Annual picnic honors outstanding students
More than $80,000 in awards and other honors were presented to worthy Rice students during the 2009 Engineering Alumni Student Awards Picnic held in April.
Junior Merit Awards went to Jonathan Lo, chemical and biomolecular engineering; Robert Li Kam Wa, electrical and computer engineering; Emily Jacob, mechanical engineering and materials science; Vani Rajendran, bioengineering; and Huda Khalid, civil and environmental engineering, and Paul Kwiatkowski, computer science.
Senior Merit Awards went to Emily Fortuna, computer science, and Alyssa Baevich, bioengineering; Rahul Agrawal, mechanical engineering and materials science; Laura Timmerman, chemical and biomolecular engineering; C.J. Steurenagel, electrical and computer engineering; and Russell Ehlinger, civil and environmental engineering, and Jeremy Morrell, computational and applied mathematics.
Shuai “Steve” Xu, bioengineering, won the Outstanding Senior Award, with Charlie Foucar, bioengineering, and Grant Warnecke, civil and environmental engineering, named to Distinguished Senior honors. The Outstanding Junior Award went to Varun Rajan, mechanical engineering and materials science. Emilla Stepinski and Candase Arnold, civil and environmental engineering, were named Distinguished Juniors.
Nikolay Kostov, mechanical engineering and materials science, won the $10,000 Buckley-Sartwelle scholarship. The Scholarship was endowed by Jack Boyd Buckley ’48 and Helen Sartwelle Buckley ’44 in memory of their parents. Each year it goes to a junior mechanical engineering major.
The Bob Dickson Prize for 2009 went to Maggie Murphy, civil and environmental engineering. The award is provided by H. deForest and Martha Ralph in memory of Bob Dickson, who died in a plane crash in 1953 while returning from a training program for Naval ROTC students. The award goes to students using engineering skills on projects of social benefit. Additional funding comes from Dale Dickson Johnson and others. H. deForest Ralph Jr. ’56 was present to award this prize.
The Alan J. Chapman Award went to Keson Choy, mechanical engineering and materials science. The award, which was endowed by Melbern and Susan M. Glasscock, recognizes excellence in mechanical engineering. Alan Chapman taught for 60 years at Rice and was the first dean of engineering. The Chapman award recipient is chosen by faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science.
Kenneth Davis received the Panos Award, which is given to a mechanical engineering senior with financial need who demonstrates excellence in mechanical engineering. Michael and Effie Panos were present.
The Brotzen Fellowship went to Anubha Goyal, mechanical engineering and materials science. It was established by David Lee Davidson and his wife, Patricia, to honor Franz Brotzen and to support an endowed fellowship in mechanical engineering and materials science.
Candase Arnold and Michael Burcham, civil and environmental engineering, received the Dick and Mary Ellen Wilson Award, a scholarship to provide support for students studying civil engineering.
Alison and Michael Contreras, civil and environmental engineering, were awarded Harrianna Butler Awards, which go to married graduate or undergraduate students. The awards are endowed by C.H. Siebenhausen in honor of his wife, Harrianna.
Juan Duque, chemical and biomolecular engineering, won the Ralph Budd Award for Best Engineering Thesis. The award, in the form of a medal, is given in memory of Ralph Budd, Rice’s commencement speaker in 1935, who asked that his honorarium be used to benefit Rice students.
The 2008 Hershel M. Rich Invention Award went to three individuals in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Siddharth Gupta, Ashutosh Sabharwal and Patrick Murphy. They developed a scalable wireless open-access research platform.
Joseph Chang, bioengineering, won the James S. Waters Creativity Award, endowed in 1968 by an anonymous donor in honor of James S. Waters ’17, who was a faculty member at Rice for more than 50 years. The award is given annually to an engineering undergraduate who shows unusual creativity in independent work.
The Budd, Rich, and Waters awards are selected by a committee of faculty members from each engineering department.
In addition, the REA and school of engineering present $5,000 scholarships to Houston-area high school students who win the Science and Engineering Fair of Houston. This year’s REA recipient was Brian Stutzman, a junior at Magnolia West High School in Magnolia. The school of engineering winner was Cameron J. Thomas, a junior Harmony Science Academy in Houston.
To learn more about the REA scholarship program or on how to endow scholarships, contact the REA at engalum@rice.edu or go to http://alumni.rice.edu/rea/index.html .
Dwight Daniels, Engineering Communications