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When Isabella began college as a Division I athlete, her future seemed set, but life had other plans. After suffering a serious injury and facing the emotional toll of poor treatment from teammates, she made the heartbreaking decision to walk away from the sport that had once defined her. For many, that might have been the end of the story—but for her, it was a turning point. She rebuilt her life at ���ϳԹ� with resilience and quiet determination, diving into her academic passions in economics and data science. She found her voice again and used it to lift others, mentoring young entrepreneurs all over the world, engaging in research and leading by example in her community. Her journey is not just one of recovery but one of reinvention. She’s proof that success isn’t always a straight line and that grit, heart and a refusal to give up can carry you further than any medal ever could.

Tommy Bonn was an inspiring and amazing PhD student in our program. He wrote an outstanding dissertation in philosophy called “Plato’s Anti-Harm Principle.” He was an outstanding teacher and won two teaching awards during his time here. He taught as a graduate part-time instructor through the pandemic and gave everything to his students as we pivoted online, even while he struggled to carry on during lockdown. He contributed enormously to the department—serving as lead graduate teacher, organizing a Rocky Mountain Philosophy Conference, serving as graduate student co-president, serving as Graduate and Professional Student Government department representative and serving as intramural athletics coordinator for our department (a.k.a., “Sports Czar”). I nominate Tommy enthusiastically for the “Amazing Student Award.” 

Sophia is an extraordinary student leader whose commitment to creativity and community has transformed the media arts program at CU. As the student leader of GUT-C (Give Us the Camera!), Sophia has created brave, inclusive spaces for students to grow as artists and technicians. She organizes workshops, mentors peers and models a collaborative, curious approach to learning. Sophia leads with vision and care—she listens deeply, advocates for others and builds coalitions across disciplines. Her leadership is not about visibility or recognition; it’s about creating access, making it work, belonging and collective empowerment. Through her work, Sophia has made a lasting impact on our department and beyond!

Virginia embraces challenges and views failures as opportunities for learning and growth. Her zest for life is impressive! She has a maturity beyond her years that shines in her accomplishments. Her academic excellence started early with all A’s in every grade. While she graduated high school as valedictorian with the highest GPA, with college credits, she was so humble that many didn’t realize she was the leader of their class, even though she was well known by all. CU’s freshman year brought many challenges, but she persevered and overcame these hurdles to rise above. Persistence awarded her a place on the dean's list with academic excellence again! The ENVS major is a perfect example of Virginia's need to change the world. She is memorable, kind and always smiling. She is hardworking, an animal lover, musically talented, funny and fun! All while being humble of her talents.

Erin is the epitome of hard work, persistence and resilience. She had to do her PhD qualifying exam via Zoom shortly after the university closed due to the pandemic. She encountered countless unanticipated setbacks during her PhD, but she forged a path forward through her own creativity and ingenuity. Instead of getting frustrated and bitter at her thorny and windy path, Erin used her experiences to teach others. She was a committed mentor for both grad and undergrad students in the lab and the go-to person for how to troubleshoot a challenging problem. Her generosity of spirit made the lab a very special place, and she will be deeply missed.

1. Excellence in research: Jonah’s research and publication record is outstanding (top 1%) for scholars at his career stage for both its quality and quantity. In fewer than five years at ���ϳԹ�, Jonah has led five first-author peer-reviewed research papers (two published, two under review, one in preparation) and five co-author peer-reviewed publications. Jonah is a climate Buff. Jonah’s work provides tools and science to assess and fingerprint the processes controlling the emergence of human-caused radiation and surface temperature changes over natural variability. Jonah is a space Buff. As a part of this work, Jonah is an active science team member for a pair of satellites that launched in June 2024 (PREFIRE). Jonah built a satellite simulator to enable comparison between the new observations and numerical models of the atmosphere and earth system. This work is highly technical and detail-oriented, requiring coupling together complex software engineering and building new infrastructure for global coupled climate models. In recognition of his research excellence, Jonah was awarded a prestigious NASA graduate student fellowship to partly fund his PhD (NASA FINESST 2022-2025) and an Outstanding Student Presentation Award at an international meeting (AGU OSPA 2023).
2. Excellence in academic and teaching record: Jonah has an exceptional academic record with a near-perfect GPA both in his graduate coursework in atmospheric and oceanic sciences (3.97) and undergraduate degree in physics (3.94). Jonah has excelled at finding opportunities to make real impacts on teaching at CU. The most impressive example is that Jonah worked with a team of graduate student leaders from across campus to both develop and teach a new course relevant to sustainability, which was featured at CU’s 2025 Sustainability Summit (GEOG4002: Climate Action Planning). Jonah has also been a teaching assistant within ATOC, winning a departmental award for his instructional excellence.
3. Service to CU undergraduate research: While at CU, Jonah has increased access to research opportunities for undergraduates, especially by making it accessible for those who are new to research and have backgrounds different from his. Jonah mentored summer undergraduate research on authentic research questions in 2021 (online), 2022, 2023 and 2025 (planned). This dedication to undergraduate research mentoring is exceptional and far exceeds expectations.

