Three students from the PROTON Lab, led by Eirini Eleni Tsiropoulou, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of New Mexico, won awards from the IEEE Albuquerque Section recently.

The awards were presented by the IEEE Albuquerque Section leadership ceremony on May 15 in Albuquerque.

“Our students' diligence is admirable and a source of inspiration to many,” Tsiropoulou said. “Although good things take time, they are worth working toward. Diamonds are formed under enormous pressure, and my Ph.D. students are pure diamonds in the making.”

The following students won awards:

  • Md Sadman Siraj, a second-year Ph.D. student at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was awarded the IEEE Albuquerque Section Outstanding Graduate Engineering Award for his contribution in the field of positioning, navigation and timing via exploiting next-generation networking technologies like reconfigurable intelligent surfaces. He has published nine peer-reviewed papers during his first year as Ph.D. student in top IEEE venues such as IEEE Systems Journal, the IEEE International Conference in Communications (IEEE ICC), the IEEE Military Communications Conference (IEEE MILCOM) and the IEEE Global Communications Conference (IEEE GLOBECOM).
  • Arianna Santamaria Penafiel, a senior in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was awarded the IEEE Albuquerque Section Outstanding Undergraduate Engineering Student Award for her exceptional accomplishments as an undergraduate student in the field of electrical engineering with GPA of 4.13/4.00. She will continue her graduate studies in the field of resource management in 6G wireless networks under the advisement of Tsiropoulou.
  • Aisha B. Rahman, a second-year Ph.D. student at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was awarded the IEEE Albuquerque Section Service Award for redesigning the IEEE Albuquerque Women in Engineering Affinity Group. Rahman organizes a public talk series every month by inviting inspiring keynote speakers to share their experiences and research work with the audience, which mainly consists of young female engineers. She also regularly manages the IEEE Albuquerque Women in Engineering Affinity Group YouTube channel, where the public talk series is posted to reach a broader audience.