Awards

CEE recognizes the scholarly excellence and achievement of graduate students each year with a Best Doctoral Research Award and Best Masters Research Award. Students must be nominated by their research advisors and have a minimum graduate GPA of 3.5. Each advisor may nominate no more than one graduate student for each award.

Graduate student in the environmental engineering lab

CEE winners recieve a plaque and cash award—$250 for the master's award and $500 for the doctoral. They will also be nominated for the Clark School competition, where they will be evaluated by a college-wide committee along with other senior researchers in the local area. The winners at the college level will win an additional cash award and plaque.

Student conducting pavement research

Apply today

Deadline: April 30, 2021 by 5:00pm

For consideration, submit the following to ceegradstudies@umd.edu.
1. A single PDF file (not to exceed 14 pages) containing:

  • Two-page curriculum vitae
  • One-page abstract of master or doctoral research
  • One scholarly research written sample (not to exceed 10 pages)
  • One-page list of research awards/accomplishments (e.g. best paper awards, graduate fellowships, patents, etc.)

2. A single video file or link for a 10-minute presentation in which the student discusses his or her research. One recommended way to do this is to use Zoom and record a voice-over while sharing a slide deck. 
3. A separate PDF file containing an advisor endorsement/nomination letter indicating the student’s main contributions to his or her field of research. The letter should also confirm that the student is graduating in the calendar year 2021 and has a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

Judging Criteria

Oral presentation (40%)

The 2021 competition will be completely virtual, so each nomination should also include a single video file or link for a 10-minute presentation in which the student discusses his or her research. These presentations, along with students’ scholarly writings, will be judged based on:

  • Technical content
  • Importance to the field
  • Style and clarity
  • Completeness

Scholarly writings (40%)

Nominated students should provide two writing samples from the following. The student should indicate which writing sample should be evaluated by the committee as the primary evidence of scholarship. 

  • Published or submitted conference or archival journal manuscripts describing work that forms the basis of the student's M.S. research for which the student is the primary author
  • M.S. scholarly paper
  • A summary of the M.S. thesis
  • The M.S. thesis

 Writing samples will be judged based on: 

  • Technical content
  • Importance to the field
  • Style and clarity
  • Completeness

Awards and accomplishments (20%)

Emphasis will be placed on awards and accomplishments that are the results of the student’s graduate research. The student may provide additional evidence of scholarly accomplishment as below:

  • List of publications
  • List of awards and fellowships
  • Evidence of GPA via an informal transcript

Oral presentation (40%)

The 2021 competition will be completely virtual, so each nomination should also include a single video file or link for a 10-minute presentation in which the student discusses his or her research. These presentations, along with students’ scholarly writings, will be judged based on:

  • Technical content
  • Importance to the field
  • Style and clarity
  • Completeness

Scholarly writings (40%)

Nominated students should provide two writing samples from the following. The student should indicate which writing sample should be evaluated by the committee as the primary evidence of scholarship. 

  • Published or submitted conference or archival journal manuscripts describing work that forms the basis of the student's M.S. research for which the student is the primary author
  • Doctoral research
  • Sample of the dissertation

 Writing samples will be judged based on: 

  • Technical content
  • Importance to the field
  • Style and clarity
  • Completeness

Awards and accomplishments (20%)

Emphasis will be placed on awards and accomplishments that are the results of the student’s graduate research. The student may provide additional evidence of scholarly accomplishment as below:

  • List of publications
  • List of awards and fellowships
  • Evidence of GPA via an informal transcript

2021 Ph.D. Winner

Sanaz Aliari’s thesis, Introducing Alternative Meeting Locations in Taxi Ridesharing, proposes the incorporation of alternative meeting points in ridesharing routes, in order to eliminate unnecessary detours, increase the likelihood of matching passengers, and eliminate unnecessary detours. (Advisor: Ali Haghani)

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S photo of UMD CEE student Sanaz Aliari

2021 M.S. Winner

Lavan Teja Burra's thesis, Estimating Substitution Effects of Miles Across Cars: An Econometric Analysis of Vehicle Use in Two-Vehicle Households, uses data from the 2017 National Household Travel Survey to determine whether two-car households are substituting miles across vehicles of different fuel efficiency due to changes in gas prices. (Advisor: Cinzia Cirillo)

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A photo of UMD CEE grduate student Lava Teja Burra

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