In addition to pursuing research at CU, Allie played a major role in organizing the 2025 CU*iP Conference held at ���ϳԹ�. Her research involved precision time-keeping for navigation positioning and timing applications, and she worked on a new scheme to improve Rubidium optical clocks. She wrote and defended an honors thesis based on this work, which earned her a summa cum laude designation from the Arts and Sciences Honors Council last May.

I’ve worked with Zaidee (they/them) in the Sociology Honors Program over the past year. They are an absolute joy to have in the classroom and always have a positive outlook on life. Zaidee has been a source of support for many of their peers in the honors program and recently defended their honors thesis, which considers all-gender restrooms and the importance of these facilities when it comes to issues of equity, accessibility and inclusivity. Zaidee developed an online survey regarding about attitudes and experiences about all-gender restrooms, wrote and conducted semi-structured interviews to gather more in-depth experiential accounts and analyzed their data for statistical significance of correlations between relevant demographic categories and opinions and qualitatively looking for themes in use and attitudes. Zaidee’s work, which specifically focused on the experiences of ���ϳԹ� students, was extremely professional, clear and very well written. 

Many students would focus on the prestige of graduating with a triple major, and yet Sydney has always been most interested in the practical and research applications of knowledge gained from coursework. When I first met Sydney, she was excited about the lab she had just joined. Her interest and skill backpacking were a perfect fit for the PI’s data collection in a remote area. And the research was on microbes in hydrothermal environments and their potential relevance to life on other planets, a key interest for Sydney. Through the years, Sydney has excelled in STEM and credit-heavy semesters, presented scientific research posters, become published in a peer-reviewed journal, created her own non-credit abroad experience, and maintained humor and humility. She even took a few extra courses this semester to challenge herself academically and to help prepare for graduate school. Altogether, she is an exceptional person and outstanding multidisciplinary problem-solver. 

Lina Cahill is an amazing student and person! Her innovative honors thesis, “Building Belonging: An Ethnographic Exploration of Autistic Communication and Community in Minecraft,” drew on her original research with neurodiverse game players and shed new light on belonging, communication and collaborative storytelling practices among a community that has long been misunderstood and pathologized. Her research, which she will build on as an anthropology PhD student beginning next year, opens a window into the joy of creative world-building among neurodiverse game players and provides an important corrective to harmful stereotypes of autism as an asocial or unimaginative condition.

Meghan is amazing in all aspects of what she does. She teaches me new things all the time: both in terms of her research skills and the way she interacts with and contributes to collaborations and communities. She is a backbone of our research group and our community in the department more broadly, always stepping up when no one asks her to and when we need her most. I’m constantly amazed Meghan’s technical skills that she uniquely combined with communication skills and leadership abilities. I am already missing her for the massive hole she will leave in our community! Her undergrad honors mentee describes her well. She says, ‘From what comes to mind, from UROP to thesis, Meghan’s been a steady source of calm, clarity, and encouragement. I was never afraid to ask questions or admit when I didn’t know something. She made learning feel safe, supported, and even fun.

Meghan has a unique ability to make even the most complex problems seem approachable. With her patience and sharp skills, she’s been not just a mentor but a true partner through every challenge—from coding issues to big-picture ideas. When it comes to mentorship, Meghan’s the total package: patient, smart and always collaborative. She doesn’t just give you the answers but helps you figure out how to find them on your own, making the whole process feel empowering.’  Meghan is a superstar, and we are so lucky she came to CU and enriched our research and lives!

Phoebe is amazing because of the ways she combines dedication to the study of the ancient world and engagement with issues that span the centuries with compassion and support for everyone around her. When she sees injustice, whether on campus or in the wider world, she experiences a vivid sense of loss, palpable to those around her, but she doesn’t dramatize, and she remains brave, focused and disciplined at every step. Over the course of two semesters, I have watched her be a wonderful support to the undergraduates in her sections and her fellow graduate instructors. She is imaginative, curious and generous, constantly sharing resources and ideas and offering to help with logistics and practicalities. She combines vulnerability and courage with ideal grace. We have been so lucky to have her as part of our graduate community! 

