CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award Nominees
These students were nominated by the Tufts Department of Computer Science faculty for the 2026 Computing Research Association's (CRA) Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award. CRA is one of the leading professional organizations in computer science, and we congratulate all of our nominees for their contributions to research in this field. You can see more about these international awards on the CRA website here.
Alexandra Barancikova, A26
A double major in computer science and mathematics with a minor in dance, Alexandra (Saška) Barancikova brings an interdisciplinary perspective to her research with Prof. Reuth Mirsky, drawing on diverse ways of thinking about structure, coordination, and adaptation. Her work aims to bridge the gap between learning- and planning-driven research by demonstrating how hybrid frameworks can enhance flexibility and robustness in complex systems. As part of a Tufts Summer Scholars project, she adapted the League of Robot Runners competition, which is traditionally approached with planning algorithms, into a reinforcement learning (RL) environment. Barancikova experimented with Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) as a baseline and later adapted Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) for decentralized multi-agent coordination, enabling agents to learn collision avoidance and task scheduling strategies in dynamic environments. She will continue this work as part of her senior honors thesis, which will investigate how RL can be applied to enhance multi-robot movement and task planning in the League of Robot Runners competition. Barancikova received an honorable mention from CRA for her award nomination.
Saskia Solotko, A26
Saskia Solotko is a mathematics major whose research exemplifies how rigorous mathematical theory can drive advances in computational thinking and algorithmic design. In collaboration with researchers at Tufts and MIT, including her advisor Prof. Diane Souvaine, she has made advances on the fold-and-punch problem in computational origami, designing crease constructions that reduce complexity from quadratic to linear in special cases and developing algorithms that operate under restricted directional constraints. She has also contributed to research on multi-triangulations on surfaces and combinatorial frameworks connected to maximum clique problems in circle graphs. Across three NSF-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates and the Tufts Summer Scholars program, Solotko has coauthored four research papers spanning computational geometry, algebraic combinatorics, and finite group theory. She is also the first Tufts student to win the national Alice T. Schafer Mathematics Prize for undergraduate research by a woman in mathematics, and the first Tufts student to receive a Churchill Scholarship for a year of master’s study at Churchill College, Cambridge, UK. Solotko received an honorable mention from CRA for her award nomination.
Kyle Wigdor, E27
Kyle Wigdor conducts research in human–computer interaction (HCI) and accessible technology under the mentorship of Prof. Fahad Dogar. His work focuses on how generative AI can be used to improve communication between neurotypical and autistic individuals. As part of this effort, he co-developed NeuroBridge, an interactive web-based training platform that uses large language models to simulate cross-neurotype communication scenarios and provide real-time feedback to neurotypical users. Wigdor served as lead developer on the project, designing and implementing the core LLM-based conversational framework as a structured state machine that integrates scenario generation, adaptive prompts, and feedback mechanisms. NeuroBridge was evaluated with participants and demonstrated improved understanding of autistic communication styles. Wigdor’s research combines technical rigor with empathy-driven design, demonstrating the potential of generative AI to advance inclusive communication. Wigdor received an honorable mention from CRA for his award nomination.
Kevin Yu, A26
Kevin Yu is a double major in data science and biology who conducts research in computational biology under the mentorship of Prof. Lenore Cowen. His work focuses on identifying redundant protein pathways in genetic interaction networks with the goal of discovering potential therapeutic targets for cancer. By modeling gene interactions as weighted graphs, Kevin studies structures known as Between Pathway Models (BPMs), which capture pairs of compensatory pathways whose joint disruption can selectively impact cancer cells. Beginning through the DIAMONDS NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program after his first year, he worked on improving LocalCut, a heuristic algorithm for detecting BPMs in large-scale genetic interaction networks. He developed new weighting schemes and validation metrics grounded in gene ontology annotations, gene expression correlations, and protein-protein interaction data to evaluate biological significance. Yu received an honorable mention from CRA for his award nomination.
Past CRA nominees:
2025:
Klara Chura - Honorable Mention
Cordelia Ludden - Finalist
Kathy Quintanilla - Honorable Mention
Charlotte Versavel - Honorable Mention
2024:
Eddy He - Honorable Mention
Kathy Quintanilla - Honorable Mention
Liam Strand - Honorable Mention
2023:
Victoria Chen - Honorable Mention
Madeline McLaughlin
Mary-Joy Sidhom
2022:
Jonathan Conroy - Honorable Mention
Hailey McKelvie
Madeline McLaughlin
Jack Freeman
2021:
Derek Egolf - Honorable Mention
Lauren Labell - Honorable Mention
Jonathan Rodriguez - Finalist
Gian Marco Visani - Honorable Mention
2020:
Samuel Shaw – Finalist
Amel Hassan – Honorable Mention
Oliver Korten – Honorable Mention
Faizan Muhammad – Honorable Mention
2019:
Alexander Bock
Christopher Meierfrankenfeld
Marilyn Sun - Honorable Mention
2018:
Sarah Hall-Swan – Runner Up
2017:
Yisu Remy Wang – Finalist
2016:
Jennifer Hammelman – Honorable Mention (Female)
Tara Kola – Honorable Mention (Female)
Thomas Schaffner – Honorable Mention (Male)
2013:
Gregory Bodwin – Honorable Mention (Male)
Ariel Hamlin
Max Smiley – Honorable Mention (Male)
2012:
Sarah Cannon – Female Awardee
Constantin Berzin – Honorable Mention (Male)
Connor Gramazio – Honorable Mention (Male)
2011:
Mark D. Leiserson – Male Runner-Up
Sarah Cannon – Honorable Mention (Female)
Sean Kelley – Honorable Mention (Male)
2009:
Jessie Berlin – Honorable Mention (Female)
Adam Raczkowski – Honorable Mention (Male)
2007:
Joshua Danziger
Brandon Lucia
Jennifer Tam
2006:
Kathryn Seyboth – Finalist (Female)
2005:
John Hugg – Honorable Mention (Male)