Dean’s Honored Graduates
The highest honor a CNS student can earn, this title is awarded to approximately 25-30 students a year, representing the top 1% of each spring’s graduating class.
The College of Natural Sciences Dean’s Honored Graduate Award recognizes graduating students exemplifying the values of our college. Many students who have been selected for this honor are chosen for their amazing array of accomplishments while at UT. They have done spectacular research; furthered the college’s commitment to a climate that is supportive of its students and community; created start-up companies; earned (inter)national awards like Goldwater, Truman, Churchill, Rhodes, Marshall and NSF Graduate Fellowships; have high academic GPAs; or have performed significant service to the University or College while here. The reasons for designating someone a DHG can be many, but in all cases, they embody the highest ideals of the College.
Nominations for Dean’s Honored Graduates
Only faculty may nominate students for this honor, and faculty submissions must be coordinated at the departmental level to ensure no deserving student is overlooked. Faculty members should submit all supporting materials, including testimonials and relevant documentation, to their department chair, who will compile and submit the nominations for each department. Each nomination must include a detailed letter of support addressed to Associate Dean Michael Drew, detailing the student’s accomplishments.
Dean’s Honored Graduate nominations are reviewed holistically, including review by the college’s faculty advisors and college leadership. The college will confirm the graduation status of all nominated students to ensure eligibility.
2025 Dean’s Honored Graduates
Shreya Agrawal
Alan Baade
Hajoon Bae
Lars Deutz
Dat Duong
Sami Farooqui
Haley Goodwin
Kennedy Hawkins
Diego Huerta Gutierrez
Aveen Jafari
Lohit Jagarapu
Abdullah Khasawneh
Ellie Kim
Sohmee Kim
Caroline Lai
Miles Mackenzie
Asma Maredia
Jessica Oberlander
Priscilla Olivarez
Marissa Perry
Gabriella Salazar
Prasann Singhal
Jinglang Sun
Panisara Sutthipong
Jimmy Xin
2024 Dean’s Honored Graduates
Sarina Attri
Emma Babaian
Brett Boyle
Alex Burton
Sierra Chadwick
Rupali Chowdhry
Hailey Currie
Jonah Downs
Zachary Endres
Corinne Floyd
Stephane Hatgis-Kessell
AJ Lewis
Jessica Liu
Keena Medina
Jenn Mickel
Mahan Mirza Khanlari
Alexa Morton
Leo Orshansky
Shankar Padmanabhan
Ravi Parekh
Caroline Penn
Noe Reyna
Joji Sherman
Arvind Subramanian
Berea Suen
Kevin Wen
Grace Wulffraat
Jeffrey You
2023 Dean’s Honored Graduates
Pearlyn Yi Hui Ang, Biology, Distinction in Service and Leadership
Eva Beckett, Neuroscience, Distinction in Research
Eli Joseph Bradley, Mathematics & Computer Science, Distinction in Research
Riya Chaudhry, Human Development and Family Sciences, Distinctions in Research & Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Olivia Conway, Biochemistry, Distinctions in Research & Service and Leadership
