CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (July 24, 2026) – The University of Illinois Research Park marked two decades of celebrating student talent during its 20th annual Intern Awards Ceremony, held July 23, 2026. The event recognized outstanding interns from corporate innovation centers and startups across the UIRP.
Executive Director Laura Appenzeller noted that while the companies, projects and technologies represented at Research Park have changed over 20 years, the purpose of the ceremony has not: celebrating interns who make a real impact and reminding them that their work matters.
Hundreds of student interns worked across Research Park this summer, building professional connections, sharpening technical and business skills, and contributing to projects that moved their companies forward. Managers and supervisors submitted nominations, and a deliberation committee of industry and Research Park representatives selected this year’s finalists and winners.
Among the notable projects showcased, one intern helped originate more than 130 customer leads on his own, contributing to roughly $5 million a year in potential business for his company. Another built a 24/7 monitoring system that reduced one data-error condition from 98% to zero, cutting a full day’s worth of manual work down to hours.
Together, the finalists and winners reflected the range of talent moving through Research Park this summer and the impact an internship can have early in a career.
Awards were given in the following categories: Peer Impact Award | Best Startup Intern | Best Technical Innovation | Best Business Innovation | Most Outstanding Undergraduate Intern | Most Outstanding Graduate Intern | Most Competent and Collaborative Team
Peer Impact Award
New this year, the Peer Impact Award recognizes an intern who goes beyond the typical duties of an internship to make a meaningful impact on peers and teammates through collaboration, support and leadership.
Listowell Appiah | Electric Power Engineers
According to interns who nominated him:
“He was proactively helping those of us from other schools and states before the internship had even started, by helping find places to live and providing honest advice on location and transportation. Once the internship started, he naturally became the go-to guide. He never just focused on his own tasks; he constantly checked in on the rest of us.”
Best Startup Intern
Emma Robben | GigaCrop
Shawn Carlson, Head of Plant Transformation at GigaCrop:
“Emma’s work has directly enabled two major milestones in GigaCrop’s technical development plan, milestones central to our business strategy and investor narrative. Her images are now used in board materials and GigaCrop’s investor pitch deck, where they serve as compelling visual evidence of the company’s progress.”
Finalists:
Aryan Jalilian | Natrion
Nihar Jog | Erg Bio, Inc.
Best Technical Innovation
Josh George | Mondelēz International FutureLab
Matt Tomlinson, Extended Reality & Metaverse Lead at the Mondelēz International FutureLab:
“Josh solved three real business problems that had no prior solution, creating entirely new capabilities for consumer research, scientific visualization and marketing analytics. What stands out is that Josh did this across three unrelated technology areas, without hand-holding, and built solutions the organization will continue to use beyond the internship.”
Finalists:
Owen Siemons | Everfox
Aditya Kamath | Rivian
Best Business Innovation
Cindy Zou | Dow Delivery Center
Jen Quinlan, Site Director at the Dow Delivery Center:
“Cindy solved a common time sink for Dow’s data and platform engineers: manually checking pipelines and errors every day. She turned that process into a 24/7 monitoring system that can detect problems, classify them, notify the right people and help determine the next step, an estimated fourfold improvement in efficiency.”
Finalists:
Son Nguyen Huynh | Mondelēz International Future Lab
Isabella Chou | Mondelēz International Future Lab
Most Outstanding Undergraduate Intern
This category drew such accomplished interns that judges selected four finalists.
Ritvik Gupta | Rivian
Kerry Chayka, Sr. Staff Electronic Design Engineer at Rivian:
“Ritvik completed the workload we had set aside for an entire semester in about two weeks. His work helped inform a key decision to unblock the ramp of an R2 supply-chain component, and when a full-time firmware employee went on leave, Ritvik took over critical testing coverage for a vendor.”
Finalists:
Rishi Garhyan | Brunswick Boating Intelligence DesignLab
Cooper Sweet | Everfox
Tommy Miller | Mondelēz International Future Lab
Most Outstanding Graduate Intern
Alexander Matveev | State Farm
Betsy Podkowa, Lead Data Scientist at State Farm:
“Alexander’s project is helping State Farm decide whether to pay for a vendor tool or build an internal solution, but his impact went well beyond his own work. He created and led a study group that helped multiple interns prepare for full-time interviews, and those efforts contributed to multiple full-time offers.”
Finalists:
Ayush Thakkar | COUNTRY Financial DigitaLab
Aryan Jalilian | Natrion
Most Competent and Collaborative Team
Dow Delivery Center
Jen Quinlan, Site Director at the Dow Delivery Center:
“This team made critical data validation easier, faster and more accessible for business users. The team turned that problem into a guided, self-service workflow that lets business users participate directly in data quality work while reducing dependence on specialized engineering support.”
Finalists:
Brunswick Boating Intelligence DesignLab
Epivara
Table Tennis Tournament
Research Park also recognized the winners of its annual Table Tennis Tournament, one of the summer’s most popular traditions for building community across companies. This year’s champions were the team from Rivian.
The ceremony closed with a group photo of this year’s winners and finalists, capping off a summer of programming across Research Park.