The 2025-2026 academic year award ceremonies for the College of Engineering and Applied Science recognized 24 students with college awards and three students with awards from the Colorado Engineering Council. Additionally, in two ceremonies immediately following the college award ceremony, 35 graduating students were inducted into the Order of the Engineer, and two took the Pledge of the Computing Professional. College of Engineering and Applied Science ceremonies were held on May 14, 2026, the evening before UCCS commencement ceremonies.
The well-attended event was personalized as each department chair highlighted not only each student’s achievements but also quoted the faculty nominations, sharing why the student was nominated and considered outstanding by one or more faculty members.
2025-2026 College of Engineering and Applied Science Student Awards
Online Graduate Programs
Presenter: Program Director and Associate Dean Michael Corl, Ph.D.
- Bradley Baker, Outstanding Graduate Student ME Space Operations
- Corey Goforth, Outstanding Graduate Student ME Engineering Management
- Johnathan Neptune, Outstanding Graduate Student ME Systems Engineering
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
Presenter: Department Chair Scott Trimboli, Ph.D.
- Cody Blough, Outstanding Undergraduate Student BS Electrical Engineering
- Sabir Ali Kalhoro, Outstanding Ph.D. Student Ph.D. Electrical Engineering
- Kaden Levi, Outstanding Undergraduate Student BS Computer Engineering
- Kommon Ousley, Outstanding Graduate Student MS Electrical Engineering
- Kristen Poteat, Outstanding Undergraduate Student BS Data Analytics and System Engineering
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department
Presenter: Interim Department Chair Jena McCollum, Ph.D.
- Justin Fauson, Undergraduate Student of the Year
- Andy Gibson, Ph.D. Student of the Year
- Katie Girardeau, Undergraduate Researcher of the Year
- Dale Mueller, Master’s Researcher of the Year
- Jackson Tuttle, Master’s Student of the Year
Computer Science Department
Presenter: Interim Department Chair Shouhuai Xu, Ph.D.
- Jennifer Aparicio Shifferaw, Outstanding Graduate Student ME Cybersecurity
- Keanan Brockelman, Outstanding Undergraduate Student BI Game Design and Development
- Kaleb Chanza, Outstanding Graduate Student ME Software Engineering
- Colton Findley, Outstanding Undergraduate Student BI Computer Science
- Robert Kroleski, Outstanding Undergraduate Student BA Computer Science
- Monet Manning, Outstanding Undergraduate Student BS Computer Science
- Melkamu Mersha, Outstanding Ph.D. Student Ph.D. Computer Science
- Zakery Snider, Outstanding Undergraduate Student BI Security
- Mac-Rufus Umeokolo, Outstanding Graduate Student MS Computer Science
- Connor Wilson Outstanding Graduate Student MS Games and Media Integration
- Jackie Zhang, Outstanding Graduate Student Ph.D. Cybersecurity
Three students were also presented with Colorado Engineering Council awards by special guest presenter David Krenek. The prestigious awards honor graduating seniors who demonstrate exceptional scholarship, integrity and engineering abilities. Students are nominated for the awards by faculty. The top three nominated students in each Colorado university engineering program receive a Certificate of Merit award and one student is accorded the Silver Medal Award.
Colorado Engineering Council (CEC) Awards
Presenter: David Krenek
- Kimberly Jones, Certificate of Merit and Silver Medal Award
- Sabir Ali Kalhoro, Certificate of Merit
- Karson Schaefers, Certificate of Merit
Order of the Engineer Ceremony & Pledge of the Computing Professional Ceremony
Two additional ceremonies took place the same evening, the Order of the Engineer and the Pledge of the Computing Professional. Both ceremonies were created to promote behavioral and ethical frameworks for graduating engineers and computing professionals to incorporate into their professions.
The Order of the Engineer is an association for graduating students entering the engineering profession. Students take part in a rite-of-passage ceremony where they take a pledge of professional responsibility, upholding devotion to standards and the dignity of the engineering profession. Thirty-five graduating students took the Order of the Engineer pledge and received a stainless-steel ring as a visual and public symbol of the engineer.
The Pledge of the Computing Professional promotes and recognizes the ethical and moral behavior of graduates in computing-related degree programs as students transition to careers of service to society. As reliance on augmented technologies continues to increase, graduating students transitioning into professional roles are reminded of their responsibility to the public to practice with the highest levels of integrity and competence. Two graduating students took the Pledge of the Computing Professional and received a lapel pin that spelled out “honor” in ASCII, a character coding standard in computing, to remind them of their pledge.