Rodman Scholars
Making a Difference

The Class of 2014 includes 35 new members of the Rodman Scholars Program. They include an author, a robot designer, a filmmaker, several Eagle Scouts, a National Achievement Scholar, a cross-country track captain, a college student tutor, and an IT intern for a state attorney general.

Amazing individuals? Yes. Standouts among their peers? Yes. And yet, they are typical of the excellence that abounds at the U.Va. Engineering School and, in particular, in the Rodman Scholars Program.

Christopher Belyea (ChE, Pre-Med ’10) and Ian Czekala (Aero, Astronomy ’10) were members of the Class of 2010 Rodman Scholars Program who definitely put their time here to good use and left behind a legacy that will benefit the School for years to come.

Key among their achievements was launching and successfully publishing The Spectra: The Virginia Engineering and Science Research Journal, a student-published, peer-reviewed academic journal. Chris served as editor-in-chief; Ian was on the editorial team and contributed an article to the publication. They also helped to secure a $50,000 grant from Lockheed Martin to launch the Sustainability Grant Program which will provide money for teams of student researchers.

Both students managed to do significant research while they were undergraduates. Chris was involved in cardiovascular research in Denmark and conducted biochemical engineering research as a Merck Engineering and Technology Scholar. Ian’s research on the Atacama Large Millimeter Array Telescope in Chile focused on issues that arise in high-stakes international collaborations. He also led a student advisory committee that helped revamp the labs in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Chris and Ian are creatively gifted as well. Chris’s drawings and paintings were featured in a solo show in the Thornton Hall Art Gallery. Ian helped create a video on life at the Engineering School.

Read more: www.rodmanscholars.org