Ethan Cameron Chau

Ethan Chau is graduating summa cum laude with degrees in Computer Science with the data science option and Linguistics. As an undergraduate researcher, Ethan has made significant contributions to natural language processing tools for less-resourced dialects, with a focus on effectively representing languages for which data is scarce and conventional methods are ineffective. He also studied abroad at the prestigious Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich).

Next year, Ethan will continue in the Allen School as a Master's student in the Combined BS/MS program.

Moe Kayali

Moe Kayali is graduating cum laude with a degree in Computer Science. During his time at the Allen School, Moe spearheaded the latest version of the control software for the Manastash Ridge Observatory run by the UW Astronomy Department. He earned an an Honorable Mention from the Computing Research Association as part of its CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award competition and a Mary Gates Research Scholarship from the UW.

Next year, Moe will continue in the Allen School as a graduate student in the full-time Ph.D. program working with the Database Group.

Pathirat Kosakanchit

Pat Kosakanchit graduated magna cum laude in winter quarter with a degree in Computer Engineering. As a researcher in the Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICTD) Lab, she helped to deploy a community LTE network in Oaxaca, Mexico and to analyze network usage as part of a project in Bokondini, Indonesia. Earlier this year, Pat received the Outstanding Female Award from UW Society of Women Engineers and an Honorable Mention in the CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Awards competition.

After completing her current internship at Qumulo, Pat will continue in the Allen School as a Master's student in the Combined BS/MS program.

Kimberly Christine Ruth

Kimberly Ruth is graduating summa cum laude with degrees in Computer Engineering and Mathematics with interdisciplinary honors. This past year, she was recognized by the Computing Research Association as one of the top four undergraduate computer science researchers in North America and was also awarded the College of Engineering Dean’s Medal for Academic Excellence. She previously was named a Goldwater Scholar, a Mary Gates Scholar, and a member of the Husky 100. Kimberly did significant work in the Allen School’s Security and Privacy Research Laboratory, where she focused on user security, privacy and safety for augmented reality technologies — research that also earned her the Allen School's Best Senior Thesis Award.

After graduation, Kimberly plans to continue her security research next year as a Ph.D. student at Stanford University.

Angela (Jae Won) Eun

Angela is one of the most compassionate, intentional, and mission-driven leaders in our community. As chair of ACM-W this year, she worked hard to recenter the organization's mission on supporting, celebrating, and advocating for women in the computing field. Angela empowered the organization's leadership team to come together to do the work and supported team members in their own leadership development. She held discussions on the mission and direction of ACM-W, provided space for the team to educate each other on the experiences of women in technology, and encouraged them to be innovative and creative in their approach to the organization. Angela also encouraged the team to tap into their own gifts and strengths to make a difference in the larger Allen School community. Under her leadership, the team established ACM-W as an affinity group with membership meetings, acknowledged the mission in all materials and events, and hosted diversity discussions throughout the year. Angela centers her leadership around service to others, and she has made a large impact on the Allen School.

Jenny Liang

Jenny has made a valuable difference in the Allen School, the greater UW community, and beyond. Jenny is passionate about helping others and developing technology for social good. In her service as Vice Chair of the Allen School Student Advisory Council, she has advocated for students’ needs and led important directives related to student success and equity. Jenny helped underserved communities through her work in the Allen School's Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICTD) Lab, studying the viability of community-maintained LTE networks in rural areas of Indonesia and Mexico. She was recently selected as a member of the Husky 100, which recognizes students across the UW who have made the most of their Husky experience. Jenny will graduate with degrees in Computer Science and Informatics, and will spend the summer completing an internship at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) as the recipient of the 2020 Allen AI Outstanding Engineer Scholarship for Women and Underrepresented Minorities.

Murathan Sarayli

Han is receiving this recognition because of his commitment to serving our transfer student community. He has demonstrated this commitment through his role as a teaching assistant (TA) for our first quarter transfer seminar and as the diversity representative for the Student Advisory Council (SAC). As a TA, Han went above and beyond to support our first-quarter transfer students while they adjusted to the Allen School and the UW. He hosted multiple office hours per week, openly shared his experience transitioning to UW to normalize feelings of imposter syndrome and transfer shock, sought opportunities to speak with students outside the classroom, and frequently spent time in the labs to help make the environment more accessible and comfortable for our newest transfer students. Additionally, Han represented the transfer-student voice on the SAC and championed events focused on the transfer student community. Han devoted his time at UW to giving a voice to a student experience that is often overlooked, and his contributions to the Allen School will have a lasting impact on our students and our program.

Savanna Yee

Savanna is one of the most caring and empathetic students we have had the pleasure to work with, and throughout her time in the Allen School she has shared that positive energy with our community in countless ways. Savanna has worked for us first as a TA, and then as a peer adviser for the past two years, meeting with hundreds of students to help them understand the application process and navigate the Allen School. She has also been an officer for ACM-W and the Student Advisory Council. Through these different roles, Savanna has helped to organize several community events, including the recent CSE's Got Talent. She has also organized events centering around failure and vulnerability for Allen School students, providing a platform for them to talk openly about times they have failed, what they learned, and how they grew from that failure. Savanna will be continuing as a Master's student in our Combined BS/MS program next year, and has already helped to start a social club to build community among BS/MS students.

