Vikram Jandhyala and Suja Vaidyanathan Endowed Innovation Award
Prize
🏆 Vikram Jandhyala and Suja Vaidyanathan Endowed Innovation Award — University of Washington, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering (2023)
In 2023 I received the Vikram Jandhyala and Suja Vaidyanathan Endowed Innovation Award from the University of Washington’s Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering.
The award was endowed by Vikram Jandhyala — former chair of the department, UW Vice Provost for Innovation, and executive director of CoMotion — and his wife Suja Vaidyanathan, a UW EE alum. It recognizes one UW ECE undergraduate or graduate student who has demonstrated entrepreneurial potential, and it has been given only a handful of times since it was created in 2015.
How it is decided
The award is open to all UW ECE undergraduate and graduate students in good academic standing. Applicants submit a CV, a personal statement of up to three pages on their entrepreneurial work and its potential impact, a business plan for an existing or developing venture, two letters of recommendation with at least one able to speak directly to the entrepreneurial work, and a transcript.
The committee weighs the quality and impact of the entrepreneurial work — its scalability, patents or potential for future patents, whether it addresses a real gap in industry, and how well it aligns with the scope of electrical and computer engineering — alongside professionalism and ability as established by the recommendation letters.
The citation
The department’s write-up notes that I had “an overwhelming number of nominations for this honor,” and that nominators described me as someone who had demonstrated a commitment to innovation and to empowering communities.
“During COVID, Mathew’s swift response in providing face shields for healthcare workers demonstrated his ability to develop practical solutions in times of crisis.”
“Mathew told me that his goal is to positively impact one million people within the next five years through continued dedication to projects that align with his values. Our Department has been lucky to be a part of the legacy he is creating for himself and society around him.”
The face shield work they are referring to is 3D printing 2,000 face shields during the COVID-19 lockdown, back home in Kerala.
The certificate was presented by UW ECE Associate Professor Matt Reynolds.
There is a small thread running through this one that I did not expect. I won the innovation award at my school, then the PTA Award for Innovation at my undergrad, and now this. I have no idea what to make of that pattern, but I will take it.