Each year the department confers awards for both academic achievement and service to the department.
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.
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.
2025:
- MS: Guillermo Garcia Cobo
- SEAS: Michael Straus
- BC: Claudia Cortell
- CC: Suwei Ma
- GS: Noa Shumeli
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.
2025:
- SEAS: Alex Chen
- SEAS: Jennifer Marie Oettinger
- CC: Abenezer Amanuel
- GS: Seung Joon Rhee
2019:
- CC: Jaewook Ryu
- SEAS: Crystal Ren
- SEAS: Myra Deng
- CC: Anh Phung
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.
2025:
- SEAS: Jessica Zhang
- SEAS: Geoffrey Wu
- SEAS: Kareem DaCosta
- GS: Faustina Cheng
2019:
- CC: Hamed Nilforoshan
- SEAS: Yuxuan Mei
- CC: Dean Deng
- SEAS: Abhishek Shah
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.
2025:
- SEAS: Kashvi Gupta
- SEAS: Edward Ri
- CC: Kylie Noelani Berg
- CC: Anna Reis
- CC: Arnold Asiimwe
- CC: William Hirasawa Das
2019:
- CC: Serina Chang
- CC: Robert Netzorg
- SEAS: Ruiqi Zhong
- GS: Francis Hinson
Andrew P. Kosoresow Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching and Service
Awarded for outstanding contributions to teaching in the Department of Computer Science and exemplary service to the Department and its mission.
2025:
- CC: Liana Goldstein
- CC: Preach Apintanapong
- GS: Palash Sharma
- SEAS: Denzel Farmer
- SEAS: Chelsea Soemitro
- SEAS: Madeline Skeel
- SEAS: Zachary Thayer
- SEAS: Darien Moment
- SEAS: Sophie Tsanang
- SEAS: Aryaman Kejriwal
- SEAS: Paul Seham
- SEAS: Shreya Somayajula
- SEAS: Brennan McManus
- SEAS: Orli Elisabeth Cohen
- SEAS: Angel Cui
Behring Foundation Award
Awarded to undergraduate and/or graduate students enrolled at SEAS who are pursuing a degree in Computer Science who best exhibit academic excellence, have entrepreneurial interests, and possess leadership skills. Preference is given to students who have lived, worked, or studied in Brazil or other Latin American countries.
2025:
- SEAS: Rodolfo Costa Raimundo
- SEAS: Maximo Libtandi
Service and TA’ing awards
2017: Tera Blevins, Ruoxin Jiang
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)
Last updated on May 21, 2025.
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