2025 Dean’s Awards highlight outstanding Baskin Engineering undergraduate research in AI, cybersecurity, biomedicine, and more

The annual Baskin School of Engineering Dean’s Awards celebrate achievements in engineering research, honoring 10 distinguished undergraduate projects that demonstrate excellence and innovation in a range of fields, including biomedical research, machine learning, agricultural technology, and cybersecurity.

“These are bold projects that exemplify the type of impactful and innovative work we want our undergraduates to take up during their studies as they prepare for an exciting career in engineering,” said Baskin School of Engineering Dean Alexander Wolf. “They have the potential to spur major advances across a wide array of essential fields: from human health, to AgTech, and beyond.”

Award recipients are determined by a committee of Baskin Engineering faculty led by Jim Whitehead, professor of computational media and associate dean for the undergraduate experience, who take into consideration the quality, innovation, and creativity of students’ senior capstone or research projects.

”With the new Vertically Integrated Projects program at Baskin Engineering, more undergraduate students are involved in research than ever before,” Whitehead said. “The program brings together students from different class years to work with faculty on long-term, multidisciplinary research projects—these efforts have led to peer-reviewed papers at top conferences, with students making meaningful impacts across a wide range of fields.”

2025 Baskin Engineering Dean’s Award recipients:

*Understanding the Instructive Effects of TPRX1 Splicing Variants during the Acquisition of Totipotency in Human Cells

Student: Megna Chalamala (B.S., Biomolecular Engineering)
Mentor: Ali Shariati, assistant professor of biomolecular engineering

Chalamala studied the unique role of a specific gene variant, TPRX1-201, in enabling stem cells to mimic the earliest stages of human development—laying the groundwork for future breakthroughs in understanding embryo formation and advancing regenerative medicine. 

*Biochemical Characterization of Human Astrovirus 1 RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase

Student: Aurora Hofkin (B.S., Biomolecular Engineering)
Mentor: Rebecca Dubois, professor of biomolecular engineering

Human astrovirus is a common cause of viral gastroenteritis in young children, yet no vaccines or antiviral treatments currently exist. Hofkin explored how two proteins—VPg and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase—interact during replication, offering insights that could inform future antiviral strategies.

*Incorrect-Path Prediction for Power Throttling Speculative Execution

Student: Naomi Rehman (B.S., Computer Science and Engineering)
Mentor: Heiner Litz, associate professor of computer science and engineering

The processors in today’s computers and smartphones try to guess the outcome of decisions in code—using a technique called branch prediction—to keep things running quickly. Rehman’s work aims to detect when those guesses are wrong and stop unnecessary processing, reducing power waste without compromising performance.

Rehman also received the prestigious Steck Family Award, presented to the most outstanding project selected from the Chancellor’s Awardees.

Annota: Measuring The Impact of AI Feedback for QA Education

Students: Samintha Chandrasiri (B.S., Computer Science), Brian Nguyen (B.S., Computer Science), Tejas Polu (B.S., Computer Science), Neo Sud (B.S., Computer Science), Emil Wilson (B.S., Computer Science)

Mentor: David Lee, assistant professor of computational media

This project evaluated how Annota, an AI-powered platform developed within Lee’s lab, helps students in large human-computer interaction courses improve qualitative data annotations through iterative peer feedback. The team found that students using Annota’s guidance made more accurate annotations, guiding future improvements to better scale personalized feedback and support learning.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus G Bound to a High-Affinity, Broadly Neutralizing Antibody to Inform Rational Vaccine Design

Student: Delia Gagnon (B.S., Biomolecular Engineering and Bioinformatics)

Mentor: Rebecca DuBois, professor of biomolecular engineering

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of illness in infants and older adults, with few effective vaccines. Gagnon studied how the antibody Fab 1D4 binds to a key part of the virus’s G protein to better understand how to develop improved RSV vaccines.

