Seven College of Engineering students and their mentors were recognized for their outstanding academic success at the Alumni Award for Excellence Ceremony.
This award is presented to approximately 40 undergraduate senior level students and an additional 15 graduate and law students who have achieved outstanding academic success and have demonstrated career and professional preparation; campus and community leadership and involvement, or "leaders in the classroom, laboratory, campus and community."
The students and their mentors were presented the awards by President M. Duane Nellis and Steve Johnson, director of the Alumni Association.
Wendy Banzhof
Civil Engineering and Spanish major from Pasco, Washington
Mentor: Fritz Fielder from the Department of Civil Engineering
Wendy is active in the student chapter of the
American Society of Civil Engineers, and currently serves as the Vice-President. She has also been the
Concrete Canoe team captain for two years.
Wendy says that Fritz is the kind of engineer and person she would like to be after graduating college. There are few professors who truly care about their students as he does, while maintaining a family and life completely separate from the university.
Neelima Dahal
Electrical Engineering major from Kathmandu, Nepal
Mentor: Alton Campbell from the Honors Program
Last year, as Vice President of the Nepali Student Association, Neelima organized the annual "Taste of Nepal" event – where culture, tradition, dances and foot from Nepal are shared with the university community.
She says that Alton is someone who works full heartedly but does not expect a return out of it. He has not just been an inspiration to her but has also been a source of constant encouragement and support. He is like having a father close to you when you are half the world away from yours.
Victoria Kampfer
Mechanical Engineering major from Wilsonville, Oregon
Mentor: Alton Campbell from the Honors Program
For the past three years, Tory has volunteered as a tutor in a fourth grade math class and has participated in three
Alternative Service Breaks.
Alton is someone Tory can turn to for advice and show helps her view life situations from all angles. He does so without proffering his own opinions, which allows her to come to her own conclusions. She is continuously amazed by the selflessness of his actions and can honestly say he inspires her to be a better person.
Kara Kleppen (not pictured)
Biosystems Engineering major from Outlook, Montana
Mentor: Barbara Williams from the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering.
Kara has volunteered for two summers as an emergency medical technician in Montana. Those opportunities provided the catalyst in conducting a semester-long project on medical imaging technologies.
Barbara is an inspiration to Kara because of her time and energy invested to ensure each of her students and advisees achieve his or her educational goals. Kara says that Barbara’s becoming a female engineering professor has inspired her to continue her education of becoming an engineer and has helped her realize her strong potential to become a medical doctor.
Dennis Oriero
Graduate student in Chemical Engineering from Irri, Nigeria
Mentor: Eric Aston from the Department of Chemical Engineering
(not pictured)
Through the
National Society of Black Engineers, Dennis mentors and tutors high school students in the Spokane, Moscow, and Lapwai communities, with a goal to stimulate and develop interest toward science and math. He currently serves as this organization’s Vice President.
Eric is an inspiration to Dennis because he has provided support, encouragement, understanding, generosity, and also instilled in Dennis that the outcomes of any research, be it positive or negative, are always useful.
Daniel Taylor
Electrical Engineering major from Spirit Lake
Mentor: Don Elger from the Department of Mechanical Engineering
With his research and testing on military-grade lithium batteries, Daniel has been named as an author on three professional papers presented at international conferences, and he will be included as an inventor on the patents when they are filed.
Daniel says that Don has helped him achieve not only scholastic and professional goals, but also personal aspirations such as swimming. He says it’s rare to find a professor that he can look up to, openly get advice from, and still go swimming with as a friend on a regular basis.
Hailey Woodruff
Civil Engineering major from Sandpoint
Mentor: Richard Nielsen from the Department of Civil Engineering
Hailey is active with the newly formed
Engineers Without Borders group on campus, and is currently serving as Secretary. The group was just approved for their first large project, to design and build a sanitary water system in a small village in Bolivia.
Hailey says that in the four years she has been in the Civil Engineering program, Richard has been a great advisor. He’s been very supportive and encouraging of her scholastics, involvement in the department, and her future in the field of engineering.
