Honoring Exceptional Undergraduate Theses

SOE announced the winners of the 2026 Honors Thesis Prize, an award that recognizes outstanding undergraduate theses.
Spring flowers blooming with Tsungming Tu Engineering Complex in background

Dedicated to developing the leaders of tomorrow, last year the School of Engineering announced the establishment of the Honors Thesis Prize, created through the generosity of an anonymous donor, which celebrates one exceptional undergraduate thesis from each department within the School of Engineering. Discover this year's recipients below. 

Mechanical Engineering 

William Cusato, E26 

Thesis title: Investigating the effect of deformation and stirring on pure gold surface tension measurements using a Faraday forcing technique 

Advisor: Research Professor Doug Matson  

Biomedical Engineering 

Julian X. Han, E26 

Thesis title: Signal and Structure: Developing a Platform for Flexible Microelectrode Array Monitoring of 3D Neural Networks 

Advisor: Associate Professor Brian Timko 

Chemical and Biological Engineering 

Tarkan Ayata, E26 

Thesis title: Zwitterion Effects on Ion Transport for Water-in-Salt Electrolytes 

Advisor: Professor and SOE Dean of Research Matthew Panzer 

Electrical and Computer Engineering 

Jacob Merritt, E26 

Thesis title: Software Techniques for Advanced Hotspot Prediction and Mitigation 

Advisor: Professor Mark Hempstead