About the Builders Award:
Established by the Association of Rice Alumni in 2005, the Builders Award honors recent alumni who have made outstanding contributions to Rice since graduation.
Past winners include notable regional alumni leaders, Annual Fund volunteers, affinity group trailblazers and other recent alumni who are committed to supporting Rice and its community of students and alumni through their dedication of time, talent and energy. Each has demonstrated one or more of the following:
- Sustained support of the Rice community through meaningful service and involvement.
- Provided guidance and leadership to current Rice students and/or fellow alumni.
- Enhanced the reputation of the university by representing Rice’s core values of respect, integrity, community and excellence.
- Dedicated time, talent and energy to advance the Rice community.
Meet our RUCAA Winner, Rushi Bhalani!
A proud Bakerite, Rushi Bhalani graduated from Rice in 2019 with a degree in computer science and has remained deeply engaged with the university community. Guided by a belief in building up others through connection and care, he has served on three alumni boards — the Rice Engineering Alumni (REA) Board of Directors, the Association of Rice Alumni (ARA) Board of Directors and the Center for Career Development (CCD) Advisory Board. In these roles, he has helped lead efforts such as raising more than $200,000 through data-driven outreach, launching a summer internship program that has provided dozens of engineering students with their first professional experiences under alumni mentors, and strengthening support for recent graduates. Rushi is currently serving as President Elect of RUCCA, the Rice University Community of Asian Alumni.
Beyond board service, Rushi has volunteered as a Baker College community associate, admissions interviewer, ARA Young Alumni Ambassador, Rice Fund volunteer and mentor to more than 20 students during and after their time at Rice.
Professionally, he has worked as a strategy consultant at Accenture and led go-to-market strategy for a billion-dollar platform at Indeed. He is currently pursuing an MBA and an MS in Design Innovation through the MMM program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, preparing to design mission-driven, human-centered product experiences.
Congratulations Rushi! We are so proud of you!
