September 25, 2026

BiSSL Ph.D. student Pepito Thelly and undergraduate researcher Divya Pochimcherla have both been awarded a 2026 J. Mike Walker ’66 Impact Award. The highly competitive award is given to two male and two female graduate students each year, who have demonstrated academic/scholarly achievements, as well as have leadership and/or entrepreneurial focus/experience and innovative excellence. The winners each receive a $5,000 fellowship.

BiSSL Ph.D. student Alexander Duffy was also awarded a MEEN Research Advancement Fellowship based on his proven academic and research performance and demonstrated leadership. Congratulations Pepito and Alexander! The competitive fellowship provides a non-resident tuition waiver and a one time award of $2,000.

They’ll all be recognized at the 2026 Mechanical Engineering Student Recognition Reception in October.