J. Prescott: COE Outstanding EE Senior
Every spring, the College of Engineering recognizes seniors in their graduating cohort with the highest GPA and also for having pursued other meaningful academic and extracurricular activities
Electrical engineering student Jordan Prescott will graduate with high honors, which means he ranks in the top 8.5 percent of his graduating class. Selected to serve as a banner carrier, he will lead the class of 2025 into commencement as the EE representative.
“I am humbled that the department recognized my efforts during my time here and selected me for this award,” said Prescott. “I am grateful and very proud of this achievement.”
In addition to excelling in the classroom, Prescott also spent the past two years conducting undergraduate research. He started by working with electrical and computer (ECE) professor Jason Marden, and then spent time in the lab of assistant professor Haewon Jeong. This year, he worked in the lab of ECE professor Shiv Chandrasekaran, investigating how multi-view geometry and deep learning can be used by a camera to more accurately interpret a scene. His project was aimed at helping the visually impaired safely navigate their surroundings.
Prescott said that he realized his passion for research during a meeting he had last summer with two graduate students.
“I have a strong memory of enjoying the discussion and problem-solving process,” recalled Prescott. “It was a gut feeling that helped reaffirm to myself that I wanted to continue pursuing research going forward.”
Prescott will enter the ECE PhD program at the University of Southern California in fall, where he will focus on signal and information processing within the domains of speech and audio.
“I had a lot of self-doubt about being an engineer when I arrived at UCSB, so it is really amazing to see how all the hard work has paid off,” said Prescott, who received a prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. “I cannot state how grateful I am for all of the peers and professors who helped me along the way.”
