[Faculty] Engineering Valedictorian Vote

Thu Apr 16 14:58:28 PDT 2015

Donovan
Typo on the  deadline :April 17th not March 17th
Lal

On Thu, Apr 16, 2015 at 1:56 PM, Yusuf Ozturk <yozturk at mail.sdsu.edu> wrote:

> Engineering Faculty,
>
>
>
> I like to add  that Dustin Wright has been a leader among his  friends and
> in my lab over  the period he worked with me as a researcher. He managed a
> group of undergraduate students he recruited for building components of a
> research project  and  worked closely with several graduate students
> enabling them to make advances in their projects.   As an undergraduate
> student his research productivity was at a level expected from a Ph.D.
> student.  In addition, he was the IEEE student chapter secretary  for two
> years.  Not only he was an exceptional student but also he is an
> exceptional person that brings joy to the work environment.
>
>
>
> Best regards
>
> Yusuf Ozturk
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Faculty [mailto:faculty-bounces at engineering.sdsu.edu] *On Behalf
> Of *Donovan Geiger
> *Sent:* Thursday, April 16, 2015 11:48 AM
> *To:* faculty at engineering.sdsu.edu
> *Subject:* [Faculty] Engineering Valedictorian Vote
>
>
>
> 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
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Faculty mailing list
> Faculty at engineering.sdsu.edu
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>
>

-- 
Dr. R. Lal Tummala
Professor and Chair
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA 92182
Tel : 619-594-7045
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