{"id":678,"date":"2026-08-03T14:21:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T18:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/physics\/vaidalab\/?page_id=678"},"modified":"2026-08-06T11:40:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T15:40:55","slug":"awards","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/physics\/vaidalab\/awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Student\u00a0Awards,\u00a0Fellowships,\u00a0and\u00a0Research\u00a0Grants<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Student success is a central\u00a0component\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0Vaida\u00a0Research\u00a0Group&#8217;s\u00a0mission.\u00a0Undergraduate\u00a0and\u00a0graduate\u00a0students\u00a0are\u00a0actively\u00a0engaged in\u00a0cutting-edge\u00a0research\u00a0while\u00a0developing\u00a0the\u00a0skills\u00a0necessary\u00a0for\u00a0careers\u00a0in\u00a0academia,\u00a0industry,\u00a0national\u00a0laboratories,\u00a0and\u00a0education. Since 2018, students in the Vaida Research Group have earned numerous competitive awards, fellowships, research grants, and research honors. These recognitions include UCF Office of Undergraduate Research grants, Distinguished Undergraduate Researcher Awards, poster and presentation competition prizes, graduate fellowships, dissertation support awards, and research scholarships.\u00a0Collectively,\u00a0these\u00a0awards\u00a0highlight\u00a0the\u00a0quality\u00a0of\u00a0research\u00a0conducted\u00a0by\u00a0students\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0group\u00a0and\u00a0demonstrate\u00a0their\u00a0success\u00a0in\u00a0securing competitive\u00a0funding,\u00a0fellowships,\u00a0and\u00a0professional\u00a0recognition\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0university,\u00a0regional,\u00a0and\u00a0national\u00a0levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Student&nbsp;Achievements&nbsp;at&nbsp;a&nbsp;Glance<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>20\u00a0student\u00a0awards,\u00a0fellowships,\u00a0and\u00a0research\u00a0grants<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Multiple\u00a0UCF\u00a0Distinguished\u00a0Undergraduate\u00a0Researcher\u00a0Awards<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Multiple\u00a0UCF\u00a0Office\u00a0of\u00a0Undergraduate\u00a0Research\u00a0(OUR)\u00a0grants<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Poster\u00a0and\u00a0presentation\u00a0awards\u00a0at\u00a0conferences<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Graduate\u00a0fellowships\u00a0and\u00a0dissertation\u00a0support\u00a0awards<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">List of Awards and Grants<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Mark Wasuwanich<\/strong>&nbsp;received the award for the&nbsp;<strong>Most Outstanding Presentation<\/strong>&nbsp;at the&nbsp;<strong>Dr. Nelson Ying Orange County Science Fair<\/strong>. His presentation highlighted research conducted in the Vaida&#8217;s laboratory on&nbsp;<strong>2D nanostructured photocatalytic materials for solar fuel generation<\/strong>&nbsp;(February 2018)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Cody Jordan<\/strong>\u00a0received the UCF-OUR Student Research Grant for the proposal \u201cExploration of Charge Carrier Dynamics of TaS<sub>2<\/sub>\u00a0Nanoflakes on MoS<sub>2<\/sub>\u201d (Dec. 2018)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Trong Nguyen and Nikki Marrow<\/strong>&nbsp;received UCF-OUR Student Research Grant for the proposal \u201cAmmonia Synthesis using Hexagonal Boron Nitride Catalysts with Au and Ag\u201d Nanoparticles (Dec. 2018)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Trong Nguyen<\/strong>&nbsp;received a research grant from the UCF-Burnett Research College for the research proposal \u201cMechanicistic Understanding of NH<sub>3&nbsp;<\/sub>Synthesis on Novel 2D-Nanostructured Catalysts\u201d, (Dec.&nbsp;2018)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Cody Jordan<\/strong>&nbsp;earned the second poster prize at 2019 FL-AVS Symposium (2019)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Md Afjal Pathan<\/strong>&nbsp;received the third prize at 2019 AVS Short Course on Surface Science and Nanomaterials (March 10, 2019)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Aakash Gupta<\/strong>\u00a0earned a research grant from UCF-OUR for his project \u201cTracking ultrafast uni- and bi-molecular photoinduced reactions at surfaces with femtosecond extreme ultraviolet laser pulses\u201d (Jul 2019)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Md Afjal Pathan<\/strong> and <strong>Nikki Marrow<\/strong>&nbsp;received the grand prize for poster presentation at 2020 FL-AVS Symposium: Nikki Marrow, Md Afjal Khan Pathan, and Mihai E. Vaida, Synthesis and characterization of two dimensional TaS<sub>2<\/sub>&nbsp;layers on Cu(111), Florida Chapter American Vacuum Society (March 2020)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Md Afjal Pathan<\/strong>&nbsp;received third prize at AVS short course on Catalysis and Catalytic Materials (March 2020)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Aakash Gupta<\/strong>&nbsp;received the third place in the Astrochemistry section at the AVS 2020 International