Brandon James Curl, Physics & Biochemistry, Distinctions in Research & Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Eleanor Dowell, Biochemistry & Iberian & Latin American Language and Culture, Distinction in Service and Leadership
LuLu Eisenberg, Neuroscience, Distinctions in Research & Entrepreneurship
Haley Nicole Etzler, Nutrition, Distinction in Research
Katherine Faulkner, Environmental Science, Distinctions in Research & Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Holland Frieling, Physics & Plan II, Distinctions in Research & Service and Leadership
Matthew Robert Giordano, Computer Science, Distinction in Research
Ria Goyal, Biochemistry & Plan II, Distinction in Service and Leadership
Victoria Maria Grisson, Biology Marine & Freshwater Science, Distinction in Research
Isabella Hernandez, Human Development and Family Sciences, Distinctions in Research & Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Huong Nguyen Xuan Le, Medical Laboratory Sciences, Distinctions in Research & Service and Leadership
Megan Le, Computer Science Integrated & Mathematics, Distinctions in Research & Service and Leadership
Ayotoluwafunmi Osunsade, Public Health & African and African Diaspora Studies, Distinctions in Research & Service and Leadership
Jorge Luis Ramirez, Biology, Distinction in Research
Aniket Sanghi, Physics & Astronomy, Distinction in Research
Ren Smith, Neuroscience, Distinctions in Research & Service and Leadership
Maya Kayla Webb, Neuroscience, Distinction in Research
Stanley Wei, Mathematics & Computer Science, Distinction in Research
Camille Willett, Textiles & Apparel, Distinctions in Entrepreneurship & Service and Leadership
Gulu Kevin Xiong, Chemistry, Distinction in Research
David Yang, Biology, Distinction in Research
Kevin Albert Zhou, Chemistry, Distinction in Research & Service and Leadership
2022 Dean’s Honored Graduates
Argha Bandyopadhyay
Sanjna Anil Bhatia
Kavyaa D. Choudhary
Nisha Desai
Ronak Desai
Tess Arden Finnerty
Anna Elizabeth Fletcher
Dawson Alexander Grimes
Dora Cecilia Gurfinkel Prosperi
Sarah Elizabeth Howes
Kevin Yuhao Huang
Tanvi Ingle
Samantha C. Jackson
Eduardo Levi
Rory James Malek
Brianna Middleton
Rebeca Moreno Villarreal
Caroline G. Mott
Anna Pham
Rohit Prasad
Aman Nadimpalli Raju
Minerva Ramírez
Davis R. Roe
Delon L. Shen
Valentina Tardugno Poleo
Yanessa Vea
Allen Wen
Delaney White
Xinyu Xie
Tianwei Yin
2021 Dean’s Honored Graduates
Soummitra Anand
Stefani Barre
Dominic Borbon
JD Carlton
Nicholas Alexander Cerda
Zoe De Beurs
Lauren Do
James Dong
Claire Eckardt
Brendan Fitzgerald
Rahul R. Godula
Marco D'Anthony Hernandez
Rabiav Husain
Maryam Hussaini
Marissa Elise Chabella Jenkins
Aeslyn Kail
Min Jun Kim
Niklas Lauffer
Leon Liu
Cole Maguire
Alexia Martin
Meghan Mollicone
Amelia Nelson
Chasity Nguyen
Jenifer Chisom Ogu
Lois Bukunmi Owolabi
Lauren Lia Quesada
Shilpa Rajagopal
Faith Cavazos Reyes
Nila Selvaraj
