[Faculty] Engineering Valedictorian Vote Deadline: April 12th

Ashkan Ashrafi ashrafi at mail.sdsu.edu
Wed Apr 12 13:51:55 PDT 2017


Hi Donovan,

It is interesting that the student with the lowest GPA among others has 
been selected as the valedictorian by the vote of less than 1/3 of the 
CoE faculty. This raises a lot of question marks above the whole process.


Best,
Ashkan



Ashkan Ashrafi, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Graduate Advisor
Director, Signal Processing Research Laboratory

Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Dr., E-410A
San Diego, CA 92182-1309
Tel: (619)594-3703
Fax: (619)594-2654
email: ashrafi at mail.sdsu.edu
URL: http://jason.sdsu.edu/~ashrafi

On 4/12/17 1:33 PM, Donovan Geiger wrote:
> Hi Andy,
>
> This honor is the College Outstanding Graduate, but we internally use 
> the term Valedictorian as a more recognizable label for students and 
> to differentiate it as a higher honor than the Outstanding Graduates 
> at the departmental level.
>
> Thanks,
> Donovan
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 12, 2017 at 12:58 PM, Andrew Szeto <aszeto at mail.sdsu.edu 
> <mailto:aszeto at mail.sdsu.edu>> wrote:
>
>     Dear Donovan:
>
>     Can you please clarify?  To most people, the honor of being the
>     Valedictorian is different from being the "Outstanding Engineering
>     Graduate."  What exactly is this honor?  Thanks.
>
>     Andy Szeto
>
>     On Wed, Apr 12, 2017 at 12:41 PM, Donovan Geiger
>     <dgeiger at mail.sdsu.edu <mailto:dgeiger at mail.sdsu.edu>> wrote:
>
>         COE Faculty:
>
>         Please join me in congratulating Victor Ortega as our
>         Engineering Class of 2017 Valedictorian!
>
>         The vote tally was:
>
>         10 Ortega
>         6 West
>         2 Reyes
>         1 Akers
>
>         Thank you,
>         Donovan
>
>
>
>
>
>         On Mon, Apr 10, 2017 at 5:35 PM, Donovan Geiger
>         <dgeiger at mail.sdsu.edu <mailto:dgeiger at mail.sdsu.edu>> wrote:
>
>             Engineering Faculty and Staff:
>
>             As the departmental outstanding graduates have been
>             selected, voting for Engineering Valedictorian will now
>             take place. Please select one and email your choice to me
>             by*_12:00pm, Wednesday April, 12th._*
>
>             The candidates are:
>
>             __________________________________________
>
>             *Joseph Akers
>             Major GPA 3.93, SDSU GPA 3.95
>             Environmental Engineering
>
>             *
>
>             I am a Marine Corps Veteran. I was living in San Diego
>             since 2010 at MCAS Miramar. I chose the major I wanted
>             about a year before I left the military. During my
>             research, I learned that an ABET accredited school was
>             going to be as important to me as an Environmental
>             Engineer as learning how to be an Environmental Engineer.
>             I found several schools that fit the bill but after a few
>             searches where google filled in the blank after SDSU with
>             "best party schools" I knew that I would at least have a
>             few years of fun if I couldn't cut it. San Diego State
>             actually became my favorite choice really quickly.
>             Everything about it just made sense such as the location
>             and the teacher reviews. But it was February. Admissions
>             were full and I was going to be stuck waiting a year or so
>             to get a spot. Looked like I was going to Ohio State.
>
>
>             There was a Marine Corps Program called the Leadership
>             Scholar Program that allowed me to get into SDSU where my
>             only competition for admission was other Marines. The
>             spots were actually filled but through sheer luck of
>             someone dropping out of going to SDSU and with my Marine
>             Corps accomplishments, I was able to get a spot to start
>             school in fall 2013. I quickly joined the Student Veterans
>             Organization and even helped start their intramural sports
>             teams. I met some good friends through there but decided
>             to try more professional organizations like Engineers
>             Without Borders and American Water Works Association.
>
>             School was challenging but I benefited greatly from the GI
>             Bill which paid for my schooling and gave me the freedom
>             to keep my grades up. Unfortunately for me, I had to start
>             with classes like Precalculus and would be playing catch
>             up to My Map. Engineering requires a couple more credits
>             than other degrees so I would be here for a few summer
>             sessions as well. There were some challenging teachers,
>             some unorganized ones and some amazing ones like Professor
>             Smith and Professional Mladenov. Overall it was a great
>             experience.
>
>             During my time at SDSU I have become a Big Brother
