Dean’s Honored Graduate is the highest honor a CNS student can earn, awarded to approximately 25-30 students a year, representing the top 1% of each graduating class, and are awarded in spring only.

The College of Natural Sciences Dean’s Honored Graduate Award recognizes graduating students exemplifying the values of our college. Many students who have been selected for this honor are chosen for their amazing array of accomplishments while at UT. They have done spectacular research; furthered the college’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion; created start-up companies; earned (inter)national awards like Goldwater, Truman, Churchill, Rhodes, Marshall, and NSF Graduate Fellowships; have high academic GPAs; or have performed significant service to the University or College while here. The reasons for designating someone a DHG can be many, but in all cases, they embody the highest ideals of the College.

Student nominations are accepted from faculty only, and are coordinated across faculty at the departmental level to make sure no deserving student is missed. Each department should gather the testimonials necessary from across the faculty in your department, and ensure that a high-quality letter is addressed to Interim Associate Dean, Dr. Michael Drew, in nomination of the student.

If you would like to nominate a Dean’s Honored Graduate, please be sure to check in with your department’s faculty advisor to initiate or support a letter for the student. If you are unable to coordinate with a department and would like to submit a Dean’s Honored Graduate nomination, please do so here and the college will connect with the student’s department for supporting materials. Nominations close for 2023, March 3.

Dean’s Honored Graduate nominations are reviewed holistically, including review by the college’s faculty advisors and college leadership.

The college will confirm the graduation status of all nominated Dean’s Honored Graduates.

2022 Dean's Honored Graduates

Argha Bandyopadhyay
Sanjna Anil Bhatia
Kavyaa D. Choudhary
Nisha Desai
Ronak Desai
Tess Arden Finnerty
Anna Elizabeth Fletcher
Dawson Alexander Grimes
Dora Cecilia Gurfinkel Prosperi
Sarah Elizabeth Howes
Kevin Yuhao Huang
Tanvi Ingle
Samantha C. Jackson
Eduardo Levi
Rory James Malek
Brianna Middleton
Rebeca Moreno Villarreal
Caroline G. Mott
Anna Pham
Rohit Prasad
Aman Nadimpalli Raju
Minerva Ramírez
Davis R. Roe
Delon L. Shen
Valentina Tardugno Poleo
Yanessa Vea
Allen Wen
Delaney White
Xinyu Xie
Tianwei Yin

2021 Dean's Honored Graduates

2020 Dean's Honored Graduates

2019 Dean's Honored Graduates

Kamil Ali
Manasa Atyam
Carlos Lopez Bray
Isabel Alyssa Cachola
Janelle Chavez
Sophie Curie
Anne Elizabeth Dattilo
Kayla Eboreime
Lydia Fennell
Jacqueline Gibson
Griffin Dale Glenn
Alexander Dio Greer
Lavender Hackman
Andrew Li
Jenna McGuffey
Calli McMurray
Laura Michie
Evonne Ng
Obiageliaku Okafor
Logan Pearce
Alia Pederson
Sebastian Rivera
Aimee Lee Schechter
Zili Shen
Maheen Shakil
Sarah Spitler
Scott Spivey
Benjamin Solder
Laura Winikka
Shiv Akshar Yadavalli
Hadiqa Zafar
Jesse Yuting Zhang

Read about and see photos of the 2019 Dean's Honored Graduates

2018 Dean's Honored Graduates

Noor Al-Sayyad
Tamunonye A. Cheetham-West
Ashley Ciosek
Blake Ryan Duschatko
Annalise Eger
Wesley Godfrey
Samantha Grace Hart
Alexa Hassien
Kevin Son Ho
Karan R. Kathuria
Austin Kuo
Katherine Griss Kykta
Ashlie Marie Martinez
Daniel Mendoza
Paul Nguyen
Rachel N. Obimah
Christian Bryan Palma
Emily Roesner
Sana Saboowala
Richard Seifert
James Speller
James M. Sullivan
Ewin Tang
Jacob Van Geffen
Nick Walker
Kelly Walsh

Read about and see photos of the 2018 Dean's Honored Grads.

2017 Dean's Honored Graduates

Dylan Airey
Devin Bradburn
Aldo Gael Carranza
Steven Z. Chen
Carla Cos
Taha Dawoodbhoy
Christopher Dessert
Marshall Hayden Drake
Corey Nicholas Haines
Ryan Huizar
Yuqian Jiang
Kacie Renee Kerlee
Hyo Won Kim
Eszter Kish
Victor Loc Lam
Kayla Ann Leonard
Haley Marek
Michael Miyagi
Christianah Ogunleye
Hailey Sellars
Eileen Sullivan
Luis Enrrique Valencia
Ellen Luisa Zippi

Read about and see photos of the 2017 Dean's Honored Grads.

2016 Dean's Honored Graduates

Celia Beron
Nick Bhattacharya
McKenna Boyd
Samuel David Comer
Joel Doss
David Dunsky
Parisa Fallah
Brianna Gonzalez
Nikita Klimovich
Rebecca Larson
Kaitlyn Levett
Emily McHugh
Sarfina Nance
Ajay Naranyanan
Armin Nourani
Avani Patel
Jasson Rossiter
Ella Watkins
Allison Woods
Tyler Yates 

Read about and see photos of the 2016 Dean's Honored Grads.

