Two graduate students in the Texas A&M University College of Science are among 18 from across the campus who have been named Texas A&M Distinguished Graduate Students for 2022 in recognition of exemplary achievement in teaching or research.
Asim Maity ’18, a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry mentored by Texas A&M chemist Dr. David C. Powers, has earned one of 11 Distinguished Graduate Student Awards for Research, while Priyanga Ganesan ’22, a Ph.D. candidate in mathematics co-mentored by Texas A&M mathematicians Dr. Eric Rowell and Dr. Michael Brannan, is being honored with one of seven Distinguished Graduate Student Awards for Teaching.
Priyanga Ganesan ’22, a Ph.D. candidate in mathematics co-mentored by Texas A&M mathematicians Dr. Eric Rowell and Dr. Michael Brannan, has earned one of seven Distinguished Graduate Student Awards for Teaching, while Asim Maity ’18, a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry mentored by Texas A&M chemist Dr. David C. Powers, is being honored with one of 11 Distinguished Graduate Student Awards for Research.
Ganesan and Maity will be celebrated along with their fellow recipients in an April 25 ceremony in Rudder Forum sponsored by The Association of Former Students and the Texas A&M Graduate and Professional School as part of 2022 Distinguished Day programming. Each will be presented with a framed certificate and custom engraved watch from The Association.
“Since 1965, The Association of Former Students has proudly recognized the achievements and admirable contributions of Texas A&M graduate students with the Distinguished Graduate Student Award,” said Porter S. Garner III ’79, President and CEO of The Association of Former Students. “As teachers and researchers, the demonstrated excellence of this year’s honorees brings prestige to our university, embodies our Aggie Core Values, and reflects honorably upon the entire Aggie Network.”
Each year, only a handful of graduate students are recognized with the coveted award that represents one of Texas A&M’s highest honors for outstanding research or teaching achievement. Students are nominated by their faculty advisors or their departments — an accomplishment in and of itself, officials say, due to the strenuous eligibility requirements. The award recipients are chosen by a panel of reviewers that includes faculty and administrators.
“Graduate students do so much to enhance the intellectual spirit of our university, contribute to our research and teaching missions, and advance scholarship in their fields of study,” said Dr. Karen Butler-Purry, associate provost and dean of the Texas A&M Graduate and Professional School. “I am grateful to The Association of Former Students for their support in helping us recognize 18 of our most exemplary graduate students this year.”
Ganesan joined the Department of Mathematics Ph.D. program in fall 2017 after completing an integrated bachelors-masters degree in mathematics at the National Institute of Science Education and Research in India. Her doctoral dissertation explores quantum graphs and non-local games using operator algebraic techniques for applications in quantum information theory. She has received 11 awards for academic excellence and service at Texas A&M, including the Aggie Core Values Award, Buck Weirus Spirit Award, Southerland Aggie Leader Scholarship, Dr. H. Joseph Newton Graduate Student Service Award and N.W Naugle Fellowship in Mathematics. Ganesan is passionate about teaching and aspires to become a mathematics professor. She has mentored five undergraduate students and has taught diverse math courses at Texas A&M University, ranging from an in-person course on business calculus to an online course in finite mathematics. She constantly strives to develop her teaching skills by completing additional certifications and is a CIRTL Associate Fellow of the Academy for Future Faculty. She is also a recipient of the CIRTL Teaching-as-Research Fellowship and conducted research to enhance student engagement in online classrooms during the pandemic. Following her graduation in May, Ganesan will be starting as a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, San Diego, in July.
Maity, who was born and raised in West Bengal, India, earned his bachelor’s of science degree from Jadavpur University in Kolkata and his master’s of science degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, prior to coming to Texas A&M in fall 2016 to pursue his doctoral studies as a member of the Powers Research Laboratory in the Department of Chemistry. His research focuses on synthetic methods toward oxidation chemistry, which has broad implications across industry and technology sectors. Maity’s primary discoveries to date include identifying the utilization of aldehyde autoxidation chemistry for sustainable generation of hypervalent iodine compounds with oxygen as the terminal oxidant. He also developed the first example of electrocatalytic C–H amination reaction using hypervalent iodine intermediates. Maity’s research accomplishments have been published in high-impact chemistry journals and recognized with awards such as the Bruno J. Zwolinski Endowed Graduate Fellowship, the Sharon Dabney Memorial Fellowship and, most recently, a 2021 Phil Gramm Doctoral Fellowship. In addition, he has mentored several undergraduate students and served in various capacities in multiple student-led organizations within Texas A&M Chemistry and the broader university.
To learn more about the Distinguished Graduate Student Awards and related programs and events to celebrate graduate student accomplishment at Texas A&M, visit https://grad.tamu.edu/.
Graduate students do so much to enhance the intellectual spirit of our university, contribute to our research and teaching missions, and advance scholarship in their fields of study. I am grateful to The Association of Former Students for their support in helping us recognize 18 of our most exemplary graduate students this year.