Math Recognition 2025-2026

Content

Undergraduate

Graduation

August 2025
Nadjia Logans, Elizabeth Nguyen, Ian Parmley, Marie Victoria Zhussupova

December 2025
Grant Bauman, Omeed Ilyas, Brooke Murphy, Karmen Reimer, Ransom Sterns, Thy Tran, Teresa Trinh, Max Vitek, Madeline Walker, Jillian Zaun, and Kristine Zhao

May 2026
Isabel Adams, Sajid Raihan Akash, Adam Algahimi, Anton Angeletti, Abhinav Bettadapura, Daniel Brajic, Nevin Butler, Gage Cammack, Cameron Carlson, Hillevi Carlsson, Caleb Dick, Dimitri Dorsey, Mohanad Elsharif, Ryan Flatley, Andrew Grant, Drew Hall, Xavier Hayden, Sophia Heinrich, Collin Henkel, Simone Hill, Joseph Holy, Sagun Karki, Simon Kerr, Caiya Khammaly, David Khuu, Carlin King, Gupil Kodali, Sydney Kohl, David Kwok, Jada Logans, Reva Long, Lain Mastey, Tyler McMann, Henry Meyer, Aaron Morrissey, Olivia Muenster, Allan Muinov, Arjun Nair, Matthew Naumann, Loc Nguyen, Riley Oller, Gabe Payson, Jonathan Perez, Josie Pettis, Bishop Placke, Jake Rance, Lily Rippeteau, Antonio Romo, Josh Rossman, Shaghayegh Rouhi, Joe Sabutis, Sowparnika Sandhya, Renzo Sarreal, Jessica Sherman, Khushi Singh, Stuti Sitesh, Daniel Smyth, Joe Stuedemann, Nathan Van Drie, Jenna Wakefield, Thomas Waller, Luke Walsdorf, Grant Wasserman, and Eric Woods

Highest Distinction, Spring 2026
Sajid Raihan Akash

High Distinction, Spring 2026
Anton Angeletti, Hillevi Carlsson, Ryan Flatley, Andrew Grant, Andrew Hall, Sophia Heinrich, David Kwok, Aaron Morrissey, Allan Muinov, Bishop Placke, Jake Rance, Lily Rippeteau, Daniel Smyth, Nathan Van Drie, Jenna Wakefield, and Grant Wasserman

Distinction, Spring 2026
Nevin Butler, Mohanad Elsharif, David Khuu, Reva Long, Lain Mastey, Tyler McMann, Joshua Rossman, and Shaghayegh Rouhi

Honors, Spring 2026
Adam Algahimi, Anton Angeletti, Nevin Butler, Ryan Flatley, Drew Hall, Sophia Heinrich, Simone Hill, Caiya Khammaly, Aaron Morrissey, Allan Muinov, Jake Rance, Lily Rippeteau, Josh Rossman, Khushi Singh, Nathan Van Drie, Jenna Wakefield, Thomas Waller, and Grant Wasserman

Distinction, Fall 2025
Karmen Reimer

Honors, Summer 2025
Nadjia Logans

Senior Thesis (directed by)
Sajid Raihan Akash (Herman Batelaan, Physics & Ilya Karvchenko, Physics)

Involvement and Recognition

UCARE Awards and Undergraduate Research Participation (directed by)
Sajid Raihan Akash, UCARE Summer 2025 (Ilya Kravchenko, Physics); Sajid Raihan Akash, Spring 2026 (Román Aranda); John Boryca, Spring 2026 (George Avalos); Caroline Belleque, Spring 2026 (Yvonne Lai & Kristen Amman); John Daugherty, UCARE 2025-26 (Evan Rich, Physics); Anastasia Eriksen, UCARE Summer 2025 & 2025-26 (Irina Filina, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences); Ruby Gutzmann, UCARE Spring 2026 (Shiying Li); Maizy Jones, UCARE Summer 2025 & 2025-26 (Rick Bevins, Psychology); Caleb Kelly, 2025-26 (Huijing Du, Hongfeng Yu, Computing, and Chi Zhang, Biological Sciences); Marko Khalimonchuk, UCARE 2025-26 (Xinghui Sun, Biochemistry); David Khuu, UCARE Summer 2025 & 2025-26 (Huijing Du); Andrew Maas, UCARE Fall 2025 (Román Aranda); Matthew Moisseyev, 2025-26 (Huijing Du, Hongfeng Yu, Computing, and Chi Zhang, Biological Sciences); Aaron Morrissey, UCARE 2025-26 (Brenden Timpe, Economics); Josie Pettis, UCARE Summer 2025 & 2025-26 (Adam Houston, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences); Bishop Placke, UCARE Summer 2025 & 2025-26 (Alexandra Seceleanu); Shaghayegh Rouhi, Fall 2025 (Petronela Radu); Chase Rozman, UCARE Summer 2025 (Lauren Heller); Carlo Santos, UCARE 2025-26 (Martin Centurion, Physics); Jenna Wakefield, UCARE Summer 2025 & 2025-26 (Eric Weaver, Biological Sciences); Eric Woods, Polymath Jr Summer 2025 (Alex Zupan)

