From undergraduate researchers and student mentors to leaders in outreach, service, and innovation, The Robert Mehrabian College of Engineering’s Outstanding Seniors for the Class of 2026 have helped shape the UCSB engineering experience both inside and outside the classroom.

Nominated by their departments based on their academic excellence, including earning some of the highest GPAs among their graduating cohorts, as well as their scholarly, research, leadership, and co-curricular accomplishments, each recipient has also been invited to serve as a standard bearer, leading the student procession during the college’s commencement at 9 AM on Friday, June 12 on Commencement Green.

Chemical Engineering: Anuj Acharya
For Anuj Acharya, being named the Chemical Engineering Department’s Outstanding Senior represents the culmination of years of hard work, curiosity, and resilience.

“Being recognized is an incredible honor,” said Acharya, who served as vice president of UCSB’s Tau Beta Pi chapter, conducted undergraduate research, coordinated science outreach for local fifth-grade students, and studied abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland. “To me, this recognition reflects not only my academic efforts, but also the support I’ve received from the department, my professors, and my peers.” 
 
Acharya said that one of his most memorable academic experiences came during his senior capstone project, where his team developed a mixed-integer global optimization model to maximize the net present value of a chemical plant design.
 
“At several points, the problem felt almost intractable,” he said. “Successfully building and implementing the optimization framework was incredibly rewarding because it showed how powerful engineering analysis can be when applied to real-world systems.” 
 
As an undergraduate researcher in the laboratory of chemical engineering professor and chair Mike Gordon, Acharya studied the spectroelectrochemistry of biomolecules. He attributed the way that he approaches learning and engineering to Gordon. 
 
“His passion for understanding complex scientific problems inspired me to approach engineering with greater curiosity and rigor,” Acharya said. “His emphasis on developing strong intuition and truly understanding underlying principles had a lasting impact on how I approach problem-solving.” 
 
After graduation, Acharya will join Epic Systems, where he aims to continue developing his technical problem-solving skills before eventually pursuing an MBA and transitioning into the energy and nuclear sectors. 

Computer Engineering: Michael Wu
For Michael Wu, a passion for game development helped define his academic journey at UCSB.

Wu, who participated in UCSB’s Game Development Club and Robotics Club, said he approached his coursework with the goal of fully immersing himself in what he was learning. 

“I did the best that I could in my coursework because I wanted to make the most out of what I was learning,” Wu said. “It’s an honor knowing that the effort I put in has been recognized by the department staff that supported me along the way.” 

After graduation, Wu plans to pursue a master’s degree in computer science at the University of Southern California with a focus on game development and the ultimate goal of working in the game industry. 

His most memorable academic experience came during UCSB’s Intro to Video Game Development course, when he spent seven weeks building his own original game concept.

“I designed gameplay systems from the ground up, and doing so challenged my problem-solving skills and forced me to dive deep into rendering and simulation problems,” he said. “That course, along with the Advanced Game Development sequence, really shaped my passion for game development.” 

Wu also thanked computer science professors Pradeep Sen and Ambuj Singh for motivating him, shaping his interests across multiple fields, and supporting him throughout the graduate school application process

Computer Science: Sammy Lesner
A passion for collaboration, mentorship, and systems research shaped Sammy Lesner’s undergraduate experience at UCSB.

A co-president of the Women in Computer Science (WiCS) Club, four-time undergraduate learning assistant, and undergraduate researcher with professors Maryam Majedi and Tao Yang, Lesner was named the Computer Science (CS) Department’s Outstanding Senior. 

“It’s a great honor to be recognized as the Outstanding Senior of the Computer Science Department,” Lesner said. “I think this achievement is really a testament to the quality of support that I received from the UCSB CS community, from upperclassmen and my mentors to my colleagues and classmates.” 

Lesner said that some of her most memorable academic experiences were through group projects in challenging systems courses like Operating Systems, Distributed Systems, and Databases. Skeptical about group work at first, she found trusted coding partners and soon became convinced that a functional team can be more efficient, more creative, and more careful than any one person working alone.

“Some of the highest-quality code I have written has been co-written; debated, tested, reviewed, and improved through pair-programming consensus,” Lesner said. “Good collaborators do more than divide tasks: they notice when someone needs a break and also push each other to build beyond the minimum specifications."

