Members of the Class of 2025 earned special honors during Rose-Hulman’s 147th Commencement for excelling in the classroom and helping make the campus a better place for classmates, faculty, and staff, while also contributing to the community.

Computer Engineering graduate Vineet Ranade received the John T. Royse Award for being considered the most outstanding graduate, in the opinion of Rose-Hulman’s faculty and staff, based upon academic achievement, student leadership, participation in co-curricular activities, and general campus citizenship. 

Alisha Mastakar, a NanoEngineering and Optical Engineering graduate, received the Herman A. Moench Distinguished Senior Commendation for distinguishing herself as a commendable influence on members of the Rose-Hulman community.

Meanwhile, a record 15 students earned prestigious Heminway Gold Medals for attaining the highest academic achievement (4.0 grade-point average) during their Rose-Hulman careers.

Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Erik Hayes commended Ranade for embodying all aspects of the Royse Award—academic achievement, student leadership, participation in co-curricular activities, and general campus citizenship—while finding success in everything he did while attending Rose-Hulman.

Ranade was engaged in several different research opportunities to enhance his learning experience as an undergraduate student, which ended with a top-of-the-class Heminway Gold Medal. His research included evolvable hardware and investigating the merits of social networking for Bangladeshi farmers. This latter work earned him the prestigious Dr. John T. Ying Excellence Award for student-faculty collaboration. 

Outside of the classroom, the Mountain View, California, native excelled as a student-athlete, twice qualifying for the NCAA Division III swimming and division championships, winning multiple Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference swimming event titles (twice being named the HCAC’s Swimming & Diving Athlete of the Year), and establishing numerous school and conference records. He became only the fourth Rose-Hulman student-athlete to be named a College Sports Communicators’ Academic All-American Team Member of the Year. Ranade also earned the Elite 90 Award as the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA among competitors at an NCAA championship event and the Rose-Hulman Athletic Department’s Ruel Fox Burns Blanket Award as the top graduating male athlete. 

When not in the pool training and competing, Ranade could be found in the Mussallem Union helping classmates with their homework and participating in intramural activities. He completed his studies earning minors in computer science, mathematics, economics, and Spanish, and is planning to attend the University of Texas to pursue a master’s degree in computer engineering. 

Mastakar, a Terre Haute native who earned summa cum laude academic graduation honors, was a Noblitt Scholar and served the campus community and Indiana in a variety of ways. She served as a tutor, ambassador, and training leader for Rose-Hulman’s AskRose Homework Help program and was a member of the Physics, Optical Engineering, and NanoEngineering Departmental’s Action Team since its inception in her freshman year. This student advisory team focused on developing and executing strategies to improve the department.  

Other campus activities for Mastakar included playing an instrumental role in reviving Rose-Hulman’s chapter of the Society of Physics Students, serving as president and sustaining its operation following the COVID-19 pandemic. She received the PHON Department’s Outstanding Senior NanoEngineering Award this year. Mastakar also served as a counselor for the Operation Catapult STEM summer camp and was a part of the stage management team for Rose Drama Club productions. 

Herman A. Moench Distinguished Professor Dan Morris, PhD, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry, engineering, stated that one of Mastakar’s professors, in nominating her for the distinguished Moench Award, wrote, “Over the past four years, Alisha has been dedicated to serving Rose-Hulman not only in publicly facing positions but also through the background labor necessary to make the campus community an even better place for students, faculty, and staff.” 

Mastakar’s post-graduation plans include pursuing a doctorate degree at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Joining Ranade as this year’s Heminway Gold Medal recipients were Salik Ahmad, Computer Engineering graduate from Planfield, Indiana; Kyle Asbury, a Computer Science and Mathematics graduate from New Castle, Indiana; Ariadna Duvall, a Software Engineering graduate from Bainbridge, Indiana; Calvin Hamilton, a Computer Engineering graduate from Golden, Colorado; Natalie Hannum, a Biomedical Engineering graduate from Indianapolis; Kaylee Lane, a Computer Science graduate from Akron, Indiana; and Benjamin Lyons, a Mathematics and Physics graduate from Blair, Nebraska. 

Other honorees were Henry Nunns, a Computer Engineering and Mathematics graduate from Saint Charles, Illinois; Justin Roberts, a Computer Engineering graduate from Cedar Park, Texas; Joshua Schrock, a Computer Engineering graduate from Goshen, Indiana; Mark Serdinak, a Mechanical Engineering graduate from Sagamore Hills, Ohio; Ellen Shales, a Biomedical Engineering graduate from West Chicago, Illinois; Blaise Swartwood, a Computer Science graduate from Mililani, Hawaii; and Isaac Towne, a Computer Engineering graduate from Wyoming, Ohio. 

John T. Royse served as a member of Rose-Hulman’s Board of Trustees for several years and his son, John N. Royse, is an emeritus member of the board. Herman Moench was a distinguished alumnus, electrical engineering professor and administrator who twice served as Rose-Hulman’s interim president. He was a member of the campus community until his death, at 81 years old, in 1990. The late Sarah Heminway established the Heminway Gold Medal in 1888 to recognize graduates for their academic achievements.