Twitter Poster Competition for a poster presentation \u201cAakash Gupta, Md Afjal Khan Pathan, and Mihai E. Vaida, Investigation of Photoinduced Reaction in H2O Ice Layers using Femtosecond Soft X-Ray Lase Pulses,&nbsp;(Jul. 2020)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Keith Blackman<\/strong>&nbsp;received the UCF Graduate Studies Summer Mentoring Fellowship (May 2021)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Corine Smith<\/strong>&nbsp;received UCF-OUR Student Research Grant for the proposal \u201c<em>Enhancing the stability and efficiency of catalytic materials consisting of cerium oxide decorated with Pt single-atoms<\/em>\u201d (Dec. 2021)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Corine Smith&nbsp;<\/strong>received the grand prize for poster presentation at 2022 FLAVS Symposium:&nbsp;Corine M. Smith, Sasha N. Berriel, Keith Blackman, Ariel Tarrago, Emily Martinez, Muktar Hussain, Parag Banerrjee, and&nbsp;Mihai E. Vaida,&nbsp;<em>Cerium oxide thin films decorated with Pt clusters: Understanding the effect of cluster size and substrate composition on CO adsorption and oxidation,&nbsp;<\/em>Symposium&nbsp;of the&nbsp;Florida Chapter of American Vacuum Society (Orlando,&nbsp;&nbsp;FL, May 2022)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Corine Smith&nbsp;<\/strong>received the&nbsp;UCF Distinguished Undergraduate Researcher Award, 2023 (Aug. 2023)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>George Turner&nbsp;<\/strong>received UCF-OUR Student Research Grant for the proposal \u201cUnderstanding the effects of gas-phase pressure on the ultrafast molecular dynamics of surface reaction species\u201d (Sept. 2023)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Eric Segrest<\/strong> and <strong>Alejandro Rodrigues<\/strong> received the UCF Distinguished Undergraduate Researcher Award, with the proposal \u201cUnderstanding the carbon-carbon bond formation on copper-based catalysts that lead to high-value chemicals (Sept. 2024)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sebastian Cimino<\/strong> received the UCF Distinguished Undergraduate Researcher Award, with the proposal \u201cInvestigating and Improving the Thermal Stability of Single Pt Atoms and Clusters on Two-Dimensional Materials and Ultra-Thin Films as part of the Student Research Grant\u201d (Sept. 2025)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Alejandro Rodriguez<\/strong> was honored with the&nbsp;2025 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)&nbsp;by the UCF Office of Undergraduate Research, to facilitate his research endeavors within Vaida&#8217;s laboratory during the 2025 Summer semester (April 2025).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Keith Blackman<\/strong> received the College of Sciences Dissertation Research Support Award (Feb. 2026)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Eric Segrest<\/strong>&nbsp;won the Judges\u2019 Choice Award for his poster&nbsp;<em>Concurrently monitoring ultrafast surface and gas-phase dynamics in solid\u2013gas interfacial reactions<\/em>, presented at the 2026 UCF&nbsp;Student Scholar Symposium (April 2026)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Student\u00a0Awards,\u00a0Fellowships,\u00a0and\u00a0Research\u00a0Grants Student success is a central\u00a0component\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0Vaida\u00a0Research\u00a0Group&#8217;s\u00a0mission.\u00a0Undergraduate\u00a0and\u00a0graduate\u00a0students\u00a0are\u00a0actively\u00a0engaged in\u00a0cutting-edge\u00a0research\u00a0while\u00a0developing\u00a0the\u00a0skills\u00a0necessary\u00a0for\u00a0careers\u00a0in\u00a0academia,\u00a0industry,\u00a0national\u00a0laboratories,\u00a0and\u00a0education. Since 2018, students in the Vaida Research Group have earned numerous competitive awards, fellowships, research grants, and research honors. These recognitions include UCF <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/physics\/vaidalab\/awards\/\">Continue Reading &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-678","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Awards - Vaida Research Lab<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/physics\/vaidalab\/awards\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Awards - Vaida Research Lab\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Student\u00a0Awards,\u00a0Fellowships,\u00a0and\u00a0Research\u00a0Grants Student success is a central\u00a0component\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0Vaida\u00a0Research\u00a0Group&#8217;s\u00a0mission.\u00a0Undergraduate\u00a0and\u00a0graduate\u00a0students\u00a0are\u00a0actively\u00a0engaged in\u00a0cutting-edge\u00a0research\u00a0while\u00a0developing\u00a0the\u00a0skills\u00a0necessary\u00a0for\u00a0careers\u00a0in\u00a0academia,\u00a0industry,\u00a0national\u00a0laboratories,\u00a0and\u00a0education. Since 2018, students in the Vaida Research Group have earned numerous competitive awards, fellowships, research grants, and research honors. 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Since 2018, students in the Vaida Research Group have earned numerous competitive awards, fellowships, research grants, and research honors. 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