The Brown School of Engineering has awarded its annual Spirit of Excellence and Dean’s Service awards for the 2025-26 academic year. Grants and Contracts Manager Kelly da Ponte was awarded the Spirit of Excellence award, while Lead Administrative Coordinator Agnes Madriaga received the Dean’s Service honor.
The Spirit of Excellence Award was created during the 2014-15 academic year to be presented annually to an employee who embraces the vision of the School of Engineering through his or her accomplishments during the previous academic year. Tangible contributions from da Ponte to the School of Engineering over the past year have included improving and modernizing administrative processes that directly affect faculty and staff. Noted for her responsiveness, organization and solution-oriented practices, she goes beyond simply managing existing processes and identifies pain points, takes initiative and creates tools and systems that move the school forward in concrete and measurable ways.
One specific example is her development of an AI-based tool to help process travel-related reimbursements and administrative requests. This practical innovation helps reduce repetitive manual work, improves turnaround time, and makes the process easier and more efficient for faculty and staff. A professor noted that da Ponte is responsible for the mechanics of proposal compliance and post-award administration, executing these duties flawlessly. What sets her apart is how much she takes on beyond that baseline, allowing researchers to stay focused on the science itself. Rather than simply processing paperwork, da Ponte anticipates problems, builds in buffers, and proactively flags issues, which repeatedly keep engineering staff and faculty ahead of deadlines instead of scrambling against them.
By owning the administrative and compliance burden of sponsored research so completely, she frees researchers to concentrate on the actual science – which is where the School of Engineering’s impact and reputation ultimately come from. This directly translates into more submissions and research that stays funded and compliant.
The Dean’s Service award, established during the 2012-13 academic year, was created to recognize a non-managing employee who has made a specific contribution or provided outstanding service in the School of Engineering. It recognizes the performance of an individual who has been a positive instrument of change, made significant contributions, and who has provided outstanding service to internal and external constituents. Madriaga, an integral member of the administrative support team, holds deep institutional knowledge and is always willing to help out whenever a need arises.
Her supportive demeanor was particularly valuable during recent staffing turnover. As workload shifted across the administrative coordinating team, she took on expanded responsibilities without issue, all while playing a key role in hiring new staff. Madriaga maintains a high standard of customer service for the faculty she supports, handling their requests reliably and ensuring they have what they need to keep work moving forward.
Both awards were presented by Sorensen Family Dean of Engineering Tejal Desai at the School’s annual summer gathering of faculty and staff.