Beyond the classroom, Lesner said that one of the most meaningful parts of her UCSB experience was learning from, being a part of, and leading supportive environments within the department. 

“Even when it has been more than a year since I was their ULA, I still have former students waving at me through the halls and stopping to chat about how it’s been going and for advice about their future plans,” Lesner said. “I worked hard to find community, and now I work hard to strengthen it for others.”

As a co-president of WiCS, she aspires to curate a space where the boundary between student and mentor and friend softens, where women in CS can find mentorship in their peers and a sense of belonging in the general CS community.

Lesner attributes much of this outlook to her mentors. She thanked Majedi and Yang for their support, patience, and guidance in helping her grow as a researcher, and for modeling the generosity of time and attention that she now strives to extend to others. She also expressed gratitude to computer science professors Eric Vigoda and Rich Wolski for their excellent teaching and for welcoming her onto their teaching teams, where she had the opportunity to mentor students and learn from her fellow ULAs and TAs.

“Now when I support others, I hear the words and mannerisms of my mentors echo through me,” Lesner said.

Following graduation, Lesner will remain at UCSB to pursue a master’s degree in computer science before applying to PhD programs focused on information retrieval and systems architecture. Her long-term goal is to help create information systems that are not only scalable and efficient, but also interpretable and trustworthy. 

Lesner also received the college’s Tirrell Award for Distinction in Undergraduate Research. Named in honor of former dean Matthew Tirrell, the prestigious award recognizes a graduating senior for demonstrating exceptional promise and excellence in undergraduate research

Electrical Engineering: Mohamed Elfouly
For Mohamed Elfouly, the recognition as Electrical Engineering’s 2026 Outstanding Senior represents both perseverance and the support of the people around him.

“It’s humbling,” Elfouly said. “The recognition feels like validation of the late nights, the hard problems, and the willingness to keep pushing when things got difficult. More than anything, it reflects the people who helped me get here.” 

During his time at UCSB, Elfouly served as secretary of UCSB’s Tau Beta Pi chapter and as an officer in the student branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He also conducted undergraduate research with professors Clint Schow and Luke Theogarajan, during which time he worked on photonic integrated circuits used in fiber optic communication systems, and on hardware implementations of probabilistic machine learning models. 

This summer, Elfouly will intern at NASA before continuing at UCSB through the BS/MS program while interning with local startup Lucidean. 

One of his most memorable moments at UCSB came during his team’s senior capstone project.

“My team spent Christmas break finishing our radar-processing chip and submitted it only minutes before the deadline,” he said. “It taught me what it really takes to ship something real under pressure, and it gave me a lasting appreciation for the teammates who struggle alongside you. Then months later, we got out chip back and spent innumerable hours troubleshooting, and now Memorial Day marks perhaps one of my greatest accomplishments: demonstrating our working chip.” 

Elfouly credited Schow and Theogarajan for giving him opportunities to conduct meaningful undergraduate research and teaching him how to think independently as an engineer. 

Mechanical Engineering: Henry Easton
For Henry Easton, being named Outstanding Senior symbolizes both academic achievement and personal growth.

“Being recognized as Outstanding Senior is incredibly meaningful to me because it reflects not only the academic work I put in over the last four years, but also the personal growth that came with my time at UCSB,” Easton said. “Engineering is challenging, and there were definitely moments when balancing coursework and life outside the classroom felt overwhelming.” 

Following graduation, Easton, who participated in Alpha Tau Omega and Tau Beta Pi during his time at UCSB, will return to his hometown of Austin, Texas to attend the University of Texas School of Law. While law school may seem an unconventional next step for an engineering student, Easton said that his engineering education fundamentally changed the way he approaches problems.

“I’m very happy with my decision to study engineering,” he said. “I think it trains the mind in ways other curricula cannot. My professors helped me become a better problem solver than I could have ever hoped for, and I think that will carry me far in life.” 

Easton also praised the collaborative culture within UCSB Mechanical Engineering.

“I certainly would not have received this award without a number of hardworking classmates who kept me motivated and on track throughout the year,” he said. “Big shoutout to the Supermechs.” 

He additionally thanked professors Ted Bennett, Trevor Marks, and Tyler Susko for their mentorship and guidance throughout senior capstone and beyond.