Best Senior Thesis Award

Kimberly Christine Ruth (Winner)

Understanding and Designing for Security and Privacy in Multi-User AR Interactions

Supervised by Franziska Roesner and Tadayoshi Kohno

Anand Sekar (Honorable Mention)

Hardware Implementation of a Wireless Backscatter Communication Protocol for Brain-Controlled Spinal Interfaces

Supervised by Josh Smith with Laura Arjona

Guanghao Ye (Honorable Mention)

Fast Algorithm for Solving Structured Convex Programs

Supervised by Yin Tat Lee

Andrew Gies (Winner)

Andrew Gies served as an undergraduate TA for CSE 331, Software Design and Implementation for five quarters.

"Andrew was a wonderful TA who provided a tremendous amount of help to me during this tough quarter. He was always willing to stay overtime to help every single one of us. He is also great at explaining details. Above all, he was an awesome TA in every way he could be!"

"Best TA ever, and he wasn’t even specifically my TA. Updated all the 331 grading scripts, learned React and taught us javascript, even lectured two or three times with beautiful style. I love how Andrew shaped 331 for the better. He is also extremely committed to his job, and was very patient with students like myself who asked him questions before or after class."

Travis McGaha (Winner)

Travis McGaha is a 5th-year BS/MS student who served as a TA for nine quarters and five courses, including CSE 120, Computer Science Principles; CSE 143, Computer Programming II; CSE 351, The Hardware/Software Interface; CSE 373, Data Structures and Algorithms; and CSE 333, Systems Programming. He will teach CSE 333 this summer.

"Travis is an exceptional TA! Passionate about the material, and his willingness to help students well into the night shows an amazing dedication to students and to learning. Travis has been a great example of how to be a great teacher and how to inspire learning in students."

"Travis did an amazing job during section, office hours, and outside of class. He gave detailed answers that made me feel more comfortable handling harder problems, and never once did I feel bad about not knowing a concept. Travis has all the qualities I want in a TA: patience, enthusiasm, domain knowledge, and confidence."

Batina Shikhalieva (Winner)

Batina Shikhalieva, an Electrical Engineering major, served as an undergraduate TA for five quarters in CSE 142, Computer Programming I and CSE 143, Computer Programming II.

"Batina was always enthusiastic, incredibly helpful, and just in general a very nice TA. She was passionate in what she was teaching, and was really accommodating to her students. She genuinely wanted us all to succeed, she made this quarter a great experience, despite everything being online."

"Batina was stellar at presenting material, and engaging students with the material during section. She was always prepared and clearly put in an immense amount of effort to engage students with problem solving strategies. Batina was dedicated not only to students understanding the material, but to students feeling excited about computer science.”

Jialin Li (Honorable Mention)

Jialin Li is a Ph.D. student who served as graduate TA for CSE 451, Operating Systems.

"Jialin is the most dedicated and knowledgeable TA I ever had! She is very helpful and always knows how to answer my questions to get us out of confusion. She is also very dedicated to teaching OS to students and I look up to her confidence in this topic. I wish I could be half as good of a TA as her."

"Jialin has helped me and my partner for OS many times. She is very intelligent, helpful and humble and a great teacher who is full of ideas. She also follows up with students after she has given them advice to see if they have solved their problems. She is active on the message board at all hours, always ready to help students. She is one of the most knowledgeable TAs that I have had so far. Jialin deserves appreciation for being a top-notch TA."

Chung-Yi Weng (Honorable Mention)

Chung-Yi Weng is a Ph.D. student who served as graduate TA for CSE 457, Computer Graphics.

"Chung-Yi has been absolutely incredible, he has even instructed me on how to run the class. Actually, let me rephrase that: he ran the class. This was my first time teaching an undergraduate course, and Graphics is a hard class with many coding projects, artifacts, homeworks, etc. It's a lot to manage and I would have been simply doomed if it was not for Chung-Yi. He prepared the code in advance, making changes to improve on the past year, he led all of the staff meetings, and met with students all the time to help with questions.”

"Chung-Yi put in a ton of work to keep the class running smoothly. He was extremely helpful and kind, you could tell he really cared about the course and wanted everyone to enjoy it."

Tal Wolman (Honorable Mention)

Tal Wolman, an Earth and Space Sciences major, served for five quarters as a TA for CSE 154, Web Programming.

"In all my years teaching, I have never had as dedicated of a TA as Tal Wolman. As Head TA, Tal was responsible for organizing section content, updating course materials, creating grading rubrics, and training and managing the other TAs. She handled all of these responsibilities with ease. Tal is universally respected by students, TAs, and instructors alike. Her combination of knowledge, maturity, grace, and thoughtfulness is truly rare and belies her young age."

"Tal was a great TA. I did not personally have her, but I tried to go to her programming lab hours because she is always so helpful in trying to give advice on how to approach the problem, but not enough to give the answer away. Also, she is super clutch with late-night message board questions."