<div dir="ltr"><div><div>Engineering Faculty: <br><br></div>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> <span style="color:rgb(255,0,0)"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><u>12:00pm tomorrow, Friday March, 17th</u>. </span></span><br></b><br></div>The candidates are:<br><br><b><br><font size="4">Ryan Scurlock<br><br>Major GPA 3.89, CUM 3.85, Summa Cum Laude (1st honors rank)</font><br></b><br><p class=""><span style="font-size:12pt">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. </span></p>
<p class=""><span style="font-size:12pt">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. </span></p>
<p class=""><span style="font-size:12pt">I’m
an avid San Diego State basketball fan and regularly attend home games.</span></p><p class=""><span style="font-size:12pt">_______________________</span></p><br><font size="4"><b>Dustin Wright<br><br>MAJOR GPA 4.00, CUM 3.97, Summa Cum Laude (1st honors rank)</b></font><br><p class="MsoNormal"><b style><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:115%"><br></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%">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. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%">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. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%">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. </span></p>
<br>______________________________<br><br><br><font size="4"><b>Tanner Verhoeks<br><br>Major GPA 4.00, CUM 3.89, Summa Cum Laude (1st honors rank)</b></font><br><p class="MsoNormal"><b style><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:115%"><br></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%">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. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%">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.<span style> </span>During this time,<span style> </span>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. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%">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.</span></p>
<br>_____________________________<br><br><br>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style><u><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:115%"><span style="color:red"></span></span></u></b><font size="4"><b>Zac Ghanim Al Wakeel<br><br>Major GPA 3.75, CUM 3.57, Cum Laude (3rd honors rank)</b></font><br></p><br><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%">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.<span style> </span>Zac will be graduating
with highest overall and major GPA in his graduating class at SDSU.<span style> </span>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.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%">The path to graduation has been a long
arduous journey for Zac.<span style> </span>Zac came to the
US in 2009 as his parents fled the war and persecution in Iraq.<span style> </span>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.<span style> <br></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%"><span style><br></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%">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.<span style> </span>Zac will be pursuing a master's
degree in aerospace engineering at SDSU specializing in Propulsion Systems and
do research with Professor Jacobs.</span></p>
<br><br><div>Best regards, <br><br clear="all"></div><div><div><div><div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="color:rgb(7,55,99)"><b>Donovan Geiger, MBA</b></span><br style="color:rgb(153,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">Student Affairs</span> <br style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">College of Engineering</span><br style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"></font></span><span style="color:rgb(102,51,0)"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><font size="2"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">San Diego State University</span><br style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">619.594.6079</span></font></span><br><br style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"></span></span><br></div></div></div></div></div></div>
</div></div></div></div></div>