Florida Atlantic University President Adam Hasner and Interim Provost Russell Ivy recently hosted the 56th annual Honors Convocation.

Florida Atlantic University President Adam Hasner and Interim Provost Russell Ivy recently hosted the 56th annual Honors Convocation at the University Theatre, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Boca Raton campus. The ceremony recognizes the university’s most outstanding students and faculty.

Awards and recognition included eight university scholars; the Distinguished Student award; the University Club Merit award; the Hersker, Shaw, Gosser Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi scholar; the Stan and Renee Wimberly scholar; the Undergraduate Researchers awards; the Student-athletes of the Year awards; and the Fraternity and Sorority scholars. Faculty honors include the FAU Alumni Association’s Degree of Difference Award; Researchers and Scholars of the Year awards; FAU Online Faculty award; Teaching and Advising awards; as well as the Distinguished Mentor of the Year in Undergraduate Research award and the President’s Award for Career Achievement.

The winner of the Distinguished Teacher of the Year award is determined by FAU students. This year’s recipient is Maria Mercedes Larrondo-Petrie, Ph.D., a full professor of computer engineering. Larrondo-Petrie serves pro-bono as the executive director of the Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions and is the director of the Organization of American States Center of Excellence of Engineering for the Americas. Her research publications have received more than 2,000 citations, and she has been awarded more than $3 million in grants during her career.

2025 Florida Atlantic University Honors Convocation Awardees

University Scholars

Christian Robinson, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Gabriella Figueiredo Borges, College of Business

Orlando Morales Lopez, College of Education

Catherine Hernandez, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Jacob Carlson, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College

Mary Maccarone, Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing

Brandon Trenta, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Ghazal Tajalli, College of Social Work and Criminal Justice

Distinguished Student Award

Tarruck Wheeler, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College

University Club Merit Award

Abhishikta Srigiriraju, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Stan and Renee Wimberly Scholar

Marisa Zumbrum, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Hersker, Shaw, Gosser Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi Scholarship Award

Rithika Mathew, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Undergraduate Researchers of the Year

Ty Craaybeek, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Alexander Aranda, College of Business, Allen E. Smith Awardee

Vritti Sodha, College of Education

Zade Micallef, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Vincent Stafford, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College

Gabriella Maxey, Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine

Helen Grammen, Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing

Hannah Epstein, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Goldwater Scholarship

Aiden Geleta, Awardee

Vincent Stafford, Awardee

Distinguished First-year Undergraduate Student of the Year

Maya Desai, College of Business

Fraternity and Sorority Scholars

James Levi, Alpha Epsilon Pi

Melyssa Mitchell, Alpha Kappa Alpha

Student-athletes of the Year

Michelle Horan, Women’s soccer

Bryan Boully, Baseball

Alumni Degree of Difference Award

Gary Perry, Ph.D., Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Researchers of the Year

Jeanette Wyneken, Ph.D., Professor, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

Ayse Torres, Ph.D., Associate Professor, College of Education

Andrea Cippitelli, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine

Scholars of the Year

Cristobal Salinas, Ph.D., Professor, College of Education

Behnaz Ghoraani, Ph.D., Associate Professor, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Masoud Jahandar Lashaki, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, College of Engineering and Computer Science

FAU Online Faculty Award

Katarina Brant, Ph.D., Instructor, College of Business

Excellence and Innovation in Undergraduate Teaching

Marc Decker, DMA, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Marquese McFerguson, Ph.D., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Carmen Cañete Quesada, Ph.D., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College

Yash Bhagwanji, Ph.D., College of Education

Excellence and Innovation in Undergraduate Advising

Hernan Rico, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Jeff Schering, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College

Alyssa Ramjohn Ali, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Distinguished Mentor of the Year in Undergraduate Research

Catherine Trivigno, Ph.D., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College 

President’s Award for Career Achievement

Manhar Dhanak, Ph.D., College of Engineering and Computer Science  

2025 Distinguished Teacher of the Year

Maria Larrondo-Petrie, Ph.D., College of Engineering and Computer Science

-FAU-