Laleh Aghababaie Beni and Khanh Nguyen, both Ph.D. students in the Department of Computer Science, were announced 2017 Facebook Fellowship Finalists this month.

The Facebook Fellowship Program is designed to encourage and support promising doctoral students in research related to computer science and engineering. Of the more than 800 applicants who apply worldwide, only 13 were selected as fellows.

Finalists are among the top 5 percent of applicants worldwide. Applications are evaluated based on the strength of the student’s research statement, publication record and recommendation letters.

Beni is a Ph.D. candidate whose research focuses on machine learning algorithms on large datasets.

Nguyen is a Ph.D. candidate specializing in distributed systems, networking and operating systems research. In addition to being a 2017 Facebook Fellowship Finalist, he is also a 2017 Google Ph.D. Fellow.