Northwestern CS Announces Spring 2025 Outstanding Teaching Assistant and Peer Mentors
The quarterly department awards recognize exceptional service to the CS community
Northwestern Computer Science honors and recognizes students who demonstrate excellence in computer science mentoring and teaching with the Peter and Adrienne Barris Outstanding Teaching Assistant and Outstanding Peer Mentor awards.
"We received a number of strong nominations, as usual, and we selected the best candidates,” said Aleksandar Kuzmanovic, professor of computer science at Northwestern Engineering and chair of the awards committee.
Nominated by any member of the department for service to the CS community that goes beyond expectations, the teaching assistants and peer mentors work with faculty to deliver courses and support of the highest quality. Six students were cited in spring 2025.
"We are proud and delighted to showcase some of our hardest working and best performing teaching assistants and peer mentors,” said Samir Khuller, Peter and Adrienne Barris Chair of Computer Science at the McCormick School of Engineering. “They provide an invaluable service to the community by helping other students learn.”
Spring 2025 Peter and Adrienne Barris Outstanding Teaching Assistant
PhD student in computer science
Advisers: Nabil Alshurafa (HABits Lab) and adjunct professor Josiah Hester (Ka Moamoa Lab)
Course: COMP_SCI 397, 497: Wireless and Mobile Health (mHealth)
Nominator notes: “Blaine is very thoughtful with regards to his feedback to students. He anticipates students’ questions and concerns and plans office hours or preemptively sends messages to students accordingly. In addition to refining and improving course projects, Blaine also gives wonderful feedback to the instructor when he feels students need more time on assignments or when they need further clarification.”
Spring 2025 Outstanding Peer Mentors
Third-year student earning a combined bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in computer science
Courses: COMP_SCI 376: Game Design and Development and COMP_SCI 433: Wireless Protocols for the Internet of Things
Nominator notes: “Evan is knowledgeable and passionate. Always extremely helpful during office hours, he explains concepts in detail and provides big-picture context. Rather than just giving direct hints or answers, Evan guides students in the right direction and reinforces the fundamentals. Evan is an outstanding peer mentor and deserves to be recognized for his hard work and dedication.”
Fourth-year student in computer science pursuing a Segal Design Certificate in digital product development
Course: COMP_SCI/COMP_ENG 346: Microcontroller System Design
Nominator notes: “Isa has become a real cornerstone of the course, having served as peer mentor for four quarters in a row. She's responsible, reliable, patient, and very kind to students. Isa understands the course material and the common places where students are likely to make mistakes.”
Hannah Orozco
Fourth-year student in computer science pursuing a minor in business German
Courses: COMP_SCI 211: Fundamentals of Computer Programming II and COMP_SCI 358: Intro to Parallel Computing
Nominator notes: “Hannah is one of the unsung heroes of the CS 211 staff, and I rely on her in many ways to make the course work. After serving as a peer mentor for CS 211 for two years, Hannah jumped in to peer mentor for CS 358 even though it's a new course and required her to study the material on her own. She deserves to be recognized for all the hard work and contributions she has made to help her peers succeed.”
Third-year student pursuing a combined bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and master’s degree in computer science
Course: COMP_SCI/COMP_ENG 346: Microcontroller System Design
Nominator notes: “Lucas has been a peer mentor for Microcontroller System Design all three quarters this academic year. I'm always able to rely on him to help students and give them the right information so they can make progress on their own. Lucas's extensive knowledge of design, modeling, and prototyping inspires students to go beyond the course materials and dig deeper as they work on creative and innovative projects.”
Elliott Yoon
Fourth-year student in mathematics
Course: COMP_SCI 339: Intro to Databases
Nominator notes: “Elliott has taken a real leadership role in CS 339. He is an excellent peer mentor that works hard to support our students and help update course materials. Elliott is leading a team of three peer mentors to build new labs in Rust, create tests, and vet assignments. He took it upon himself to develop the CS 339 workflow into a full-featured pipeline with continuous integration and supporting documentation for the code. Elliott also recruited other highly qualified peer mentors who have boosted the level of student support in the class.”