI) peer mentor.
José Lasalde-Ramirez, a graduate student in Medical Engineering and a 2021 EAS Chair Scholar, is recognized for being a WAVE Council member, an active participant in recruitment efforts related to the WAVE Fellows program, and for securing funding to cover registration fees for five high achieving high school students and a high school STEM teacher from Puerto Rico to attend the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) in 2022.
Ankita Nandi, a fourth-year undergraduate in Materials Science, is recognized for being the vice president of the Caltech Asian/Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Desi American Association (APIDA+), and for being a resource to current and prospective students as a Student-Faculty Programs Research Ambassador and an Admissions Ambassador.
Juan M. Renteria, a third-year undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering, is recognized for being the president of the Caltech Hispanic and Latino Association (CHLA), and for increasing undergraduate attendance to the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) conference from 11 students during the 2022-2023 academic year to 45 students during the 2023-2024 academic year.
Theresa Tsaggaris, a graduate student in mechanical engineering and a 2022 EAS Chair Scholar, is recognized for being the vice president of the Black Scientists & Engineers of Caltech (BSEC/NSBE), and for being the lead organizer of the 2024 Conference for Emerging Black Academics in STEM (CEBAS), an annual interdisciplinary research conference hosted at Caltech dedicated to highlighting the work of Black academics in STEM.
James A. Williams, a graduate student in Electrical Engineering, is recognized for being the lead organizer of a working group of students with dependents advocating for better healthcare and childcare support; and for being a member of the Electrical Engineering Local Student Committee, a member of the PRISM oSTEM Leadership Board, and a member of the EAS Graduate Student Advisory Board (GSAB).