2025 Putnam Seminar and Contest Participants
Adam Alkawaz, Aruneem Bhowmick, John Boryca*, Riley Brown, Thanish Kashyap, Nathan McCormick*, Andrew Medina*, Matthew Moisseyev, Andrew Rogers*, Peter Schmit*, Aiden Smith*, Ransom Sterns, Eric Woods*, and Rohan Yalamanchili*

*Completed the exam in December

Pi Mu Epsilon, Inducted Spring 2026
Penelope Brown, Riley Brown, Anastasia Eriksen, Fae Hupp, Lucy Rawlinson, and Andrew Rogers

Nebraska Experimental Math and Outreach Lab Participants
Spring 2026 (mentored by Román Aranda): Aruneem Bhowmick, Glazier Demma, Ogochukwu Ibe-Ikechi, Matthew Johnson, Viet Lai, Jasmine Pham, Vittoria Quaranta, Lewis Rokke, Renzo Sarreal, Kody Tober, Barron Vaughn, and Eric Woods

Chair’s Prize
Gabriel Payson, Bishop Placke. Honorable mentions: Sajid Raihan Akash, Hillevi Carlsson, Lily Rippeteau, Eric Woods.

Awarded to an outstanding senior major(s)

Chancellor’s Scholars
Spring 2026:  TBA

4.0 GPA through all undergraduate courses

Math Directed Reading Program – Fall 2025 (mentored by)
Eric Woods (Isaiah Martinez), Renzo Sarreal (Lukas Pierce), Henry Meyer (Ashley Ostertag), Grant Wasserman (Ashley Ostertag), Thanish Kashyap (Yuhan Fu), Riley Brown (Noah Walker), Spencer Byars (Nick White), Anya Ahmed (Dakota Andrews), Aiden Smith (Uyen Tran), Gage Lee (Reese White), John Boryca (Kyle Kelley), Aruneem Bhowmick (MJ Cicchinelli), Caroline Belleque (Sara Mueller/Sabrina Fowler)

Math Directed Reading Program – Spring 2026 (mentored by)
Allie Whalen (Emily Shambaugh), Gage Lee (Nick White), Cameron Carlson (Noah Walker), Savannah Schutte (Nick White), Gabriel Payson (Reese White), Gabrielle Karasek (MJ Cicchinelli), Kyle Tetteh (Derek DeBlieck), Tayven Washington (Sam Macdonald), Sam Sanketh (Gabriel Adams), Julius Spears (Derek DeBlieck), Sajid Raihan Akash (Pablo Padilla Ortiz), Andrew Rogers (Lukas Pierce), Eric Woods (Kesavan Mohana Sundaram), John Boryca (Derek DeBlieck)

Scholarships

New Eastman Top Scholars for 2025-26
Ripley Becker, John Boryca, Samuel Carlson, Trent Davidson, Samantha Faust, Landon Hartzog, Tommy Khuu, Thomas Liegl, Caron Lyons, Ryan Murphy, and Grace Nieman

Dean H and Floreen G Eastman Memorial Scholars
Anton Angeletti, Braden Borchers, John Boryca, Riley Brown, Nevin Butler, Samuel Carlson, Carson Catherall, Nicholas Coates, Macy Czech, Trent Davidson, Owen Davis, Caleb Dick, Anastasia Eriksen, Samantha Faust, Bethany Fox, Basil Fulton, Andrew Grant, Abby Gregory, Yohannes Hailu, Landon Hartzog, Joshua Havlovic, Hannah Heftie, Alex Hermsen, Anna Janvrin, Thanish Kashyap, Marko Khalimonchuk, David Khuu, Tommy Khuu, Sydney Kohl, Thomas Liegl, Caleb List, James Lynch, Caron Lyons, Allan Muinov, Ryan Murphy, Aidan Nachi, Matthew Naumann, Anh Nguyen, Loc Nguyen, Grace Nieman, Erica Pearce, Bryant Peck, Jasmine Pham, Bishop Placke, Jacob Reason, Lily Rippeteau, Renzo Sarreal, Peter Schmit, Aiden Smith, Ransom Sterns, Reese Svodboda, Sophia Thompson, Teresa Trinh, Jenna Wakefield, Eric Woods, and Brayton Zeibig

Joel Stebbins Fund Scholarship
Sandesh Subedi

Renneman/Luebbers Scholarship
Sajid Raihan Akash, Ryan Flatley, and Anandhu Nair

Ruby Matzke Wittemore Scholarship
Bryant Peck

Sylvia and Hans Jeans Mathematics Scholarship
Kiera Chan, Allie Enyart, Ryan Flatley, Anna Janvrin, Carlin King, Andrew Maas, Stefan Shirk, Sandesh Subedi, and Sebastian Wysocki

