Way to go Mononito!!!! [Fwd: Announcing the (Inaugural) 2025 Robotics Institute Graduate Student Award Winners]

[Artur Dubrawski]

Dear Autonians,

Please join me in congratulating our own Dr. Mononito Goswami for
being the first ever recipient of two (yes: 2) Robotics Institute graduate
student awards.

He has just won the prestigious Distinguished Dissertation Award and the
Outstanding RISS Mentor Award.

The competition was extremely tight, and winning just one of these awards
was a major feat.
But he got two of them! These awards recognize Mononito's undeniable
commitment to conducting rigorous yet impactful research and to bringing up
the next generation of bright scientists.

Way to go Mono!

Cheers,
Artur


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Jeff Ichnowski <jeffi at cmu.edu>
Date: Fri, Nov 7, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Subject: Announcing the (Inaugural) 2025 Robotics Institute Graduate
Student Award Winners
To: <ri-people at andrew.cmu.edu>
Cc: Rachel Burcin <rburcin at andrew.cmu.edu>, Zachary Manchester <zacm at cmu.edu>,
John Dolan <jdolan at andrew.cmu.edu>, Artur Dubrawski <awd at cs.cmu.edu>,
Jiaoyang Li <jiaoyangli at cmu.edu>, Krishna Suresh <ksuresh2 at andrew.cmu.edu>,
Zeynep Temel <ztemel at andrew.cmu.edu>, Olivia Wells <oliviawells at cmu.edu>


Dear RI Community:

It is with great pride that we announce the recipients of the inaugural
Robotics Institute Graduate Student Awards, which celebrate excellence in
research, teaching, mentorship, and community engagement.

Their contributions exemplify Carnegie Mellon’s commitment to excellence in
education and research.  Please join us in congratulating the 2025 RI award
recipients. We will have a short awards ceremony on *Friday, November 21,
at 2:30 PM in TEP 1403* just before the RI Seminar.

*2025 RI Distinguished Dissertation Award & Honorable Mentions*
The 2025 Distinguished Dissertation Award is awarded to *Mononito Goswami*
for his groundbreaking thesis, Towards Time Series Intelligence, with
honorable mentions to *Homanga Bharadhwaj* and *Zhengyi Luo* for their
outstanding doctoral research.

*2025 RI Best Master’s Thesis Award *
The Best Master’s Thesis Award is presented to *Eliot Xing* for his
contributions to reinforcement learning for robotic manipulation.

*2025 RI Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award & Honorable Mentions*
We are proud to recognize the dedication and impact of our graduate
teaching assistants through the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant
Award to *Gokul Swamy* for his co-creation of the new course: Algorithmic
Foundations of Interactive Learning, and dedication to student mentoring,
as well as an honorable mention given to *Shahram Syed* for his key
contributions to the Robot Kinematics and Dynamics course as a teaching
assistant.

*2025 RISS Graduate Student Outstanding Mentoring & Engagement Award &
Honorable Mentions*
We are delighted to honor excellence in mentorship and community
leadership: *Mononito Goswami* is recognized as the inaugural recipient of
the RISS Graduate Student Outstanding Mentoring & Engagement Award. A
two-time RISS scholar himself, Mononito has since profoundly influenced the
futures of seven younger RISS scholars, guiding each toward success in top
graduate programs and publications at leading AI conferences. His
mentorship embodies the spirit of the RISS community, fostering excellence,
curiosity, and care. An honorable mention goes to *Rishi Veerapaneni* for
his exemplary mentorship and community contributions, guiding 21
undergraduates—many of whom published in top conferences.

*2025 RI Graduate Student Community Engagement Award*
The RI Graduate Student Community Engagement Award is presented to *Iqui
Balam Heredia Marin* in recognition of his exemplary work with the Latino
Community Center.

These awards highlight the extraordinary talent, generosity, and impact of
our graduate students—both within their labs and beyond—and we congratulate
this year’s awardees for setting such a high standard for the Robotics
Institute community.

We would also like to thank all of the nominators and those who contributed
to sharing stories of impact. We would like to thank all those who served
on the RI Graduate Student Awards Committee for their service: Zachary
Manchester (co-chair emeritus), John Dolan, Artur Dubrawski, Jiaoyang Li,
Krishna Suresh, Zeynep Temel, and Olivia Wells.

Congratulations to all!

Thanks,
Jeff Ichnowski & Rachel Burcin
RI Graduate Student Awards Committee Chairs
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