Two Princeton CBE graduate students — Dina Kussainova and Hansen Tjo — have received this year's Award for Excellence from the School of Engineering and Applied Science, given each year to advanced graduate students who have performed at the highest level as scholars and researchers.
“Vice Dean Antoine Kahn and I are delighted to honor these graduate students who have excelled in every dimension — classes, research, teaching and leadership — during their time at Princeton,” said Dean Andrea Goldsmith. “These scholars have greatly advanced knowledge in their fields and are poised to have an even greater positive impact as they move to the next stage of their careers. Their future success knows no bounds. I also congratulate their faculty advisers who have been dedicated mentors and advocates for their students, and hence have been instrumental in their success.”
Dina Kussainova studies the molecular dynamics of chemical reactions and the thermodynamics of molten salts using machine learning models. She earned a bachelor's degree from Nazarbayev University, in Kazakhstan. She is advised by Athanassios Panagiotopoulos.
Hansen Tjo studies bacteria that thrive at extremely high temperatures — good for converting plants into fuels — with an eye toward rewiring those microbes' metabolism to make them more productive. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He is advised by Jonathan Conway.
