Student Awards

Each year the department confers awards for both academic achievement and service to the department.

Academic awards
Service awards


Academic awards

Jonathan Gross Prize

2017 saw the introduction of the Jonathan Gross Prize, which honors students who graduate at the top of their class with a track record of promising innovative contributions to computer science. Five graduating computer science students—one senior from each of the four undergraduate schools and one student from the master’s program—will receive the prize each year. Named for Jonathan L. Gross, the popular professor emeritus who taught for 47 years at Columbia and cofounded the Computer Science Department, the prize is made possible by an endowment established by Yechiam (Y.Y.) Yemini, who for 31 years until his retirement in 2011, was a professor of computer science at Columbia.

Mitchell Gouzenko, Gaurav Gite, Rudra Gopinath, Jonathan Gross, Yechiam Yemini, Lanting He, Filipe de Avila Belbute Peres (photo credit: Clarissa C. Pena)
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This award was established in 2017 in honor of the much loved Professor Emeritus Jonathan Gross. Each year a cash gift is awarded to one graduating masters student and to one graduating senior from each of the four undergraduate schools served by the Department of Computer Science. 

2019:

  • MS: Yu Xuan Shao 
  • EN: Alexandre Lamy 
  • CC: Linnie Jiang 
  • BC: Xinyao Tang 
  • GS: Rose Orenbuch 

2017: Filipe de Avila Belbute Peres (Columbia College), Mitchell Gouzenko (SEAS), Rudra Gopinath (General Studies), Lanting He (Barnard College), Gaurav Gite (MS, SEAS). Profiles of each can be found here.

Computer Science Scholarship Award

A cash prize awarded to two B.A. and two B.S. degree candidates for outstanding academic achievement in computer science.

2019:

  • Jaewook Ryu – CC
  • Crystal Ren – EN
  • Myra Deng – EN
  • Anh Phung – CC

Computer Science Department Award

This cash prize is awarded to a degree candidate for scholastic achievements as a computer science major and as acknowledgement of contributions to the department of Computer Science and to the University as a whole. Academic staff prepares a listing of students with the best GPAs in the graduating class. Other factors include general scholastic excellence demonstrated through projects or class contributions. (Historically given to B.A. students)

2017: Weston Jackson (GPA 4.13, 2nd overall, 1st among BA); Yubo Han(GPA 4.12, 3rd overall, 2nd among BA)
2016: Elijahu Ben-Michael, Anna Lawson

Computer Science Scholarship Award, Excellence in Computer Science

Academic staff prepares a listing of students with the best GPAs in the graduating class. Other factors include general scholastic excellence demonstrated through projects or class contributions. (Historically given to B.S. students)

2017: Noah Zweben (GPA 4.19, 1st overall),  David Hao (GPA 4.09, 4th overall, 2nd among BS)

The Russell C. Mills Award

This annual award, established by the Computer Science Department in 1992 in memory of Russell C. Mills, a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science who exemplified academic excellence and intellectual curiosity, is a cash prize given to a computer science major who has exhibited excellence in the area of computer science.

2019:

  • Hamed Nilforoshan – CC
  • Yuxuan Mei – EN
  • Dean Deng – CC
  • Abhishek Shah – EN

2017: Ruoxin Jiang, Miranda Li 
2016: Reza Nayebi, Christopher Yan 

Theodore R. Bashkow Award

A cash prize presented to a computer science senior who has excelled in independent projects. This is awarded in honor of Professor Theodore R. Bashkow, whose contributions as a researcher, teacher and consultant have significantly advanced the state of the art of computer science.

2019:

  • Serina Chang (sc3003) – CC
  • Robert Netzorg (rgn2112) – CC
  • Ruiqi Zhong (rz2383) – SEAS
  • Francis Hinson (fjh2111) – GS


Service and TA’ing awards

2017: Tera Blevins, Ruoxin Jiang

Last updated on June 5, 2019.