Surya Aggarwal Receives Graduate Student Service Award

Biological Sciences Ph.D. candidate Surya D. Aggarwal received Carnegie Mellon University’s Graduate Student Service Award. The award is given annually to a graduate student who has advanced the interests of fellow graduate students, improved their quality of life on campus and/or contributed to the larger academic community.

Aggarwal was a passionate supporter of his fellow graduate students as president of CMU’s Graduate Student Assembly (GSA) from 2018-2019. Under his leadership, GSA partnered with university stakeholders to launch an on-campus legal consultation, available to both graduate and undergraduate students. He was involved with numerous other GSA initiatives, including assessing the mentorship climate and providing childcare support for graduate students. Prior to his presidency, Aggarwal held the position of vice president for External Affairs for the GSA.

During his Ph.D., he has also advocated for graduate students at a national level as the chair of the Advocacy Board and as the international student concerns advocate for the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students. As part of the association, Aggarwal co-led the national campaign to advocate against the provision of the federal tax bill that proposed to tax graduate student tuition waivers.

Aggarwal completed his master’s from the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, and bachelor’s from Amity University, India.