SIIRE Students Honored at College of Engineering Student Awards Ceremony

College of Engineering students, staff and faculty gathered May 1 to honor more than two dozen outstanding graduates of the class of 2018.

Photo of Stephanie SandovalEach year, the National Science Foundation awards Fellowships to outstanding students in STEM fields who are pursuing research-based graduate education. This year, the campus had 4 winners and 6 honorable mentions - this includes current students and alumni. In total, these students will receive more than half a million dollars in funding. One of three winners from the College of Engineering was SIIRE Student, Stephanie Sandoval.

Each fellowship is worth $34,000 per year and can be renewed for up to three years. The awards are given to students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and recognize academic excellence and the potential contribution that each student will make to his or her field and to society at large.

“I am thrilled to have received this fellowship,” said Sandoval. “It provides me the freedom to make my research my own and not worry about the grant I am tied to. I greatly appreciate all the support I have received from my mentors in my department and across campus. I know this award will jump start my career in many incalculable ways.”

Along with fellowships, each student’s institution will receive $12,000 per year to offset tuition costs, bringing the total amount of funding awarded to these four students close to half a million dollars.

Sandoval currently works with Zhong Chen, assistant professor of electrical engineering. During her undergraduate career she has been named a 3M GEM Fellow and worked at the Sandia National Laboratories.

The Graduate School offers two levels of competitive merit-based fellowships to provide financial support to outstanding incoming doctoral students. Qualified graduate students must be nominated for these doctoral fellowships by the academic unit or department that has also agreed to sponsor the accompanying assistantship. SIIRE student, Abbie Lasater was honored as a Distinguished Doctoral Fellow for 2017-2018.

“Each year, I am delighted to see stellar engineering and science students excel at this top academic level,” said John English, dean of the College of Engineering.

The full College of Engineering Awards Newswire story can be viewed here.

The full NSF Fellowship Awards Newswire story can be viewed here.