In honor of their outstanding work achievement during the past year at Texas A&M, Distinguished Day celebrated a number of notable faculty and staff members as well as graduate students.
In two ceremonies on Monday, April 25, the 24 faculty honorees and 18 graduate students received their distinguished award in a special presentation focusing on each individual’s achievements. 
Since 1955, the Distinguished Achievement Awards have honored deserving faculty members who have shown outstanding achievements in a variety of areas including: teaching, research, student relationships, professional development, graduate mentoring. The awards also recognize staff members and administration members who go above and beyond. 
Candidates can be nominated by a variety of individuals across campus including Student Government Association, the Memorial Student Center, vice presidents, directors and continuing education directors of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service. The nominated individuals are reviewed by a 42-member campus wide committee who review each candidate with keen eyes to select the ultimate honorees. 
“Today we will recognize 24 of outstanding members of our community that were chosen from a very large pool of nominees from across campus,” Interim Provost and Executive Vice President Tim Scott said. “A committee composed of persons at the university made these selections. They spent many hours carefully reviewing the nominees, and we are grateful for their service”
Presented with the Distinguished Achievement Award for Research, horticultural sciences professor Bhimanagouda S. Patil, Class of 1994, has been internationally recognized for his research in foods for health. 
“This is where I discovered my love for agriculture,” one of Patil’s former students, Jose Perez, said. “Prior to meeting Dr. Patil, I lacked guidance on how to navigate my academic life and how to go forward with other options. As a first-generation United States citizen and college student, I wasn’t sure what path to take. Dr. Patil filled that void and became a guiding light in my career and also my life.” 
Agricultural economics associate professor Ariun Ishdorj received a Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching having impacted over 2,000 undergraduate and 450 graduate students.
“Class was so interactive, and examples of current events made the material even more relevant and easy to understand,” course evaluations read. “The course was well designed, well taught and well communicated.”
The Distinguished Graduate Awards are given to graduate-level students who have exhibited exemplary performance in research or teaching while pursuing their degree. 
“Graduate and professional students support Texas A&M in numerous important ways, such as teaching and mentoring many of our almost 55,000 undergraduate students, contributing to research that generated over $1 billion in research expenditures last year and participating in serving in leadership roles in campus and community organizations,” Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate and Professional School Karen Butler-Perry said. “The distinguished graduate student awards represent one of Texas A&M’s highest honors for outstanding achievements by graduate students in research or teaching — they do not come easily. They are in recognition of many years of hard work these students have put in to become the best and brightest teachers and researchers in their field.”
Graduate and Professional Student Government President Staci Rende said over all the challenges the world and nation has faced, graduate students should be proud of their accomplishments.
“It goes without saying that graduate and professional students are truly special. Each and every one of you have committed to excellence in your studies, as well as many other areas,” Rende said. “Tomorrow belongs to people like you who dare to dream and push the limits. Congratulations to all of you on your accomplishments. I’m confident that this is the only beginning of a lifelong achievement and success.”
Below are a list of the 2022 Distinguished Achievement Award and Distinguished Graduate Student Award recipients: 
Faculty and staff awards
Teaching Distinguished Achievement Award Recipients:

• Daniel L. Alge 

• Troy Bickham 

• Lei-Shih Chen, Class of 2007

• Daniel Collins

• Kerri B. Gehring, Class of 1986

• Tracy Hammond

• Mohammad Tawhidul Haque Nutan 

• Matt Pharr

• Jennifer Whitfield, Class of 2000

• Ariun Ishdorj

Research Distinguished Achievement Award Recipients:

• Stratos Pistikopoulos

• Libo Shan 

• Luis O. Tedeschi

• Kausalai (Kay) Wijekumar

• Tingwen Huang, Class of 2002

• Bhimanagouda S. Patil, Class of 1994

 Individual Student Relationships Distinguished Achievement Award Recipients:

• Chris L. Skaggs

• Apostolos Vasilakis

 Administration Distinguished Achievement Award Recipients:

• Karen K. Cornell 

Extension, Outreach, Continuing Education and Professional Development Distinguished Achievement Award Recipients:

• David L. Kerns, Class of 1985

Staff Distinguished Achievement Award Recipients: 

• Judy K. Nunez

• Kelly Pampell

Graduate Mentoring Distinguished Achievement Award Recipients:

• Sarbajit Banerjee

• Junuthula Reddy

Graduate student awards
Distinguished Graduate Student Awards for Research:

• Huseyn Abdulla

• Ali Akbari 

• Hananeh Alambeigi

• Kaivalya Deo

• Sagnika Ghosh 

• Swarn Jha

• Xiaoqiang (Jack) Kong

• Asim Maity

• Tanmay Mathur

• Sakina Mohammed Mota

• Raiyan Seede

 Distinguished Graduate Student Awards for Teaching:

• Priyanga Ganesan 

• Jalia Joseph 

• Hyunjung Kim

• Rafael Martinez

• Anthony Ramirez 

• Rose Siuta 

• Hyunjoo Yu