Last year, 29 Khoury students took home honors at Northeastern annual Academic Honors Convocation. This year, it was 40 students earning a haul of Northeastern and external honors.

To meet some of the winners, click any of the linked names below, or simply read on.

Laurel and Scroll 100 (graduate students): Lahari Boni, Xiaolai Chen, Anikesh Ganesh Kamath, Seunghan Lee, Jordan Lewis, Aakash Mahalingam, Laasya Anantha Prasad, Harshika Santoshi, Diya Deepak Wadhwani

Huntington 100 (undergraduate students): Joshua Barde, Calli Colvin, Kerissa Duliga, Kathy Furman, Manvi Kottakota, Matthew Li, Annie Meaney, Gabriella Mitchell, Armina Parvaresh Rizi, Easha Patel, Nina Patel, Grace Preston, Brianna Rott, Alexzander Sansiveri, Reilly Teeter, Jasmine Wong

Outstanding Global Network Student Awards: Akash Sancheti (Arlington), Erdun E (Miami), Diya Wadhwani (Oakland), Yiwen Wang (Seattle), Richard Yue (Silicon Valley), Panxin Liu (Vancouver)

Sears B. Condit Award: Alexzander Sansiveri

Barry Goldwater Scholarship: Rohan Chopra

NSF Research Fellowship: Jake Ginesin, Elisabeth Leung, Conrad Zimmerman

Critical Language Scholarship: Matthew Chen

Fulbright Scholarship semifinalist: Shannen Espinosa, Jocelyn Ju

Outstanding PhD Student Award for Research: Dian Wang

Outstanding Master’s Student Award in Teaching: Jonathan Tarun Rajasekaran

Lahari Boni, Laurel and Scroll 100 

Lahari Boni is proud of her time as a master’s student in data science. She served on the Khoury Master’s Student Council as events coordinator and later as president, where she worked to build a stronger and more engaged student community.

Participating in research was another highlight. While on a research assistantship under Miguel Fuentes-Cabrera in collaboration with Foresight Health Solutions, Boni contributed to research on practical health care data applications to improve patient outcomes. On a research apprenticeship with Maitraye Das, she helped create an AI toolkit to help low-vision students improve their AI literacy. She also worked as a teaching assistant for Fuentes-Cabrera and for the College of Engineering’s Ramin Mohammadi in data science and generative AI courses.

After graduation, Boni is excited to explore professional opportunities in generative AI and data science.

Anikesh Ganesh Kamath, Laurel and Scroll 100

Anikesh Ganesh Kamath started his Northeastern experience well before arriving in Boston. He began by building a WhatsApp community of more than 300 incoming students and organizing three meetups for them in the summer before classes began, then continued by serving as a student representative for Northeastern events in India.

Kamath involved himself on campus as well. A Peer Pathways mentor for two semesters, he helped new students transition into graduate life at Northeastern. He participated in the Graduate Leadership Institute and was honored with the Emerging Graduate Leader Award. As a teaching assistant, he supported courses including “Foundations of Software Engineering” and “Human–Computer Interaction,” mentoring dozens of undergraduates in the process.

Laasya Anantha Prasad, Laurel and Scroll 100 

For data science master’s student Laasya Anantha Prasad, Northeastern has been an opportunity to learn, lead, and make a difference. As a teaching assistant for three courses, she helped students navigate complex topics and broaden their understanding. She also started Tutor Tuesdays (a peer learning and support group) and served as a member of the Data Science Hub and the Khoury Master’s Student Council. As a research assistant in the LearnBot Lab within the D’Amore-McKim School of Business, she contributed to human–AI interaction research.

While on co-op at Georgia-based fintech startup ValidFi, Prasad worked on predictive banking and business intelligence tools. She also won a Harvard-run datathon focused on agriculture, in which she and two other Khoury master’s students examined the relationship between agricultural production and farmer age.

READ: Khoury master’s students place first in Harvard agriculture datathon

Prasad plans to continue working at the intersection of data science and business, with a focus on explainable AI and technology accessibility.

