5/24/2024 Bruce Adams
On Friday, May 3, a lively mix of faculty, staff, students, and alumni was drawn together to recognize everything Illinois Computer Science has achieved.
Written by Bruce Adams
The Department of Computer Science's Celebration of Excellence, a testament to its collective achievements, took place on the evening of May 3 at the Illini Union. Three event rooms hosted a lively mix of faculty, staff, students, and alumni who were drawn together to recognize how the department fosters “talent and excellence at scale” past, present, and future.
The first order of business was a group photo to express everyone’s gratitude to Thomas Siebel for the generous gift establishing the Siebel School of Computer and Data Science. Computer science department head Nancy Amato affirmed that this transformative initiative will “propel the university’s leadership” in computing and data science, inspiring continued innovation and excellence.
In her introductory remarks, Amato declared herself “lucky to work with the brightest and hardest working people on the planet.” The selection of faculty members and students honored confirmed her assertion. Whether in teaching, research, or both, the twenty-eight faculty members spotlighted have been previously honored by AAAS, NSF, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, IEEE, ACM, Intel, the Sloan Foundation, NCWIT, DARPA, Google, ISCB, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Four members of the department staff received Outstanding Staff rewards for their “invaluable support for students, faculty, fellow staff, and the broader campus community to succeed at the highest levels of excellence.”
Nathan Handler, Marrissa Hellesen, Cole Gleason, Matthew Dierker, and Emily Tran, who co-founded HackIllinois, shared the 2024 Distinguished Alumni Service Award. Hellesen noted that fifty-seven companies donated $1M to that first-time event. Each described the fertile environment for student activity in the department that HackIllinois grew up in and continues within. Some of the CS Alumni Award winners took part in a panel and lunch early in the afternoon, answering questions about their undergraduate experiences and professional lives from student leaders.
After receiving his award, Raj Sodhi recalled that “many of our escapades were actively encouraged” in his time as an undergraduate. Sodhi, Kevin Karsch, and Brett Jones founded Lightform after graduation and accepted the 2024 Young Alumni Achievement awards together. The Early Career Academic Achievement Alumni Award winner Abhinav Bhatele is an associate professor in the computer science department and director of the Parallel Software and Systems Group at the University of Maryland, College Park, while the Distinguished Academic Achievement Alumni Award winner, Alfred C. Weaver, is an emeritus professor of computer science at the University of Virginia.
Forty-two students were recognized for their academic excellence, teaching, service, and research. Honorees received Bronze Tablet recognition and scholarships, and members of the Illinois CS Student Ambassadors/Research Scholars (CS STARS) were spotlighted for undergraduate research, recruiting, mentoring, and cohort-building activities.
As Amato said, it was “one big celebration.”