Antibody Detection and Quantification of Group A Streptococcus

Students: Kirsten Huynh (B.S., Biomolecular Engineering), Michelle Lui (B.S., Biomolecular Engineering)

Mentor: Rebecca Dubois, professor of biomolecular engineering

Huynh and Lui are developing an improved antibody test that uses a bioluminescent protein to more accurately measure antistreptolysin-O antibodies, which appear after strep throat infections. Unlike traditional tests, this method aims to detect a wider range of antibody levels, which could help doctors better predict and prevent serious complications like heart and joint diseases early on.

“Who thought .zip was a good idea”: Analyzing Maliciousness in Newly-Released gTLDs

Students: Sriya Katreddi (B.S., Computer Science), Prasiddh Pooskur (B.S., Computer Science)

Mentor: Ram Sundara Raman, assistant professor of computer science and engineering

Katreddi and Pooskur’s research, done in partnership with Palo Alto Networks, analyzes how newly introduced domain extensions like .zip and .bot are exploited for large-scale cyberattacks. By developing methods to detect and track malicious activity linked to these domains, this work could help protect internet users and inform cybersecurity strategies.

ReMiDi: Reconstruction of Microstructure Using a Differentiable Diffusion MRI Simulator

Student: Zahra Petiwala (B.S., Computer Science)

Mentor: Razvan Marinescu, assistant professor of computer science and engineering

Petiwala contributed to the development of ReMiDi, a new computational tool that uses machine learning and simulated MRI data to reconstruct realistic 3D models of brain tissue microstructure. This improved approach could lead to more accurate brain mapping and support research into conditions like traumatic brain injury.

UCSC iGEM 2024: Limnospira Inspired Foundational Technologies (LIFT)

Students: Clare Reyes (B.S., Biomolecular Engineering), Jacob Bautista (B.S., Biomolecular Engineering), Emmet Benaryeh (B.S., Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology), Nivriti Bopparaju (B.S., Biomolecular Engineering and Bioinformatics), Cesar Duarte (B.S., Biomolecular Engineering), Joseph Garcia (B.S., Biomolecular Engineering), Kendra Krueger (B.S., Biomolecular Engineering and Bioinformatics), Brenda Lai (B.S., Biomolecular Engineering), Aurko Mahesh (B.S., Biomolecular Engineering), Vibitha Nandakumar (B.S., Biomolecular Engineering and Bioinformatics), Monisha Pillai (B.S., Biomolecular Engineering and Bioinformatics), Marshall Sekula (B.S., Biomolecular Engineering), Daniel Yankin (B.S., Biomolecular Engineering), Zaden Yet (B.S., Biomolecular Engineering and Bioinformatics)

Mentor: David Bernick, professor of biomolecular engineering

The 2024 UC Santa Cruz iGEM team’s project, called Limnospira Inspired Foundational Technologies (LIFT), addressed the high costs of infant formula by developing a sustainable and nutrient-rich alternative using spirulina (L. fusiformis). The team aimed to improve genetic engineering techniques for L. fusiformis to make it more genetically tractable. 

Improving Low-cost In-ground Soil Moisture Sensing System Using Backscatter Tags for Sustainable Agriculture

Student: Eric Vetha (B.S. Robotics Engineering; M.S., Electrical and Computer Engineering)

Mentor: Colleen Josephson, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering

Vetha aimed to improve an affordable soil moisture sensor system called WaDAR, which uses wireless underground radar tags to measure moisture levels. Building on the work of Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Colleen Josephson, this work validated the original design and improved sensor placement and signal processing, achieving accuracy comparable to commercial sensors—which could help farmers manage irrigation more efficiently.

Recipients were awarded on Wednesday, June 4, at 12 p.m. in the Baskin Engineering Courtyard. 

*Denotes a team project that also received a Chancellor’s Award, which is given to the three most outstanding Dean’s Awards projects from each division. Chancellor’s Awardees receive $500, in addition to the $100 prize given to all Dean’s Awardees.