Professors Christopher Rose and Anubhav Tripathi were each awarded University faculty honors at the annual Sheridan Awards Ceremony April 30. Rose received one of four Karen T. Romer Awards for Excellence in Advising, while Tripathi was awarded one of two Meenakshi Narain Excellence in Research Mentoring Awards and one of four Graduate School Faculty Awards for Advising and Mentoring.
The Romer Award was established in 2004 by the family of trustee Marty Granoff, and is named for a former Associate Dean of the College who was a creative and passionate advocate for undergraduate education. The Romer Advising Prize is presented each year to faculty members who have shown exceptional dedication, imagination, and commitment in their mentoring of undergraduates. Rose becomes just the third engineering faculty member to be honored (Janet Blume 2011, Jennifer Franck 2017).
“Professor Rose is so genuinely excited about the material he teaches and his energy is infectious,” said a student in the nomination of Rose. “He truly wants his students to learn, not to just get good grades. Taking his class inspired my love of communication systems engineering and I am forever grateful to him for that.”
Another student added, “Professor Rose is a truly skilled professor, both passionate about his material and about sharing it with students. In addition to clearly having a strong grasp of the information, he does a great job of creating a personalized and unique learning experience for every student, making sure everyone is able to keep up and learn in whichever way best suits their needs. I am so thankful to have gotten to learn from him, and recommend anyone else who gets the chance to take a class with him.”
Rose is a Professor of Engineering and Director of the STEMJazz Program at Brown. An expert in wireless system communication theory, he has taught an upper-level electrical engineering course called Communication Systems since joining the Brown faculty in 2015, and serves as faculty advisor for Brown’s chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). He is a past winner of the Award for Service/Dedication to Black Students presented by Brown’s ONYX Society. He received the 2022 Undergraduate Teaching Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world’s largest engineering professional organization. Rose is a Fellow of the IEEE cited for contributions to wireless system communications theory. He is also a past member of the Army Science Board. Rose is perhaps best known for work that appeared as a Nature cover article in 2004 which challenged the assumption that our first evidence of intelligent extraterrestrial life would be via radio. The common theme in Rose’s work is communication/information theory which he sees as a lens on everything.
The Meenakshi Narain Excellence in Research Mentoring Award recognizes faculty members for their excellence in mentoring undergraduate researchers, as well as for their promotion, encouragement and training of diverse students in undergraduate research, while the Graduate School Faculty Award for Advising and Mentoring recognizes faculty members who have made a significant contribution as an advisor and mentor to graduate students.
Tripathi was nominated for both awards by a group of undergraduate, alumni, and colleagues who praised his unwavering commitment to student success, both academically and personally. They said his mentoring philosophy is built on personalized guidance, inclusivity, and a deep investment in students’ impact and growth. “His students consistently receive outstanding training in both research and professional development, a testament to his holistic approach to mentoring. The remarkable success of his advising is exemplified by the numerous accolades his students have received, including the Joukowsky Outstanding Dissertation Awards in both 2023 and 2024,” said one colleague. Under his guidance, students have published papers in top-tier journals and transitioned to prestigious positions in academia and industry, including at institutions such as Stanford and MIT.
“His ability to cultivate independent thinkers who are confident, knowledgeable, and innovative is a hallmark of his mentorship. His students consistently secure competitive jobs, and his former students have achieved long-term career success. They appreciate his mentorship in preparing them for life during and beyond graduate school,” another said. “They not only possess a deep understanding of the existing literature but also present novel ideas and work that contributes to addressing critical research gaps.”
A recent Ph.D. graduate said, “If I were to describe Professor Tripathi as a mentor, I would use the word passionate because he truly expects the best from his mentees and is also willing to go above and beyond to be the best mentor out there. A good mentor will teach you how to succeed in your field, and a great mentor will teach you how to succeed in life despite all the odds stacked against you.” An undergraduate from his lab added, “What sets Professor Tripathi apart from others is his approach to contributing to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our lab, including my team, is a window to the entire globe—both in terms of cultural and research diversity,” he said.
Tripathi’s research group develops new pathogen diagnostic platforms by integrating biological and engineering principles. His group designs, creates and builds microfluidic devices to investigate clinical applications involving diagnosis of cancer and infectious diseases, as well as protein structure and basic questions regarding biological molecules.
In 2022, he was among five global finalists for the Most Innovative Solution in Digital Health and Social Care category, sponsored by the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET). With then-Ph.D. candidate Cel Welch, Tripathi was nominated for TissueSHOCK, a novel electrical method and device to dissociate tissues for downstream single-cell analysis. Tripathi was named a 2016 fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. He holds more than 15 patents, has over 150 peer-reviewed publications, delivered more than 110 invited talks, and co-founded four companies In 2024, he was awarded Brown’s School of Engineering mentoring excellence award.