The UC Santa Barbara Robert Mehrabian College of Engineering’s 2026 Undergraduate Commencement is just days away for graduating seniors. The ceremony will take place at 9 AM on Friday, June 12, on Commencement Green. Graduating senior Anuj Acharya will be part of a select group of students leading the class of 2026 into the ceremony as standard bearers.
Acharya earned the opportunity after receiving the Outstanding Senior of Chemical Engineering Award, a recognition for not only having one of the highest grade-point-averages in his graduating cohort, but also for his scholarly, research, leadership, and co-curricular accomplishments during his time at UCSB.
Two more members of the department also received end-of-the-year awards from the class of 2026. Alyssa McNarney received the Outstanding Chemical Engineering Teaching Assistant Award, and Phillip Christopher was named the Outstanding Chemical Engineering Faculty Award recipient.
OUTSTANDING SENIOR
For Anuj Acharya, being named the Chemical Engineering Department’s Outstanding Senior represents the culmination of years of hard work, curiosity, and resilience.
“Being recognized is an incredible honor,” said Acharya, who served as vice president of UCSB’s Tau Beta Pi chapter, conducted undergraduate research, coordinated science outreach for local fifth-grade students, and studied abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland. “To me, this recognition reflects not only my academic efforts, but also the support I’ve received from the department, my professors, and my peers.”
Acharya said that one of his most memorable academic experiences came during his senior capstone project, where his team developed a mixed-integer global optimization model to maximize the net present value of a chemical plant design.
“At several points, the problem felt almost intractable,” he said. “Successfully building and implementing the optimization framework was incredibly rewarding because it showed how powerful engineering analysis can be when applied to real-world systems.”
As an undergraduate researcher in the laboratory of chemical engineering professor and chair Mike Gordon, Acharya studied the spectroelectrochemistry of biomolecules. He attributed the way that he approaches learning and engineering to Gordon.
“His passion for understanding complex scientific problems inspired me to approach engineering with greater curiosity and rigor,” Acharya said. “His emphasis on developing strong intuition and truly understanding underlying principles had a lasting impact on how I approach problem-solving.”
After graduation, Acharya will join Epic Systems, where he aims to continue developing his technical problem-solving skills before eventually pursuing an MBA and transitioning into the energy and nuclear sectors.
OUTSTANDING TEACHING ASSISTANT
Teaching has long been central to Alyssa McNarney’s professional aspirations. A fourth-year PhD student in chemical engineering, McNarney said that receiving the Outstanding TA Award affirmed both her commitment to students and her desire to pursue a future in teaching-focused academic roles.
“Being recognized with the Outstanding TA Award is incredibly special,” McNarney said. “It affirms the dedication I bring to every student interaction and inspires me to continue making a meaningful impact in the classroom.”
McNarney, who earned her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Purdue University, served as a TA for CHE 184A Senior Design during the academic year. She described the course as both demanding and deeply rewarding because students must solve open-ended engineering challenges with no single correct answer.
“My goal is to meet each group where they are, help them get unstuck, and keep their projects moving forward,” McNarney said. “More than just solving problems, I want to build their confidence as engineers, because that self-assurance is what will carry them through their careers long after the class is over.”
Advised by chemical engineering professor Bradley Chmelka, McNarney’s research focuses on zeolite catalysts used in diesel-engine exhaust systems. By studying the materials at the atomic level, she hopes to better understand how they degrade over time and help develop cleaner, more durable emissions-control technologies.
OUTSTANDING FACULTY
Graduating seniors selected Phillip Christopher to receive the 2025-26 Outstanding Chemical Engineering Faculty Award. Christopher, who is receiving the honor for the first time, taught many members of the Class of 2026 in Chemical Reaction Engineering, Process Dynamics and Control, and Design of Chemical Processes.
“Receiving the award from the Class of 2026 is a huge honor,” Christopher said. “It has been fun and rewarding watching the students grow and mature as engineers.”
The experience, he said, reached a high point in the senior design course.
“Seeing the high-quality engineering work being done in 184B has been the pinnacle of getting to know the class,” he said.
Christopher joked that he was somewhat surprised to be selected after requiring attendance in his 8 a.m. Chemical Reaction Engineering course, including a syllabus policy that allowed one free absence before additional unexcused absences affected a student’s overall grade.
Asked what comes to mind when he thinks about the Class of 2026, Christopher described the graduates as “engaged, dynamic, intuitive, creative,” adding that they are “early risers” who can “quantitatively sketch a first-order response with their eyes closed.” He also noted that they are the first graduating class to have learned with large language models, calling them “amazing coders.”
His message to the graduates balanced celebration with a reminder that their education will continue long after commencement.
“Congratulations! The experience as a UCSB undergraduate and as a chemical engineering student can be intense,” he said. “Time can fly. I hope you can take a few minutes while you are still on campus to reflect on everything you have learned, and experienced through your time at UCSB, and also what you have given back.”
Christopher, whose previous recognitions include the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and the American Chemistry Society’s Ipatieff Prize in Catalyis, also urged the graduates to keep building new skills as the field evolves.
“The toolset of chemical engineers is dynamic right now and it is your responsibility to keep up,” he said. “You have moved beyond solving differential equations and turning wrenches. You are data scientists, software engineers, communicators, LLM orchestrators, etc. The problems you will tackle as a generation require you to continuously push your skills, tools and capabilities.”
He closed with a note of confidence in the class and the impact they will make.
“Knowing you all well, I am confident you will all excel and that humanity will benefit from your efforts,” he said. “Today you should enjoy, celebrate and appreciate your accomplishments at UCSB. Tomorrow, we need you to get back to work and make positive impacts. Always, go Gauchos! Please keep in touch with us…we are excited to hear about your lives.”