>             volunteer for Bigs of San Diego and I have been the
>             recipient of several scholarships, including the Sinegal
>             Veterans Scholarship. I am currently working with SPAWAR
>             because of San Diego State's veteran's programs in a
>             research fellowship. I can only look back and thank SDSU
>             for the experience granted.
>
>
>             _________________________________________
>             *
>             Victor Ortega
>             Major GPA 3.81, SDSU GPA 3.91
>             Aerospace Engineering*
>
>             Victor Ortega graduated valedictorian from Monte Vista
>             High School in Spring Valley before being admitted to
>             SDSU’s Aerospace Engineering program in the Fall of 2013.
>             He will be earning his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering with
>             a 3.919 cumulative GPA this May. He has shown a dedication
>             to helping other students succeed through being one of the
>             first to participate in Monte Vista’s peer tutoring
>             program as a math tutor and later working as a college
>             advisor at an inner city high school in City Heights. As a
>             first-generation college student and son of immigrants who
>             originally attended school in City Heights. Since 2016, he
>             has been working as an undergraduate research assistant
>             looking at resin injection methods of repairing internal
>             delamination in carbon fiber laminates in the Aerospace
>             Engineering Department. He has been accepted to the
>             SDSU-UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Structural Engineering
>             and awarded a 5-year fellowship by UCSD.*
>             *
>             _______________________________________
>             *
>             Karl Reyes
>             Major GPA 3.87, SDSU GPA 3.93
>             *
>             *Mechanical Engineering
>             *
>
>             Karl is a senior mechanical engineering student, and will
>             be graduating in May 2017. As a student at SDSU, he was a
>             member of numerous organizations, including the American
>             Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Design/Build/Fly
>             (DBF), and Tau Beta Pi – The Engineering Honor Society. In
>             Spring 2015, Karl worked with a team to design and
>             manufacture a wall-mounting mechanism of an all-terrain
>             vehicle for the ASME Student Professional Development
>             Conference (SPDC) student design competition. In Spring
>             2016, he contributed to the manufacturing of a prototype
>             aircraft as a manufacturing team member for the American
>             Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
>             Design/Build/Fly competition. Currently, he is an officer
>             in Tau Beta Pi California Xi. Outside of his
>             extracurricular activities, Karl has also had internship
>             experience with Solar Turbines Incorporated, where he was
>             a Mechanical Engineering Intern in the Combustion
>             Department. He has accepted a position with Northrop
>             Grumman, and will be working as a Mechanical Engineer in
>             the Vehicle Engineering Department after graduating in May.
>
>             _________________________________________*
>
>             Stephen West
>             Major GPA 3.97, SDSU GPA 3.94**
>             Electrical Engineering *
>
>             We nominate Stephen West as our outstanding graduate for
>             his top 3.94 GPA that includes 97 units taken at SDSU. 
>             Faculty who had the privilege to teach him in EE430 and
>             other courses recall West to be a quiet studious, smart,
>             and respectful student. He has involved in student
>             organizations and extracurricular activities.
>
>             __________________________________________
>
>
>             Once again, the deadline to vote is this Wednesday, April
>             12, at noon.
>
>             Best regards,
>
>             *Donovan Geiger, MBA*
>             Student Affairs Officer
>             College of Engineering
>             San Diego State University
>             619.594.6079 <tel:%28619%29%20594-6079>
>
>
>
>
>         _______________________________________________
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>         Faculty at engineering.sdsu.edu <mailto:Faculty at engineering.sdsu.edu>
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>
>
>
>
>     -- 
>     Andrew Y. J. Szeto, Ph.D., P.E.
>     Professor and IEEE Fellow
>     Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering
>     San Diego State University
>     5500 Campanile Drive  MC 1309
>     San Diego, CA. 92182-1309
>     619-594-5723 <tel:%28619%29%20594-5723> - voice 619-594-2654
>     <tel:%28619%29%20594-2654> - FAX
>
>
>
>
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