[Faculty] Engineering Valedictorian Vote

Thu Apr 16 11:47:38 PDT 2015

Engineering Faculty:

As the departmental outstanding graduates have now been selected, the
Engineering Valedictorian vote will now take place. Please select one and
email me your choice by
* 12:00pm tomorrow, Friday March, 17th. *
The candidates are:

*Ryan ScurlockMajor GPA 3.89, CUM 3.85, Summa Cum Laude (1st honors rank)*

I’m from San Diego. I chose to study mechanical engineering because I
wanted to challenge myself and I enjoy math/science. During my time at
SDSU,I have performed research into wind turbines under the supervision of
Dr. Luciano Demasi. Professor Demasi has been an unbelievable mentor and I
have greatly enjoyed my time working with him. He is by far my most
influential professor.

I have also worked in the Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) under Dr.
Beyene. Next Fall, I will attend the University of Texas at Austin to
pursue a master’s degree in Engineering Mechanics.

I’m an avid San Diego State basketball fan and regularly attend home games.

_______________________

*Dustin WrightMAJOR GPA 4.00, CUM 3.97, Summa Cum Laude (1st honors rank)*

 Dustin Wright studied electrical and computer engineering with a minor in
computer science from fall 2010 to fall 2014. Through this, he was exposed
to a breadth of courses spanning basic electrical hardware implementation
to digital signal processing, object oriented programming, algorithms, and
numerical analysis.

He worked three summer internships during his time at SDSU at BAE Systems,
San Diego Gas and Electric, and Hewlett-Packard. Dustin was actively
involved in research on campus under Dr. Yusuf Ozturk. In his research, he
investigated cognitive and scalable online video streaming with learned
user preferences, dynamic energy rate adaptation using a closed loop cloud
to mobile system, and concentration detection enabled by
electroencephalography. Through this, he authored and co-authored 3 peer
reviewed conference papers, delivering a technical presentation at UC
Berkeley for the 2015 International Conference on Soft Computing and
Software Engineering, and has 2 conference and 2 journal papers currently
under review. In addition, he presented his initial research work at the
2014 SDSU student research symposium and was a participant in the first
Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering hackathon at the University of
Washington.

He is currently a software engineer at BAE Systems and hopes to eventually
attain a Ph.D. with his research focusing on machine learning and
brain-computer interfaces.

______________________________

*Tanner VerhoeksMajor GPA 4.00, CUM 3.89, Summa Cum Laude (1st honors rank)*

 My name is Tanner Verhoeks; I was born and raised in San Diego so becoming
an Aztec was an easy choice. After graduating from high school in 2011 with
21 college units completed, I went on to obtain my associates in Civil
Engineering from Cuyamaca Community College and Mathematics from Grossmont
Community College.

I started at the College of Engineering in the summer of 2013 and, through
determination and hard work, earned my Bachelors of Science in Civil
Engineering in December 2014.  During this time,  I was fortunate enough to
have the opportunities to initiate for Chi Epsilon while acting as the
project manager for our initiate project (where we built a 4 foot,
illuminated, aluminum builders transit that is sitting in the department
office today), participate in the ASCE student chapter, and compete in PSWC
2014. During my senior year I was awarded an internship scholarship from
APWA and spent 6 month interning at Atkins. I culminated my experience at
SDSU with holding the position of project manager for my capstone team and
lead them to earn A's which solidified my 4.0 campus GPA. Since March 2015,
I have been working at Hatch Mott Macdonald as an Engineer II on aviation
and tunneling projects.

My plans are to continue to further my career as a Civil Engineer by
beginning my Masters next year in Engineering Management and then to
continue on to sit for my PE. My motivation in life is to have a part in
building our Country's infrastructure while providing for my beautiful wife
and soon-to-be child. I hope to give back to the Engineering Community by
participating in the Chi Epsilon Alumni Association, ASCE's Younger Member
Forum, as well as the American Public Works Association. I would be very
honored to be recognized as the Outstanding Graduate for the CCEE
Department and would like to personally thank said department and
respective professors for the knowledge and experience that was passed on
to me.

_____________________________

*Zac Ghanim Al WakeelMajor GPA 3.75, CUM 3.57, Cum Laude (3rd honors rank)*

Zac Ghanim Al Wakeel who will graduate with honor and receive a bachelor’s
degree in aerospace engineering in May 2015, was selected as the
outstanding student in the aerospace engineering class of 2015.  Zac will
be graduating with highest overall and major GPA in his graduating class at
SDSU.  While his academic record puts Zac in a small distinguished group of
SDSU graduates, his nomination for the outstanding student award also a
recognition of his hardwork, motivation, dedication, perseverance and
passion for aerospace engineering.

The path to graduation has been a long arduous journey for Zac.  Zac came
to the US in 2009 as his parents fled the war and persecution in Iraq.  The
strength and resolve Zac learnt in order to endure the dreadful experience
of war, served him as he had to adapt quickly to a new and unfamiliar life
in the United States. His singular focus in his pursuit of becoming an
aerospace engineer helped Zac overcome many cultural, language and academic
barriers he faced when he started his studies in the US. Zac started his
studies at Cuyamaca and Grossmont community colleges before transferring to
SDSU in 201 . Acceptance in to SDSU aerospace engineering degree program
was a child hood dream come true.

Zac is a hard working student with exemplary grades. He has been selected
to the Dean’s list several semesters. In addition to doing well in his
undergraduate course work, Zac has been involved with research on composite
structures under the guidance of Professor Venkataraman. He also found time
for service, and mentored many immigrant Iraqi students at SDSU and served
as a tutor for the Statics course in the MESA program. As a tutor he earned
high praise from his students for his teaching and the care and attention
he showed them. In his senior year Zac was awarded a NSF scholarship at
SDSU.  Zac will be pursuing a master's degree in aerospace engineering at
SDSU specializing in Propulsion Systems and do research with Professor
Jacobs.

Best regards,

*Donovan Geiger, MBA*
Student Affairs
College of Engineering
San Diego State University
619.594.6079
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