UCLA Samueli Honors 2026 Award Recipients at Annual Showcase

UCLA Samueli Newsroom

The paths to success in engineering rarely follow a straight line. For many accomplished Bruin engineers, an education at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering provided the foundation for careers shaped by unexpected opportunities rather than careful planning.

That theme emerged throughout the 2026 UCLA Samueli Showcase & Awards, held Saturday, Oct. 3, at the Mong Learning Center in Engineering VI. More than 175 alums, faculty members, students and industry collaborators turned out despite a heat wave to celebrate the school’s annual award recipients and discuss developments in technology and entrepreneurship.

Among those honored was Mukund Padmanabhan M.S. ’89, Ph.D. ’92, who received the Alum of the Year Award, UCLA Samueli’s highest honor. A partner and statistical researcher at investment firm Renaissance Technologies, Padmanabhan was recognized for his professional achievements and extensive philanthropic support of UCLA Samueli, as well as social and educational initiatives in the United States and his native India.

Reflecting on UCLA’s role in his career, Padmanabhan described his time at the university as his “peak learning years.”

The importance of embracing unexpected opportunities was also a key takeaway from a conversation featuring school namesake and Broadcom co-founder Henry Samueli ’75, M.S. ’76, Ph.D. ’80 and three UCLA engineering undergraduates: Benjamin Flom, Cooper Pitts and Vanshika Turkar.

Samueli recalled that neither becoming a UCLA professor nor co-founding Broadcom had been part of a career plan. Both arose from opportunities he encountered along the way.

“Be prepared for random things to happen, and when they do happen, think carefully, because you may want to make a left turn or a right turn rather than go straight ahead,” Samueli said.

An entrepreneurship and innovation panel featured Adam Cheyer M.S. ’93, co-founder of five startups, including Siri, and Di Wu M.S. ’15, Ph.D. ’17, a director at Nvidia. Cheyer and Wu received the Professional Achievement in Industry and Rising Professional Achievement awards, respectively.

They were joined by UCLA electrical and computer engineering faculty members Mona Jarrahi and Achuta Kadambi. Robert Candler, associate dean for research and physical resources, moderated the discussion.

“Leaving a secure job to do entrepreneurship was scary,” Cheyer said, recalling a conversation with a veteran investor who reassured his wife and him that Siri would succeed and they would be okay. “I was so grateful that someone from the future, or that had experience, came back and told us at the time we needed it.”

Another panel explored the intersection of artificial intelligence, robotics and real-world mobility. Zach Rash ’19, co-founder and CEO of Coco Robotics, joined Bolei Zhou, an associate professor of computer science, to discuss their collaborative research on autonomous sidewalk navigation.

“The Bay Area has a lot of the software talent, a lot of the AI talent. It’s super concentrated in a very small part of San Francisco,” Rash said in response to a question about whether startups should set up in Northern or Southern California. “But I think we have a lot of hardware talent, operations talent down here, so I think you can build a more complete company here and so this is where our headquarters is.”

The showcase also recognized individuals whose contributions have advanced engineering research, education and service.

Theresa Maldonado, the University of California’s systemwide vice president for research and innovation, received the school’s Lifetime Contribution Award.

Other alumni honorees included David Pan M.S. ’94, M.S. ’98, Ph.D. ’00, who received the Professional Achievement in Academia Award, and Susan Baumgarten ’73, M.S. ’76, MBA ’79, who received the Alumni Service Award.

Three faculty members were recognized for excellence in teaching: Lara Dolecek, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and mathematics, received the Eon Instrumentation Inc. Excellence in Teaching Award; Sanjay Mohanty, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, received the Robin B. Joshi Excellence in Teaching Award; and Daniel Schwalbe-Koda, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering, received the Boeing Excellence in Teaching Award.

The Edward K. Rice Outstanding Student Awards recognized Guorui Chen Ph.D. ’25 for doctoral achievement, Fang Zhou M.S. ’25 for master’s achievement, and Isabella He ’25, M.S. ’25, and Natalie Tsubamoto ’25 as co-recipients of the bachelor’s student award.

UCLA Samueli’s continued growth and expanding industry partnerships also provided a backdrop for the celebration. Launched in May, the school’s $125 million Semiconductor Hub brings together founding industry members Broadcom, Applied Materials, GlobalFoundries, Meta and Synopsys. The industry-academia initiative aims to advance semiconductor innovation and workforce development.

Ah-Hyung “Alissa” Park, UCLA Samueli’s Ronald and Valerie Sugar Dean of Engineering, emphasized the importance of collaboration in pursuing ambitious engineering goals.

“At UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, engineers and computer scientists dream. We dream big. We dream about better lives for people,” Park said. “It’s been really wonderful working with all my students, faculty, alums and industry partners doing this together. Let’s talk more about what a bright future we can create.”

Following the award presentations and discussions, attendees connected with student-led engineering organizations showcasing their work in Engineering VI’s Webb Lobby.

Visit this website to read more about the 2026 UCLA Samueli award recipients.