Meena Magdi Tadros
Juan Enrique Villacres Perez
Elva Ye
2020 Dean’s Honored Graduates
Paola Bojorquez-Ramirez
Michael Brenan
Sheng Cao
Keerthana Chakka
Linda Cox
Shrey Desai
Matthew Duncan
Ezzeddine Elmir
Zachary Gardner
Sofia Helpert
Alejandro Rey Hipolito
Ashley Ikwuagwu
Amari Johnson
Inki Lee
Maike Morrison
Vylan Nguyen
Arinzechukwu Nwagbata
Briana Ortiz
Emrys Peets
Mayuri Raja
Kavya Rajesh
Wyatt Reeves
Samantha Refvik
Felicia Rosiji
Ariel Szekely
Jose Angel Torres
Sara Vargas
Katherine Yip
Shaochen "Tiger" You
Xiaoman "Mary" Yu
2019 Dean’s Honored Graduates
Kamil Ali
Manasa Atyam
Carlos Lopez Bray
Isabel Alyssa Cachola
Janelle Chavez
Sophie Curie
Anne Elizabeth Dattilo
Kayla Eboreime
Lydia Fennell
Jacqueline Gibson
Griffin Dale Glenn
Alexander Dio Greer
Lavender Hackman
Andrew Li
Jenna McGuffey
Calli McMurray
Laura Michie
Evonne Ng
Obiageliaku Okafor
Logan Pearce
Alia Pederson
Sebastian Rivera
Aimee Lee Schechter
Zili Shen
Maheen Shakil
Sarah Spitler
Scott Spivey
Benjamin Solder
Laura Winikka
Shiv Akshar Yadavalli
Hadiqa Zafar
Jesse Yuting Zhang
2018 Dean’s Honored Graduates
Noor Al-Sayyad
Tamunonye A. Cheetham-West
Ashley Ciosek
Blake Ryan Duschatko
Annalise Eger
Wesley Godfrey
Samantha Grace Hart
Alexa Hassien
Kevin Son Ho
Karan R. Kathuria
Austin Kuo
Katherine Griss Kykta
Ashlie Marie Martinez
Daniel Mendoza
Paul Nguyen
Rachel N. Obimah
Christian Bryan Palma
Emily Roesner
Sana Saboowala
Richard Seifert
James Speller
James M. Sullivan
Ewin Tang
Jacob Van Geffen
Nick Walker
Kelly Walsh
2017 Dean’s Honored Graduates
Dylan Airey
Devin Bradburn
Aldo Gael Carranza
Steven Z. Chen
Carla Cos
Taha Dawoodbhoy
Christopher Dessert
Marshall Hayden Drake
Corey Nicholas Haines
Ryan Huizar
Yuqian Jiang
Kacie Renee Kerlee
Hyo Won Kim
Eszter Kish
Victor Loc Lam
Kayla Ann Leonard
Haley Marek
Michael Miyagi
Christianah Ogunleye
Hailey Sellars
Eileen Sullivan
Luis Enrrique Valencia
Ellen Luisa Zippi
2016 Dean’s Honored Graduates
Celia Beron
Nick Bhattacharya
McKenna Boyd
Samuel David Comer
Joel Doss
David Dunsky
Parisa Fallah
Brianna Gonzalez
Nikita Klimovich
Rebecca Larson
Kaitlyn Levett
Emily McHugh
Sarfina Nance
Ajay Naranyanan
Armin Nourani
Avani Patel
Jasson Rossiter
Ella Watkins
Allison Woods
Tyler Yates
2015 and Prior Dean’s Honored Graduates
2015
Azim Kamil Ali
Ramya Sri Balijepally
Santiago Benavides
Jonathan Edward Campbell Clutton
Sarah Cunningham
Eric T. Dawson
Jim Given
Jennifer Huang
Dillon Bailey Huff
Athena E. Metaxas
Ellis Michael
Maggie Hall Miller
Ethan Nhat-Huy Phan
Nalin Joseph Ming Ratnayeke
Nakul Manish Shah
Casey Timmerman
Corey Kathryn Timmerman
Jenny Wang
David Wetterau
Jason J. Yoo
Nancy Fang Yuan
Gabrielle Zuniga
2014
Sadhana Balasubramanyam
Paul Edward Bernard
Dustin Carlino
Bonnie Elizabeth Cole
Christopher Alan Cotter
Michael Scott Depinet
Maria Kathleen Fox
Caroline Sellers Fuller
Juan Andres Herrejon
Aubrey Victoria Herrera
Bruce Kuan-Yee Hua
Patrick J. Hunt
