There are two awards given every year (one to an undergraduate student and one to a graduate student) by Emily "Emmy" M. Wadsworth at a joint dinner hosted by the Women in Engineering Program (WIEP) undergraduate Mentees and Mentors (M&M) Program and the Graduate Mentoring Program (GMP). A committee of 8 faculty and administrators from Purdue’s College of Engineering were responsible for the selection of the awardee.

Sarker received the award for her service contributions to the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Student Association, GMP, and various outreach programs with WIEP. 

Emily M. Wadsworth earned a PhD degree at Purdue University and served as assistant director of the Women in Engineering Program from 1991 to 1998. During that time, she created and administered both the Undergraduate and Graduate Mentoring Programs for females in the Schools of Engineering at Purdue. The programs were recognized in 1997 with a Presidential Award for Excellence in Engineering Mentoring from President William Clinton at the White House. This particular award was and is administered by the National Science Foundation.

Wadsworth and her husband sponsor the Emily M. Wadsworth Graduate Mentoring Awards, which are $1,000 scholarships for one graduate student and one undergraduate student in engineering at Purdue who have been exceptional mentors for others. She retired from Purdue in 1998.