Alex is truly an amazing graduate of 2025. Her brilliance shines not only through her perfect 4.0 GPA in all her Chinese language classes at ���ϳԹ� but also in her passion, dedication and intellectual curiosity, which is reflected in her double majors in linguistics and Chinese. I was deeply impressed by her perseverance, which led her to win second place at the 2024 National Chinese Speech Contest, a remarkable achievement at college level across North America. Her honors thesis on Chinese classifiers reflects a level of research and analysis rarely seen at the undergraduate level. I will never forget the outstanding poster presentation she created with her classmate, Joe, comparing the education systems of China and the U.S.—a project so exceptional that I proudly keep it in my office to this day. I am excited to see the incredible future that awaits her.

Nik exemplifies the very best of the ���ϳԹ� through his extraordinary breadth of achievements, leadership and service. A standout scholar, he has excelled across rigorous academic coursework and completed an honors thesis as a researcher in the Sleep, Inflammation and Neuropathology Lab. Beyond the classroom and laboratory, Nik serves as a senior leader in the CU Sports Medicine program for the track and field team, enriches campus life as a musician with the CU Campus Band and dedicates his time to serving the broader Boulder community. It is rare to encounter a student who achieves excellence across so many areas with such humility, dedication and integrity. Nik’s academic accomplishments, research contributions, leadership, artistic talents and commitment to service truly embody the spirit of an amazing grad. It has been a privilege to witness his growth and impact, and I am honored to support his nomination.

Mark started his career at Red Rocks Community College and excelled on his geomorphology project for the Research Experiences for Community College Students (RECCS) program at CU. We were thrilled when he chose to complete his undergraduate career at CU in the Geological Sciences Department. His outstanding academic accomplishments earned him the inaugural Peter Molnar Fellowship award. He participated in multiple internships during his college career, doing everything from geochemical water monitoring in the U.S. Southeast to analyzing how the hardness of river rocks affects the way rivers erode their banks here in the U.S. Southwest. He also was an invaluable participant in an undergraduate research seminar. Mark is a proactive and optimistic person; his mindset has allowed him to see setbacks as opportunities that he seizes and makes the most of. His approach will take him far to life and he has great wisdom to share with his colleagues.

Alston Tyndall has held leadership positions connecting stakeholders across the arts, the campus and our larger Boulder community. Serving as dance production assistant, Roser Fellow, lead GPTI, a B2 Resident Artist, and NEST Summer Fellow at CU, Alston built bridges and tunnels all over campus. In the community, Alston was the organizer, fundraiser and lead teacher for LEAP (Learning Education Arts Partnership) bringing dance to students with disabilities inside Boulder Valley School District.  As a graduate part-time teacher at CU, Alston taught a beloved dance and pop culture lecture class as well as movement classes including contemporary and ballet. Their tender and bold MFA solo show in ATLAS collided apples, queerness, kindness and devotion in a durational five-hour act of humanity. Alston generously and generatively cultivates community in every sphere as she forwards a gently fierce embodied activism.

Seamus is both my student and my collaborator! Since taking my practicing anthropology course last year, which is normally limited to fourth-year majors, Seamus has been working with me as a research assistant on a project connected to that class. Seamus has an intuitive ability to identify and trace interesting patterns and draw non-intuitive connections, skills that I value immensely, both as he tracks links between people, institutions and regulatory processes, and in partnership as we conduct qualitative interviews together. He asks fantastic questions, but, equally important in cultural anthropology, he is also an active and empathetic listener. Separate from this project, Seamus earned summa cum laude for his honors thesis on weightlifting and masculinity. The writing and analysis in his thesis beautifully reflect the careful, compassionate and smart researcher I know him to be from personal experience. It’s a privilege to work alongside him.  

Shelby is highly motivated and consistently pushes herself outside her comfort zone. She is graduating with degrees in astrophysics and geology and has multiple research experiences in each discipline. When choosing a research project related to her astrophysics degree for her honors thesis, Shelby was presented with several options. She chose the hardest one, because it sounded the most interesting to her. Now she's graduating magna cum laude, and her graduate work will be funded by a fellowship from the National Science Foundation. On top of all of this, Shelby has found time to work at the campus observatory, work in the APS department, be a grader and ... be the drum major for the CU Marching Band!