Nina Tandon PhD’09 is set to take the Class Day stage on May 15 to address our graduating engineers as the Class of 2023’s keynote speaker. But before the big day, Tandon stopped by the Morningside campus to reunite with University Professor and mentor, Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic. Together the two collaborated on the launch of EpiBone, a biotech startup that Tandon started working on while at Columbia, and for which she now serves as CEO. Born out of the Vunjak-Novakovic lab, EpiBone is a revolutionary platform that grows bones from a patient’s own stem cells.
“Her lab is such a hotbed of innovation,” said Tandon. Find out more about these engineering entrepreneurs as they reconnect days ahead of Class Day and share the evolution of EpiBone, their continuing collaboration, and their joint commitment to changing the status quo of healthcare for good.
Highlights from the ceremonies
Credit: Eileen Barroso
Meet the Class Day Speaker
Class Day speaker and EpiBone CEO Nina Tandon PhD’09 returns to the Engineering School to catch up with mentor and University Professor Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic. Find out how their longtime collaboration has evolved through the years and how their work on EpiBone is advancing personalized medicine. Credit: Jane Nisselson and Beatrice V. Mhando
STUDENT AWARD WINNERS
Zvi Galil Award for Improvement in Engineering Student Life
Columbia Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs (CORE)
Bernard Jaffe Prize
Yunus Kovankaya
School of Engineering and Applied Science Scholar Athlete Award
Elisa Luo
Campbell Award
Alexander Moreno
School of Engineering and Applied Science Student Activities Award
Katherine O'Reilly
Thomas "Pop" Harrington Medal
Athena Pagon
George Vincent Wendell Memorial Award
Elias Tzoc-Pacheco
Robert D. Lilley Award for Socially Responsible Engineering
Engineers Without Borders: Yuba County
Morton B. Friedman Memorial Prize for Excellence
Yash Vijay Amonkar, PhD
Graduate Student Life Leadership Awards
Mark Barbet, PhD
Albert Fernandez Veiga, MS
Graduate Speaker
Camille-Louise Kouba Mbayo, MS
Valedictorian and Illig Medal Winner
Ethan Wu
Salutatorian
Julia Zhao
FACULTY AWARD WINNERS
CEAA Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award
Lydia Chilton, Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Xunyu Zhou, Liu Family Professor of Financial Engineering
Edward and Carole Kim Award for Faculty Involvement
Hardeep Johar, Senior Lecturer in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
Janette and Armen Avanessians Diversity Award
Brian Smith, Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Presidential Teaching Award Winner
Yi Zhang, Associate in the Discipline of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
ALUMNI AWARD WINNER
Columbia Alumni Medalist
Alexander A. Ned BS’87, MS’90