2015 Dean's Honored Graduates

Azim Kamil Ali
Ramya Sri Balijepally
Santiago Benavides
Jonathan Edward Campbell Clutton
Sarah Cunningham
Eric T. Dawson
Jim Given
Jennifer Huang
Dillon Bailey Huff
Athena E. Metaxas
Ellis Michael
Maggie Hall Miller
Ethan Nhat-Huy Phan
Nalin Joseph Ming Ratnayeke
Nakul Manish Shah
Casey Timmerman
Corey Kathryn Timmerman
Jenny Wang
David Wetterau
Jason J. Yoo
Nancy Fang Yuan
Gabrielle Zuniga

Read about and see photos of the 2015 Dean's Honored Grads.

2014 Dean's Honored Graduates

Sadhana Balasubramanyam
Paul Edward Bernard
Dustin Carlino 
Bonnie Elizabeth Cole
Christopher Alan Cotter
Michael Scott Depinet
Maria Kathleen Fox
Caroline Sellers Fuller
Juan Andres Herrejon
Aubrey Victoria Herrera 
Bruce Kuan-Yee Hua
Patrick J. Hunt
Jason Koeller
Damir Ljuboja
Jessica M. Nguyen
Victor Alonso Rodriguez
Arina Rostopchina
Jules Michael Stuart
Amanda Susan Turbyfill
Alexandra van Brummen

Read about and see photos of the 2014 Dean's Honored Grads.

2013 Dean's Honored Graduates

Nathan Abell
Ruba Alafifi
Anna Battenhouse
Da'Marcus Baymon
Lindsay Becker
Erin Beckman
Will Berdanier
Benjamin Braun
Darius Bunandar
Leslie Chang
Rikki Garner
Emily Keller
Yelena Kulik
Michael Ledbetter
Dustan Levenstein
Kevin Luecke
Nirja Mehta
Joseph Tessler
Victor Vu
Wade Wang

Read about and see photos of the 2013 Dean's Honored Grads.

2012 Dean's Honored Graduates

Aditi Raye Allen 
Genevieve Allen 
Shannon Anjelica Allport
Mai Ngoc Dao
Jennifer Lee Ellis
Dylan Jay Estep
Karen Julia Gustafsson
Lon Ingram
Evan Koch
Steve Lu
Christine Manthuruthil
Eileen R. Martin
Michael Joseph Mccoyd
George F. Miller
Melanie Frances Molina
Joanna Grace Smith
Alyx Stevens
Caitlin Ann Taylor
Matthew Tien
Kaitlin Whelan
Seth Paul Whitsitt

Read about and see photos of the 2012 Dean's Honored Grads.

2011 Dean's Honored Graduates

Misha Aurelia Blizard
Gina Maria Calabrese 
Miranda Denise Colletta
Julia H. Ding
Jeffrey Donahue
Gabriel J. Elpers
Miles Ray Fontenot
Justin Allen Johnson
Deep Mohanty
Sandra Christine Noonan
Ivaylo Popov
Elaine Marie Sedenberg
Sean Simmons
Krista Lynne Smith
Aaron Seo
Daniel P. Tabor
Rebecca Elizabeth Thomson
David Wahler
Matthew Welborn

2010 Dean's Honored Graduates

Viswatej Avutu
Louis Alberto Barrera
Vicki Chang
Lynne Chantranupong
Peter Cho
Marissa Nichole Duswalt
Grace Eckhoff
Jay Jinsing Falk
Sydney Allison Jones
Patrick N. Lawlor
Vincent Lui
Devin Matthews
Lee Patrick McCuller
Amy Elizabeth Pohodich
Ryan T. Riddle
Adam Michael Setapen
Lucia Simonelli
John Wright
Jennifer Anne Wygoda

2009 Dean's Honored Graduates

Eric Eugene Estrin
Naeem Husain
Yuxuan Wang
Vikram Agarwal
Jay Sawyer Croley
Richa Gupta
Shawn Mathur
Katherine Ruth Smith
Marcel Richard Wiley
Nicholas L. Simmons
Gilbert Bernstein
Ari Schulman
Kathleen Hurley
Daniel Michael Cornforth
Carl Murphy
Gene Clifford Dennis
Leah Hesla
Donald (Trey) Suntrup III

2008 Dean's Honored Graduates

Sarah Holmes Miller
Kyle Dean Penner
Kirill Gennadi Bersuker
Kara Lynn Chan
Alvin A. Chandra
Dena Rae Garrison
Michael Andrew Gil
Kara Joy Helmke
Victoria Pan
Jessica Elizabeth Shay
Leah Yieh
Seth Chase Alexander
Nathan Froemming
Scott Lasater Kilpatrick
Franziska Roesner
Rosalinda Strano Burton
Andrew Hill
Halil Saka

2007 Dean's Honored Graduates

Ross Edward Falcon
Timothy Scott Brown
Jia Wen Jessica Chang
Oloruntoyin O. Falola
Keren Ita Hilgendorf
Eric Joseph Lai
Grace Kao-Ann Lin
Heather Mary Scherr
Heather Michelle Zidow
Richard Kenneth Darst
William Leneal Miller
Ehren Andrew Kret
Hai-son Phuoc Le
Eamon Ross White
Lauren Ashley Munsell
Kevin James Hughes Jr.
Brooks Riley Campbell
Michael Ryan Gerrity

2006 Dean's Honored Graduates

Justin David Lowrey
Marit Lowrie Wilkerson
Wassia Anum Khaja
Lauren Nicole Booth
Brandy N. Zrubek
Benjamin Whiddon
Minhtran Ngo
Thomas Holcombe
Mark Alan Gebhart
Kevin Daniel Resnick
Shan Wang
Ester Lynn Schoeneck
Amanda Dawn Stewart
Nina S. Boyarchenko
Justin Shih
Ben Michael Loer

2005 Dean's Honored Graduates