Photograph by Dan Grogan.
(Back row) SEAS Trustees Andy DuPont (left) and Doug Garson (middle), together with Dean Aylor (right), honor 2006 SEAS Outstanding Students Sophie Johnson and Marc Schwartz.
Several of SEAS’ top fourth-year undergraduate students were honored this month for their exceptional accomplishments.
SEAS Outstanding Students 2006
Undergraduate students in the U.Va. School of Engineering and Applied Science often wear many hats. They work as assistants in the many labs across Grounds, they serve as leaders in student organizations and they earn top honors as students in demanding engineering courses. The annual SEAS Outstanding Student Award recognizes students each year who wear many such hats, honoring students who exhibit “service before self, integrity and excellence” in all that they do.
This year, the U.Va. School of Engineering and Applied Science, the University of Virginia Engineering Foundation and the SEAS Board of Trustees were proud to present Marc Schwartz (BME) and Sophie Johnson (CE) with the 2006 SEAS Outstanding Student Award:
An exceptional scholar, Marc has been working in Professor Klaus Ley’s laboratory on novel applications of cell imaging to help understand inflammatory diseases. Marc plans to earn an M.D.-Ph.D. at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he will begin studying this fall. Learn more about Marc.
A National Merit and Rodman scholar, Sophie’s environmental research has had worldwide impact — from Juarez, Mexico, to Dalian, China. Sophie will continue her studies in environmental engineering at MIT beginning this fall. Learn more about Sophie.
Congratulations to two truly “outstanding” SEAS undergraduates! For more about Sophie, Marc and past awardees, please visit http://www.seas.virginia.edu/uvef/awards/.
SEAS Undergraduate Research and Design Symposium Winners
The undergraduate thesis is a hallmark of a SEAS education, as it has been for the past 101 consecutive years. On May 3, a select group of 20 top SEAS undergraduates celebrated in this tradition by presenting their thesis projects at the 2006 Undergraduate Research and Design Symposium, held on Grounds in the Rotunda.
The students defended their theses, as individuals and as teams, before a panel of distinguished internal and external judges. The panel included Board of Visitors member Sydney Dorsey, Guy Babineaux of Sperry Marine, Allison Graves of Lockhead Martin, Terrence Leslie of Micron Technology and members of the SEAS faculty.
The following individuals and team were awarded top honors:
In the individual presenter category, Elizabeth Horahan (ChemE) took first place for her thesis, entitled “Design, Development and Testing of a Thoracic Exoskeletal Breathing Apparatus (TEBA) Utilizing Active Cellular Materials.” Alicia Evangelista (BME) was awarded second place for her thesis, entitled “Novel Effects of Nitric Oxide on Cardiac Muscle Myosin: Finding a Mechanism for Heart Disease.” And Carlos Sevilla (BME) took third place for his thesis, entitled “Investigating the use of Gold Nanospheres for the Selective Killing of Cancer Cells by Absorption of Laser Radiation.”
In the team presenter category, Jason Manto (BME), Kate Clopeck (Aerospace), Carly Krause (Environmental Science), Dara Phillips (CE), Lauren Foster (Systems) and Brooke Yamakoshi (CE) were awarded first place for their capstone project, entitled “Implementation of an Appropriate Household Water Purification System in Tourou, Cameroon.”
Finalists deserving of an honorable mention include Asli Ayverdi, Brandon Babcock, Jeffrey Boyd, Lindsey Brown, Chris Cutrona, Michael Hsu, Steven Jansen, Marc Schwartz, Parker Tresemer, Joseph Wyatt and William Yang.
Congratulations to all SEAS Undergraduate Research and Design Symposium award winners and finalists! For more information about the symposium, please visit http://www.seas.virginia.edu/news/designsymposium2006.php. |
