Achievements

Maria Sultana

1. P.E.O. International Peace Scholarship (two times, 2023-2024, and 2025-2026, total $25,000), A prestigious grant awarded to 200 international female graduate students each year with high academic excellence from all over the USA and Canada. This scholarship is aimed at empowering next-generation female scholars to positively impact society and foster peace across the globe.
2. Winner at the 11^th annual Texas State Three Minute Thesis (3MT) (2024)
3. Merrick Graduate Merit Fellowship (Texas State University, 2022-2023, $3000)
4. Graduate College Scholarship (Texas State University, 2023, 2024, and 2025, total $4000)
5. Student Government Scholarship (Texas State University, 2023, $1000)
6. Finalist of three-minute thesis competition at Conference of Southern Graduate Schools (March 2025)
7. Ingram School of Engineering Industrial Advisory Board graduate student award (Texas State University, December 2024)

Saif Al Arafin Taqy

1. Doctoral Merit Fellowship (Fall 2023 – Summer 2024, $9000), nominated and awarded by the department as a new doctoral student having outstanding quality
2. Dorothy Coker Research Fellowship (Fall 2025-Spring 2026, $1200)
3. Graduate College Scholarship (4 times, Fall 2023 – Fall 2025, $4000)
4. Student Government Scholarship (Fall 2023 – Fall 2024), $2000, August 2023  
5. Bobcat Innovation Challenge 3rd place (Spring 2025, $1500, CIE TXST)

Pallab Kumar Sarkar

1. Business Plan Competition – “Best Students’ Choice Award” (May 2024), Recognized for exceptional innovation and entrepreneurial skills, this award was   granted based on popular vote among peers for the outstanding business plan presented during the competition.
2. “Run-to-R1” Research Scholarship (2023-2026, $5000), Awarded a prestigious research scholarship valued at $5,000 over three years. This scholarship supports cutting-edge research efforts and is part of an initiative aimed at achieving R1 (Research 1) university status
3. Student Government Scholarship (2024, $1,000), A scholarship awarded for exemplary academic performance and active participation in student government activities, demonstrating leadership and commitment to student advocacy.
4. The Graduate College Thesis Research Support Fellowship (2023), Received $2,000 in fellowship support from The Graduate College to aid in thesis research, acknowledging the academic rigor and potential impact of the research project.
5. The Graduate College Scholarship in (2022, $1000)
6. Bangladesh Sweden Trust Fund Scholarship in (2022, 2,000 BDT)

Adedayo Alaga

1. Regional I-Corps Cohort (2024, $1000 ), Award given for October 2024 participation
2. Nominated for National I-Corps Cohort (2025), Nomination received for October 2025 
3. Graduate College Scholarship (2025, $1000), Award given for Fall 2025
4. Graduate College Scholarship (2025, $1000), Award given for Spring 2025  
5. Bobcat Innovation Challenge (2024, $1500), 3rd place winner with Saif Taqy  

Mahfuz Ahmed Azmain

1. Graduate Merit Fellowship (2023-2024, $4500)
2. Graduate College Scholarship (2024, $1000)
3. Student Government Scholarship (2024, $650)

Tajwar Al Mamun 

1. Presented a poster at Arkansas INBRE Research Conference 2024 
2. Graduate Merit Fellowship (2024-2025, $3200) 
3. Graduate College Scholarship (2023-2024, $1000)
4. Champion of Humanitarian Project Design Idea Contest – at International Symposium on Social Implications of Sustainable Technology 2022 of IEEE Bangladesh Section Co-located Conferences 2022 (Project Title: Optimum Aggregated Farming) 

Fardeen Md Toushique

1. Presented a poster at Arkansas INBRE Research Conference 2024 
2. Graduate Merit Fellowship (2024-2025) 
3. Participated and made it to second round in Battle of Minds 2021 organized by British American Tobacco  
4. Participated in Global Entrepreneurship Bootcamp held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on December 16-19, 2019. The Bootcamp was conducted under the guidance of the mentors following 24 steps of Disciplined Entrepreneurship, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 

Jonah Hartley

1. Presented at the 2025 STEM Conference
2. Presented at 2024 Mathematical association of America
3. Placed 3rd amongst 20 schools at the calculus bowl for the math conference
4. Placed 2nd in best prototype at the Texas Space Consortium Design Challenge

Anna Collingwood

1. LBJ Outstanding Senior Award, 2025
2. Ingram School of Engineering Industrial Advisory Board graduate student award (Texas State University, March 2025)
3. Quanta Services Fellowship (April 2025) 

Ayesha Tasnim

1. Samsung Scholarship (2024, $2000)
2. Graduate College Scholarship (Fall 2025, $1000)
3. “Run-to-R1” Research Scholarship (2023-2026, $5000)

Istiaq Firoz Shiam

1. Student government scholarship (2023-2024, $800 per semester)
2. Finalist of Texas State Three Minute Thesis (3MT)

Pujan Lamsal

1. Brian Wong Endowed Electrical Engineering Scholarship (June 2025)
2. Arca Continental Coca-Cola Southwest Beverage First-Generation Scholarship (June 2025) 
3. Quanta Services Fellowship (April 2025) 

Ron Saha

1. “Run-to-R1” Research Scholarship (2023-2026, $5000)

Abdul Hamid

1. Graduate College Scholarship (2023-2024, $1000)

Injamamul Hoque Emu

1. Graduate College Scholarship (2023-2024, $1000)

Bibek pokharel

1. Quanta Services Fellowship (April 2025) 

Thesis titles of graduated students from UWBG lab

• Abdul Hamid Thesis title: Magnesium gallate thin films for application in high power electronics. Defended: MAY 2024
• Injamamul Hoque Emu Thesis Title: Growth and Characterization of CuGa2O4 Thin Film by Pulsed Laser Deposition. Defended: July 2024.
• Istiaq Firoz Shiam Thesis title: Pulsed Laser Annealing to Optimize Structural Properties of GaN Buffer Layer in GaN/AlGaN HEMTs. Defended: July 2024.
• Maria Sultana Thesis title: Band offset measurements of (InₓGa₁₋ₓ)₂O₃ and (AlᵧGa₁₋ᵧ)N heterojunction using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Defended: August 2024.
• Pallab Kumar Sarkar MS Thesis title: Fabrication of carbon structures on Ultra-wide bandgap oxides. Defended: May 2023.
• Imteaz Rahaman MS Thesis title: Optimization of Seeding Parameters for Growing Large-Scale Polycrystalline Diamond on β-Ga2O3​. Defended: July 2023.
• Saif Al Arafin Taqy MS Thesis title: Investigation of the growth parameters and Electronic structure of Q-carbon and its integration with GaN. Defended: July 2023.
  ​

Links