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--></style></head><body lang="EN-US" link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Engineering Faculty, </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">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. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Best regards</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Yusuf Ozturk </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_MailEndCompose"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"> Faculty [mailto:<a href="mailto:faculty-bounces@engineering.sdsu.edu">faculty-bounces@engineering.sdsu.edu</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Donovan Geiger<br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, April 16, 2015 11:48 AM<br><b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:faculty@engineering.sdsu.edu">faculty@engineering.sdsu.edu</a><br><b>Subject:</b> [Faculty] Engineering Valedictorian Vote</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt">Engineering Faculty: </p></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt">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<b> <u><span style="color:red;background:white">12:00pm tomorrow, Friday March, 17th</span></u><span style="color:red;background:white">. </span></b></p></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt">The candidates are:<br><br><b><br></b><b><span style="font-size:13.5pt">Ryan Scurlock<br><br>Major GPA 3.89, CUM 3.85, Summa Cum Laude (1st honors rank)</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style>I’m an avid San Diego State basketball fan and regularly attend home games.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style>_______________________</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br><b><span style="font-size:13.5pt">Dustin Wright<br><br>MAJOR GPA 4.00, CUM 3.97, Summa Cum Laude (1st honors rank)</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br>______________________________<br><br><br><b><span style="font-size:13.5pt">Tanner Verhoeks<br><br>Major GPA 4.00, CUM 3.89, Summa Cum Laude (1st honors rank)</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><br>_____________________________<br><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style><b><span style="font-size:13.5pt">Zac Ghanim Al Wakeel<br><br>Major GPA 3.75, CUM 3.57, Cum Laude (3rd honors rank)</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style>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.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"> </p><div><p class="MsoNormal">Best regards, <br><br clear="all"></p></div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#073763">Donovan Geiger, MBA</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#990000"><br></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Student Affairs</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif"> <span style="color:black"><br>College of Engineering<br>San Diego State University<br>619.594.6079</span></span><span style="color:#663300"><br><br></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>