The alumni association has announced its 2026 award recipients, honoring eight individuals for their extraordinary contributions to science, technology, education and the HMC community.
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Thanks to all of the families who participated in our Family Focus series this week. One final session for families of graduating seniors will be Tuesday, 4/14 at 5 p.m. PT. Recordings of each session are available on the Family Focus website, posted the week following the event.
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Leticia Barr P’26 shares how HMC supports our students’ wellbeing and highlights resources for parents. Check out her article on our Community Corner.
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“This professorship allows us to cultivate an environment where undergraduates learn the discipline of rigorous evaluation and the technical agency required to build from the ground up,” says President Harriet Nembhard. The Segal professor will lead teams of juniors and seniors in solving significant AI-related technical challenges for industry and nonprofit partners.
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A team of multidisciplinary faculty at The Claremont Colleges will host a national conference on AI and higher education May 21–22 on the HMC campus. “(Re)Imagining Liberal Arts & STEM Education in the Age of GenAI” will bring together faculty, academic administrators, industry leaders and students to move beyond the “academic integrity” debate toward a new paradigm for teaching.
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| | Online and in-person, three- and six-week courses are taught by HMC faculty and run May 26–July 24. Visiting scholars and lifelong learners welcome.
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In December 2025, 33 Mudders participated in the notoriously difficult six-hour William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, which tests mathematical reasoning. The competition hosted 4,329 students from 487 institutions. The average score was approximately 10, and the median was 2. Harvey Mudd placed 11th in the nation as a team, based on the ranks of their top three scorers.
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Over three weeks, Alspencer Omondi ’26 competed in three Y Combinator hackathons centered on building “agentic” AI tools—software agents that can take a user’s intent and execute complex tasks independently. Omondi was a finalist in the Full Stack hackathon, won first place in the Mongo DB Track systems hackathon, and he and classmate Ethan Sandoval ’26 won the Founder’s Award at the Better Hack event.
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Professor of Chemistry Emerita Kerry Karukstis
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In 1989, Kerry Karukstis became HMC’s first tenured woman faculty member in a technical field. Karukstis taught chemistry from 1984 until her retirement in 2022 and earned many honors, including being named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and being given the Alumni Association’s Van Hecke Prize and Outstanding Alumna Award and the College’s Henry T. Mudd Prize. At Harvey Mudd, Karukstis collaborated with 141 student researchers, including 52 senior research theses, on the exploration of dynamic assemblies of molecules into organized structures through non-covalent interactions. A lauded undergraduate research mentor and proponent of Harvey Mudd’s teacher-scholar model, she assisted efforts at over 200 institutions to institutionalize undergraduate research.
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In the March Mudd Minute, President Harriet Nembhard shares some Jay’s Place history. She also highlights recent renovations and the updated menu that have made the College’s late-night eatery an even more comfortable and welcoming space for students to gather and unwind.
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Audrey Gruian ’26 founded Harvey Mudd Racing, a 5C club for students interested in building a formula-style race car for competition in a 2027 Formula SAE series race. It’s a complicated endeavour, one that requires time, technical know-how and more.
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A new, two-week summer program will bring rising 10th, 11th and 12th graders to campus for a deep dive into hands-on research, collaborative design and humanistic inquiry. ASPIRE (Advanced STEAM Pre-collegiate Immersion for Research and Exploration), is designed to equip the next generation of STEM leaders with technical rigor and ethical purpose.
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In celebration of experiential learning, the entire College community celebrates students’ original projects in design or research each spring. This celebration of student achievement includes Presentation Days (May 4 and 6), showcasing senior thesis research and class projects, and Clinic Projects Day (May 5), a showcase of projects in the Clinic Program. All presentations are free and open to the public.
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The HMC Society of Women Engineers chapter hosted the Women Engineers and Scientists of Tomorrow Conference earlier this month. Young women learned about careers in STEM fields (with a focus on the fields of engineering and computer science) and engaged with each other, professors and current Harvey Mudd students through a series of workshops, panels and events.
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Making Waves and Breaking Records
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CMS swimmer Madeleine Kan ’26 won the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving national championship in the 100-yard butterfly with a CMS Athletics record time of 53.57. She had the fastest time in the competition’s preliminaries, 53.81
—the first sub-54-second swim in program history. In CMS men’s track and field, four Mudders earned All-West Region honors from the USFTCCCA. Individual honors went to Oliver Thompson ’29 (400 meters and 4x400 relay), Max Even ’28 (200 meters and 4x400 relay); and Aidan Cho ’29 and Grady Johnson ’27 (both in shot put).
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Harvey Mudd engineering professor and Rick and Susan Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity (Hive) Director Fred Leichter worked with students to develop The Soundbox (the Hive’s professional recording space) and the Tiny Patio Concert series, now in its third year. Coast, a band featuring students from Pomona, Harvey Mudd (bassist Orion Roven ’27) and Pitzer colleges, earned positive reviews for their set at the spring Tiny Patio concert.
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Elevating the College’s Brand |
How can we tell the institution’s story in an authentic and meaningful way? In order to develop an effective plan, a comprehensive brand review and refresh is underway in partnership with higher education marketing firm SimpsonScarborough. During the project’s discovery phase, internal and external audiences are being asked about their experiences, perceptions and views on the College. We appreciate all who participate and provide input that will help the College refine its integrated communications strategy. Stay tuned as we share what we learn.
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David Gross ’08 (math), Kai
Mayeda ’08 (engineering) and Katie Shepherd ’14 (engineering) co-facilitate the Harvey Mudd Alumni Association ZigZag Project cohort. They’ve discovered a remarkable space for reflection, community and courage, a place where alumni can pause and ask big questions. Read more about ZigZag in the fall/winter issue of Mudd Magazine.
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 Mudd in the Media
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 Alums in the Media
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 Selected Events
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No. 10 Best National Liberal Arts College –U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges 2026 | No. 2 Best Undergraduate Engineering Program –U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges 2026 | No. 13 Most Innovative Schools –U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges 2026 | No. 20 Best Liberal Arts College –Washington Monthly College Guide and Rankings 2025 | No. 4 Highest Mid-Career Salaries –PayScale’s College Salary Report | No. 1 Best Schools for Return on Investment –PayScale’s College ROI Report
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