Kerissa Duliga, Huntington 100

Kerissa Duliga has always believed in the power of Northeastern’s community, and she sought to strengthen that community across the university’s global network of campuses. She founded a branch of the Women’s Interdisciplinary Society of Entrepreneurship at the London campus, served as associate director of technology for the Northeastern Entrepreneurs Club, and was the outreach director for the Northeastern AI Club.

In her first internship at Sherwin-Williams, Duliga worked in intelligent forecasting, where she developed multivariate deep learning, machine learning, and time-series models to forecast multi-level company financials. In her second internship, she conducted machine learning research at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory in the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Systems Group. In that role, she contributed to the National Disaster Medical System and to space medicine, even meeting with an astronaut and other NASA staff. Her work won first place in the laboratory’s summer research competition — plus an award for “most altruistic” — and her project will become an officially funded lab directive.

Duliga is currently working on scalable generative AI pipelines at her co-op with Priceline in New York City.

Kathryn Furman, Huntington 100

Kathryn Furman began at Northeastern as a chemistry major, but soon found herself immersed in computer science and math through the university’s Explore Program. Her interests also include cryptography, cybersecurity, and blockchain architecture.

Furman has taken part in a wide variety of experiences. On an actuarial co-op at John Hancock, she worked on life and annuity products system conversion. She spent a year in Amsterdam, where she continued her studies and worked on projects related to AI, concurrency, and multithreading. And through clubs, she pursued numerous interests beyond her major, including design as part of NU Sci Magazine and drone-building and racing through the Northeastern Aerospace Club.

Manvi Kottakota, Huntington 100 

While at Northeastern, Manvi Kottakota has explored her technical and entrepreneurial sides. In addition to completing co-ops and internships in data science and machine learning at companies such as Johnson & Johnson, she served as co-president of the Northeastern Entrepreneurs Club, where she led programming for more than 1,500 students and launched the first-ever Husky Startup Hackathon. While studying abroad, she co-founded Northeastern’s Young Entrepreneurs in London. 

Khoury College’s community has defined Kottakota’s experience at Northeastern, from her work as a data science TA to her interdisciplinary collaboration through organizations and clubs like Mosaic and Rev. This summer, she is interning in product management at IBM, and she hopes to continue working at the intersection of data, design, and impact-driven innovation.

Matthew Li, Huntington 100

Matthew Li kept a busy life at Northeastern. A president of the Pi Delta Psi fraternity, he played a leadership role on campus and in the community. He explored Northeastern’s Seattle campus during a summer program. As part of the Generate club’s product development team, he worked on an internal chatbot to support their work. He also contributed to the Student Government Association as a software engineer.

While on co-op at Boston Partners, Li worked as a quantitative research systems analyst. He is working his second co-op at Wellington Management this summer as part of the Investment Strategy Platform Technology team and, after finishing his last year, he plans to travel before entering industry or a master’s program.

Gabriella Mitchell, Huntington 100

Gabriella Mitchell’s passion for software engineering and startups has fueled her academic journey. She joined TAMID at Northeastern, where she served as director of tech consulting foundations and taught new members the fundamentals of success in tech consulting. Committed to bridging the gender gap in computer science, she volunteers with Northeastern's Women's Community of Code.

Mitchell completed her first co-op as a full-stack software engineer at financial technology company Numerated, where she developed a novel financial statement filtering feature using Python and TypeScript, enhancing efficiency for live users of the loan origination platform. She won first place in the 2024 InnovAIte Hackathon held at Northeastern, where her team developed EduFlex, a personalized learning platform that links a user’s project idea to resources like YouTube tutorials, breaks it down into concrete steps, and highlights video segments relevant to the project.

During her recent study abroad in Madrid, Mitchell took her learning beyond the classroom while immersing herself in a new culture and practicing her Spanish. She is currently working as a software engineer intern at ServiceNow, which she will follow up with a fall co-op at Purple Carrot, a Massachusetts plant-based meal kit company.