Jason Koeller
Damir Ljuboja
Jessica M. Nguyen
Victor Alonso Rodriguez
Arina Rostopchina
Jules Michael Stuart
Amanda Susan Turbyfill
Alexandra van Brummen
2013
Nathan Abell
Ruba Alafifi
Anna Battenhouse
Da'Marcus Baymon
Lindsay Becker
Erin Beckman
Will Berdanier
Benjamin Braun
Darius Bunandar
Leslie Chang
Rikki Garner
Emily Keller
Yelena Kulik
Michael Ledbetter
Dustan Levenstein
Kevin Luecke
Nirja Mehta
Joseph Tessler
Victor Vu
Wade Wang
2012
Aditi Raye Allen
Genevieve Allen
Shannon Anjelica Allport
Mai Ngoc Dao
Jennifer Lee Ellis
Dylan Jay Estep
Karen Julia Gustafsson
Lon Ingram
Evan Koch
Steve Lu
Christine Manthuruthil
Eileen R. Martin
Michael Joseph Mccoyd
George F. Miller
Melanie Frances Molina
Joanna Grace Smith
Alyx Stevens
Caitlin Ann Taylor
Matthew Tien
Kaitlin Whelan
Seth Paul Whitsitt
2011
Misha Aurelia Blizard
Gina Maria Calabrese
Miranda Denise Colletta
Julia H. Ding
Jeffrey Donahue
Gabriel J. Elpers
Miles Ray Fontenot
Justin Allen Johnson
Deep Mohanty
Sandra Christine Noonan
Ivaylo Popov
Elaine Marie Sedenberg
Sean Simmons
Krista Lynne Smith
Aaron Seo
Daniel P. Tabor
Rebecca Elizabeth Thomson
David Wahler
Matthew Welborn
2010
Viswatej Avutu
Louis Alberto Barrera
Vicki Chang
Lynne Chantranupong
Peter Cho
Marissa Nichole Duswalt
Grace Eckhoff
Jay Jinsing Falk
Sydney Allison Jones
Patrick N. Lawlor
Vincent Lui
Devin Matthews
Lee Patrick McCuller
Amy Elizabeth Pohodich
Ryan T. Riddle
Adam Michael Setapen
Lucia Simonelli
John Wright
Jennifer Anne Wygoda
2009
Eric Eugene Estrin
Naeem Husain
Yuxuan Wang
Vikram Agarwal
Jay Sawyer Croley
Richa Gupta
Shawn Mathur
Katherine Ruth Smith
Marcel Richard Wiley
Nicholas L. Simmons
Gilbert Bernstein
Ari Schulman
Kathleen Hurley
Daniel Michael Cornforth
Carl Murphy
Gene Clifford Dennis
Leah Hesla
Donald (Trey) Suntrup III
2008
Sarah Holmes Miller
Kyle Dean Penner
Kirill Gennadi Bersuker
Kara Lynn Chan
Alvin A. Chandra
Dena Rae Garrison
Michael Andrew Gil
Kara Joy Helmke
Victoria Pan
Jessica Elizabeth Shay
Leah Yieh
Seth Chase Alexander
Nathan Froemming
Scott Lasater Kilpatrick
Franziska Roesner
Rosalinda Strano Burton
Andrew Hill
Halil Saka
2007
Ross Edward Falcon
Timothy Scott Brown
Jia Wen Jessica Chang
Oloruntoyin O. Falola
Keren Ita Hilgendorf
Eric Joseph Lai
Grace Kao-Ann Lin
Heather Mary Scherr
Heather Michelle Zidow
Richard Kenneth Darst
William Leneal Miller
Ehren Andrew Kret
Hai-son Phuoc Le
Eamon Ross White
Lauren Ashley Munsell
Kevin James Hughes Jr.
Brooks Riley Campbell
Michael Ryan Gerrit
2006
Justin David Lowrey
Marit Lowrie Wilkerson
Wassia Anum Khaja
Lauren Nicole Booth
Brandy N. Zrubek
Benjamin Whiddon
Minhtran Ngo
Thomas Holcombe
Mark Alan Gebhart
Kevin Daniel Resnick
Shan Wang
Ester Lynn Schoeneck
Amanda Dawn Stewart
Nina S. Boyarchenko
Justin Shih
Ben Michael Loer
2005
Chad J. Vicenik
Katie A. Golder
Elizabeth A. Mercer
Erik H. Weissler
Jeffrey B. Woodruff
Emily E. Barton
Farhan Khan
David A. Kummer
Christopher A. Burns
Jeffrey A. Yasskin
