Sai Gourisankar Wins Cockrell School’s Outstanding Scholar-Leader Award

Graduating senior Sai Gourisankar was recently selected for the Cockrell School of Engineering’s Outstanding Scholar-Leader Award.

The semesterly award is presented during the Cockrell School’s commencement ceremony to stellar students who have maintained at least a 3.8 GPA in-residence and completed at least 60 credit hours at The University of Texas at Austin.

Sai, a graduate of the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering and the College of Liberal Arts, graduated May 22, 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering with honors, and Plan II Honors.

He was also awarded a 2015 Rhodes Scholarship, one of the most distinguished graduate scholarships in the world. Sai is also an Astronaut Scholar and a Dedman Distinguished Scholar for the Plan II Liberal Arts program.

As an undergraduate, Sai worked closely with Professor Keith Johnston to develop a platform for safely injecting nanoparticles into patients for disease detection and diagnoses, therapy and drug delivery.

Sai is a shining example of both research and leadership. He is a volunteer for Texas 4000, and later this month, he will begin a 4,500-mile bicycle trek from Texas to Alaska to engage communities in the fight against cancer.

As a Rhodes Scholar, Sai will be attending Oxford for the next two years, where he will focus on mathematical modeling, scientific computing and theoretical physics.

Tags: awards, chemical engineering, Class of 2015, Cockrell School of Engineering, commencement, graduation, Kudos, Outstanding Scholar-Leader Award, Sai Gourisankar, UT Austin