Linda Bors Mathematics Scholarship
Lily Rippeteau

Mike & Jo McGuire Scholarship
Bishop Placke

Chivukula & Emani Scholarship for Mathematics
David Khuu and Ivy Zhan

UNL Math Career Scholarship
Andrew Maas

College of Arts & Sciences Scholarships Earned for 2025-26
Sajid Raihan Akash, Ed F. and Clara M. Degering Trust Fund; Bryley Carabantes, Ling Lu UNL Arts and Sciences Student Support Fund; Bethany Fox, Mr. John O. Nigh Scholarship Fund; Anna Janvrin, Whitted Family Scholarship Fund & Robert O. & Gloria O. Vesper Scholarship Fund for the Sciences; Aaron Morrissey, Theodore C. Sorensen Public Service Scholarship Fund & Ping Huang Lin PhD Scholarship; Joseph Shea, N Fund Arts & Sciences Scholarship; Jenna Wakefield, Patricia & Harold Van Vleck Mathematical Sciences Scholarship; Mia Wendt, Robert O. & Gloria O. Vesper Scholarship Fund for the Sciences

Graduate

Awards

Outstanding First Year Students
Noah Walker and Nick White 

Outstanding Qualifying Exam
Reese White 

Walter Mientka Teaching Award
Wynter Sanderlin 

Don Miller Outstanding GTA Award
Anjana Devi Bhandari 

G.C. Young and W.H. Young Award
Ryan Watson  

Amy Bouska GTA Leadership Award
Gabriel Adams

Emeritus Faculty Fellowships
Samuel Lewis-Monkman (Bill Leavitt Award), Zachary Nason (Lloyd Jackson Award), Alexander Myers, Petra Lynn Vanderhei

Linda Bors Fellowship
Mikkel Munkholm 

Ben Carse Nolting Award
Sam Macdonald 

Steven Haataja Award for Outstanding Exposition by a Graduate Student (Spring 2026)
TBA

Graduate Student Excellence in Mentoring Award
Anjana Bhandari

AWM Poster Presentation
Juliann Geraci

Steven Haataja Award
Sam Macdonald (best GSS talk)

Internships
Audrey Goodnight, Center for Communication Studies (SCAMP) and Center for Computing Sciences; Sabrina Fowler, Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI); Derek DeBlieck, Air Force in Rome, NY; Alex Meyers, Ocuvera

Master's Degrees 

May 2025, MS
Nicole Xie, Uyen Tran, Rachel Schmiess

May 2025, MAT
Annie Crowley, Gina Quedensley, Josie Weise

August 2025, MS
Iris Arenas, Abigail Moos

August 2025, MAT
Justin Appleby, Kelsey Appleby, Dallas Burright, Colton Gronewold, Toni Guthrie, Valerie Lackey, Jamie Milam, Ryan Molacek, Andrew Steskal, Jon Tigani

December 2025, MS
Yuhan Fu, Kesavan Mohana Sundaram, Pablo Padilla Ortiz, Yavuz Rodoplu, Emily Shambaugh, Nathaen Wanta, Reese White

December 2025, MAT
Grace Aubert

May 2026, MS (anticipated)
Louis Burns, Ayden Eddings, Lukas Pierce, Noah Walker, Nick White

May 2026, MAT (anticipated)
Leenah Bouzid, Bridget-Ime Deguia, Dominic Fallico, Cheyan Rokey, Lane Swedberg, Kellen Wesson

Ph.D. Degrees

May 2025 Ph.D., advised by:
Jordan Barrett, Jack Jeffries; Johan Cristobal, Yvonne Lai; Nawaj KC, Mark Walker and Jack Jeffries; Daniel Welchons, Christine Kelley

August 2025 Ph.D., advised by:
Alex Heitzman, Mikil Foss; Kirsten Morris, Christine Kelley; Shahriyar Roshan Zamir, Alexandra Seceleanu

May 2026 Ph.D. (anticipated), advised by:
Juliann Geraci, Alexandra Seceleanu; Taylor Murray, Jack Jeffries; Ryan Watson, Eloísa Grifo

Faculty

Roger Wiegand Award
Christine Kelley 

Grants
Kazuo Yamazaki, NSF EPSCoR Research Fellow Grant to spend a semester at Brown University. NSF Conference Grant, PI, workshop in Fluid Dynamics; Amy Bennett, NSF IUSE (Improving STEM Undergraduate Education) award; Mark Walker, NSF grant and a Simons grant.

Retirements
Brian Harbourne, David Pitts.

Faculty Promotions
Kazuo Yamazaki, tenured and promoted to Associate Professor; Alexandra Seceleanu, promoted to Professor; Alex Zupan, promoted to Professor.

New Faculty
Zach Norwood, Assistant Professor of Practice; Rachel Funk, Marylin Hitz Postdoctoral Teaching Associate; Katie Wilson, Postdoctoral Teaching Associate; Adam LaClair - Postdoctoral Research. Associate (NSF-RTG) 

Family and Friends Recognition Award
Kevin Gonzales

Professorships and University/College Awards
Allan Donsig, Aaron Douglas Professorship; Kristen Amman, Edgerton Junior Faculty Award; Susan Hermiller, College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award (ORCA); Jack Jeffries, College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award.

Additional recognition
Mark Brittenham and Susan Hermiller made the Scientific American’s list of the 10 biggest math breakthroughs of 2025. Yvonne Lai was elected to be the next vice president of the Mathematical Association of America. Wendy Smith has been named the new Director of the Center for Transformative Teaching.