Armina Parvaresh Rizi, Huntington 100

Armina Parvaresh Rizi has combined service opportunities with hard work within co-ops and student clubs. While in her first year, she volunteered with Little Brothers - Friends of the Elderly to build friendships with — and support for — the elderly in Boston. She served as a teaching assistant for two semesters of “Introduction to Artificial Intelligence” and “Discrete Structures” and as an NU presidential ambassador, allowing her to participate in university events and learn more about Northeastern’s successful alumni. 

Rizi joined the newly formed Khoury Undergraduate Student Advisory Board and the technical co-ed fraternity Kappa Theta Pi, where she serves as VP of technical development. While on co-op at SpaceX, she worked on the Starlink team. 

Rizi looks forward to graduating in the fall and starting full-time work as a software or machine learning engineer.

Grace Preston, Huntington 100

Grace Preston, a first-generation college student, participated in the Summer Bridge Scholars Program in 2022 before her first semester. She says it helped welcome her to a community that pushed her to the Dean’s List semester after semester.

But Preston’s success extends far beyond the classroom. She has been part of Northeastern’s club women’s rugby team since 2022 and now serves as president. She works as a referee for a variety of intramural sports. She’s set to follow up a Dialogue of Civilizations in Spain studying photography and architecture with another in Australia for software engineering, followed by a co-op on MORSE Corp’s security compliance team solving interdisciplinary national security problems. She has also worked for the United States Attorney’s Office’s Systems/IT unit.

Brianna Rott, Huntington 100

Brianna Rott is going into her fourth year as a cybersecurity and criminal justice major, and with her impressive array of co-op and internship experiences, she’s well prepared for her planned federal career in cyber crime and counterterrorism. Her adventures have included a co-op in the Medicaid Fraud Division of the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts and the CyberCorps Scholarship for Service, and she’s interning this summer with the cyber crime and child exploitation group within the Department of Homeland Security.

Rott serves on two committees of her sorority, Alpha Chi Omega, including as the technology and website chair. She spent two years as the marketing director for Northeastern Club Gymnastics and now serves as the secretary. And after being inducted into the criminal justice honor society, Alpha Phi Sigma, she will join their executive board in the fall as the social media manager.

Alexzander Sansiveri, Huntington 100 and Sears B. Condit Award

Alexzander Sansiveri’s Northeastern tenure was marked by leadership and research. By founding the AI Perception Lab, he removed barriers for students researching AI, allowing them to pursue their work in a structured, personalized framework with mentorship from PhD students. As president of the AI Club, he championed accessibility through hackathons, a Women in AI Series, lab tours, and technical bootcamps. He established the Quantum Community to demystify quantum science and make its concepts and applications accessible to students across disciplines.

Sansiveri’s professional experiences include two co-ops: AI human–computer interaction research at LISN in Paris and computational neuroscience work at the Meditation Research Program of Harvard Medical School. For two years as a lab manager and programmer at Northeastern’s Language and Mind Lab, he explored cognitive concepts including implicit biases, theory of mind, and psychological dualism, and contributed to research examining subconscious processes through the lens of AI and psychology.

Akash Sancheti, Outstanding Global Network Student Award (Arlington)

Akash Sancheti arrived on Northeastern’s Arlington campus as the campus itself was arriving on the scene.

“Nobody knew the area and people weren’t connecting with each other,” Sancheti says of the new campus.

Sancheti quickly began building a community. He founded the Arlington Explorers Society, which organizes group outings to areas in and around Washington, DC. The group has enabled students to meet through hikes and cultural activities, making the campus feel more like home.

Sancheti also served as a global recreation ambassador, planning events and collaborating with other Northeastern campuses to brainstorm and foster community. He was a TA for “Fundamentals of Cloud Computing” and was nominated for Northeastern’s Outstanding Master’s Student Award in Community Impact. 

After graduation, Sancheti plans to work as a teaching assistant at the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics at Brown University. 

“My experience here at Khoury College has set me up for this role,” he says. “I've been a TA and I've built up communities. This summer, I'll be doing both.”