Lauren M. Oliver
Gregory M. Drugan
Phillip D. Whitman
Robynne M. Hooper
Alexandro D. Ramirez
Diana E. Smith
2004
Trent J. Dupuy
Leanne Kolnick
David Reynoso
Laura G. Young
Mor “Myrrh” Sagy
Lindsay P. Hicks
Lauren E. Harkinson
Katie J. Messerly
Jeremy R. Rahe
Sarah E. Tierney
Yen Wen “Victor” Chen
Alka K. Tripathy
James G. Scott
Sara R. Jacobs
Poornima Parameswaran
Sarah E. Busch
Neil A. Kirby
2003
Tamara Chiba
Gautam Agarwal
Susan Elizabeth Cameron
Adi Dara Dubash
Michael Milner Hoffman
Shirley Hsiao-Lin Huang
Chand Thomas John
Srinath Sridhar
Jessica Anne Leland
Katherine Ann Bold
Elias Okon Gurvich
2002
Brian Tieu
Abigail Green
Sarah Archer-Evans
Erin Lichtmann
John Meitzen
Stacia Rodenbusch
Thomas Sundberg
Tom Brunet
Delwin Lee
Ted Wild
Calvin Lee
Joseph Richard Trinko
Jason Callahan
Matthew Day
Patrick Bloom
2001
David Smith
Mary Catharine Garcia
Benjamin Walther
Stephanie Woo
Elizabeth Weihe
Josh Hanson
Sarah Faulkner
Phillipe de Roufignac
George Porter
Jeff Kligner
Amanda Brown
Nick Gurski
Melike Lakadamyali
2000
Jamie Barnes
David Fink
Jonathan Forde
Jennifer Gatchel
Jennifer Gordon
Sara Martinez
Michael Michael
Scott Nguyen
Ronald Potok
Kurt Sattelmeyer
Kathleen Stauber
Amy Turnbull
1999
Andria Bilich
Michael Dillon
Deborah Klohe
Ari Molofsky
Trygve Ristroph
Tara Spires
Christopher Tinkle
Joel Tropp
Jason Vogel
Jason Waddle
Patrick Young
1998
Jamie Lee Antilla
James D. Ayers
Ziewei Susan Chen
David Michael Ely
Sujit Srinivasan Iyer
Angela K. Kubena
Christopher Scott Laws
Chuan-yu Michael Lin
Christie Marie Rogers
Sarah Jane Slocum
Dustin Blake Stephens
1997
Charles Raymond Bloom
Hieu P. Cam
Jeffrey Ray Crawford
Martin Albert Herrmann
Audress Dawn Johnson
Madeeha Khalid
Kristen Renee Lanum
Jeffrey Karl Leitko
An Thai Nguyen
Tarita Oommen Thomas
Bonnie Kay Trotte
1996
Jennifer Lynn Beall
Tija Carey
Conor John Cunningham
Charlene Yukimi Kon
Christopher Edward Kuklewicz
Scott Albert Stratemann
Adam Robert Urbach
Sean Michael Winkler
Wing-Ling Shirley Yeung
1995
Jonathan Adam Letterman Gelfond
Kerry Lynn Kinkler
Frances Camille McNeely
Melissa Niccole Ramser
Zhendong Patrick Su
Alison Coffee Teagan
Wade Karlton Trappe
Orion David Weiner
1994
Christopher Thomas Bauch
Jennifer Lee Bishop
Bertram Jehantha Canagarajah
Jaitra Vedanta Murthy
Joseph Dean Patterson
Kimberly Ann Setser
Elizabeth Jean Vaught
Jeffrey Alan Viaclovsky
Stanley Suchy Wang
Jerrell Richard Watts
1993
Sandeep Krishna Agarwal
Amy Michell Alcorn
Hala Ra k Gobran
Mark Eric Hanson
Michael Richard Harren
Marc Albert Ibanez
Kevin Lee Luhman
Peter Matl
Carl Martin Matthews
Marshall Reeves Mayberry
Alicia Johnson Snyder
Rachel Janet Waugh
1992
Steven Siang-Kiat Chua
Jennifer Arwen Cummings
Christy Marie Foran
Stephen Allen Herrod
Stuart George Johnson
Olivia Guadalupe Kelly
1991
Ann Bowden Lenox
Alexandre Refregier
Theodore Haynes Romer
Lisa Lynn Saunders
Jeffrey Stephen Schlab
John Raymond Uglum III
Randolph Yuanto Wang