Yiwen Wang, Outstanding Global Network Student Award (Seattle)

After earning her PhD in law, Yiwen Wang transitioned to Khoury College’s master’s in computer science program. As a founder of Tech@Crossroads, she grew the interdisciplinary student group to more than 350 members in one year by offering career guidance, technical workshops, and project-based learning opportunities. As president of Girls Who Code College Loop Seattle, she advocates for women in tech and facilitates professional discussions at events like the Grace Hopper Celebration. At Uplift NW, she developed software solutions to help disadvantaged people find employment.

This summer, Wang is interning in software development at Amazon, focusing on personalization technologies. After graduation, she plans to work as a backend engineer, building systems that connect interdisciplinary fields and drive societal impact.

Rohan Chopra, Barry Goldwater Scholarship

Rohan Chopra is a third-year data science and biochemistry major whose passion for improving health care accessibility and patient outcomes has led him to research at the intersection of public health and AI. He aims to leverage machine learning to address critical issues in health care, particularly in trauma-related outcomes, imaging-based risk prediction, and patient-centered clinical decision-making.

In addition to his work at Northeastern, Chopra has researched at the National Institutes of Health, Mass General Brigham, the Broad Institute, and the MIT Sloan School of Management. His interdisciplinary approach led to multiple peer-reviewed publications and significant grant funding, including the Northeastern PEAK Ascent, Summit, and Shout-it-Out awards. He aspires to become a physician–scientist specializing in computational health.

Jake Ginesin, NSF Research Fellowship

Before college, Jake Ginesin had little experience with programming and mathematics. Four years later, CS and math double major in hand, he has a truckload of research experience under his belt.

Under Cristina Nita-Rotaru, Ginesin researched automated reasoning for simple mathematical statements and graphing problems, then officially joined Nita-Rotaru as a research assistant to study cybersecurity and distributed protocols. He researched at the University of Southern California, the University of Oxford, Harvard University, and Northeastern’s College of Engineering, bouncing between automated bug-finding techniques, computer architecture, and telecommunications protocols. Along the way, he’s contributed to four published papers and won both the 2025 Internet Research Task Force Applied Networking Research Prize and Khoury College’s Undergraduate Research Award.

Starting this fall, Ginesin will put his research chops to further use as he pursues a security-focused computer science doctorate at Carnegie Mellon University.

“Modern society has all this computing infrastructure and computer systems that we rely on for pretty much everything,” he says. “The least we can do is ensure that it’s reliable and secure.”

Shannen Espinosa, Fulbright Scholarship semifinalist

FULL STORY: Renaissance woman: Shannen Espinosa blends quantum computing, vaccine research, and digital diplomacy

Passions in public policy, medicine, and computing, along with a fanatical work ethic, have fueled Shannen Espinosa’s remarkable — and growing — list of roles and accolades.

Developing universal nanoparticle coronavirus vaccines at Harvard University. Winning an MIT quantum computing hackathon and representing the US at an international hackathon. Training machine learning models to identify Alzheimer’s pathology for drug development at the University of Oxford. Developing algorithms to further UN diplomacy efforts. Addressing racial health equity gaps as part of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Interning with US Representative Lori Trahan.

“All of the work comes from my goal to help others and make an impact in my community,” Espinosa says, noting that after seeing the impact of malaria and dengue in her native Philippines, she wants to use computing and AI for “faster and more efficient drug discovery across infectious diseases.”

Dian Wang, Outstanding PhD Student Award for Research

Inspired by the success of the AI program AlphaGo, and advised by Robert Platt and Robin Walters, Dian Wang researches machine learning and robotics, aiming to use symmetry to improve the learning efficiency of robots. His paper “Equivariant Diffusion Policy” was awarded Outstanding Paper Award Finalist at the 2024 Conference on Robot Learning.

WATCH: Khoury Story: Dian on Researching Machine Learning and Robotics

Wang also received the JP Morgan Chase PhD Fellowship in 2023. He completed two internships at RAI Institute, where he worked on machine learning and robotics. After graduation, he plans a career in academia, one in which he hopes to be as good a professor and advisor as the ones he’s had at Northeastern.