201 earn B.S.E. degree


Honors and awards presented at SEAS Class Day

This year 201 students completed the requirements for a Bachelor of Science in Engineering.

The Department of Electrical Engineering (EE) had the most B.S.E. recipients, with 56; Operations Research and Financial Engineering (ORFE) had 36; Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) had 34; Computer Science (COS) had 32; Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) had 22; and Chemical Engineering (ChE) had 21. In addition, 13 students from the Department of Computer Science graduated with Bachelor of Arts degrees.

Showing his pride in the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), Dean James Wei got the Class Day crowd going. He said that the other divisions of Princeton University had some pretty good faculty and students.

Then he asked, “What is the greatest division with the best teachers and the best students?” to which an uproarious cheer of “Engineering!” burst from the crowd.

Peter Bogucki, associate dean of undergraduate affairs, presented the undergraduate SEAS awards.

“This year the selection process was particularly challenging,” he said, “due to the number of very fine candidates put forward by their departments.”

The following prizes were awarded at Class Day:

Joseph Clifton Elgin Prize: Ayse Tanyeri (ORFE) and Benjamin Markham (CEE). This award is given to the student who has done the most to advance the interests of the school in the community at large. The prize honors the late Professor Emeritus Joseph Clifton Elgin, who was dean from 1954 to 1971.

James Hayes-Edgar Palmer Prize in Engineering: Abbie Liel (CEE). This award was established in 1968 by Zilph H. Palmer in memory of James Hayes, Class of 1895, and Edgar Palmer, Class of 1903, and is awarded to the senior or seniors who have manifested excellent scholarship, a marked capacity for leadership, and promise of creative achievement in engineering. The winner is selected by the dean of the SEAS in consultation with the school’s executive committee.

Jeffrey O. Kephart ’80 Engineering Physics Award: Marc Schreiber (physics). This prize is awarded to the outstanding student or students in the engineering physics program as determined by the faculty.

Calvin Dodd MacCracken Senior Thesis/Project Award: Christopher Loose (ChE), Angela Ovecka (CEE), Ajay Kapur (COS), Neil Vachharajani (EE), Justin Vican (MAE), and Megan Fehlig (ORFE). This award honors Calvin Dodd MacCracken ’40, and was established by his family to recognize the senior thesis or project work that is most distinctive for its inventiveness and technical accomplishment.

Photo by Frank Wojciechowski
SEAS Class Day Prize winners are, back row from left, Megan Fehlig, Mary Dunlop, Justin Vican, Ayse Tanyeri, Nathan Faust, Christopher Loose, Neil Vachharajani, Rebecca Jones, Angela Ovecka, and Abbie Liel. In the front row, from left, are Ajay Kapur, Michael Cohen, Dean James Wei, Benjamin Markham, and Nicholas Siefert.

The George J. Mueller Award: Mary Dunlop (MAE) and Matthew Chance Fitzgerald (ORFE). This award was established in 1991 by members of the faculty and staff of SEAS in memory of Dean George J. Mueller to honor a graduating senior who, over his or her four undergraduate years at Princeton, has most evidently combined high scholarly achievement in the study of engineering with quality performance in intercollegiate athletics. Both recipients were fencers.

The POEM Newport Award in Photonics: Rebecca Jones (EE). This award is given to a senior who has demonstrated high scholastic achievement and high potential for leadership in the field of photonics, electrooptics, or optoelectronic materials.

J. Rich Steers Award: Nicholas Siefert (MAE) and Nathan Faust (ORFE). Given by the New York City Post Society of American Military Engineers to reward scholastic performance that demonstrates potential for further engineering study and practice.

Tau Beta Pi Prize: Michael Cohen (EE). This award is given to a senior class member who has significantly contributed a major part of his or her time in service to SEAS.

Photo by Frank Wojciechowski
Benjamin Markham gets a “thumbs up” from
Dean Wei as Ayse Tanyeri looks on.

More prizes and honors

Again this year, engineering students proved that they have a myriad of talents and interests.

Engineers earned 157 certificates of proficiency in 18 different subjects, ranging from Architecture and Engineering to Theater and Dance.

Six students earned three certificates each. They are: Ayse Tanyeri (ORFE) and Andrew Redman (ORFE) in engineering and management systems, finance, and Woodrow Wilson School; Gregory Larkin (ORFE) in applications of computing, engineering management systems, and finance; and David Beek (ORFE), Imran Chaudhary (ORFE), and Nilgun Yankaya (ORFE) in applied and computational mathematics, engineering and management systems, and finance.

Thirty-four students earned two certificates each.

General Prizes
Engineering students also claimed a number of general prizes and awards, including:

Class of 1901 Medal: Joseph Kochan (ChE)
Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize: Abbie Liel (CEE)
Spirit of Princeton Award: Rebecca Jones (EE)
George B. Wood Legacy Junior Prize: Abbie Liel (CEE)
Department of Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship: Laura Ruppalt (EE)
National Science Foundation Fellowships: Kaijen Hsiao (MAE), Rebecca Jones (EE), and Laura Ruppalt (EE)
AT&T Labs Fellowship: Kofi Boakeye (EE)
Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship: Mary Dunlop (MAE)
Marshall Scholarship: Abbie Liel (CEE)
National Physical Science Consortium: Lucille Sylvester (EE)
Whitaker Foundation Graduate Fellowship in Biomedical Engineering: Thomas Petersen (EE)

Athletic Prizes
The Princeton Varsity Club Award for special achievement by a Princeton athlete: Tora Harris (MAE) from College Park, Ga., who won the 2002 NCAA championship high jump title on June 1.
Paul Richard Friedman ’91 Award (basketball): Conor Neu (CS)
The W. Lyman Biddle Medal (heavyweight crew): Sean McCormick (EE)
The Bayard W. Read Class of 1926 Lightweight Crew Award: Jordan Rapp (MAE)
The Gordon G. Sikes Medal (lightweight crew): William Foshay Jr. (CS)
The Johnston Award (varsity fencing): Matthew Fitzgerald (ORFE)
Richard W. Colman Scholar-Athlete Award (football): David Czehut (ORFE)
The Dr. Harry Roemer McPhee Award (football): John Peluse (ChE)
The M. Tyler Campbell Trophy (lightweight football): Andrew Morabito (EE)
The Treide Trophy (wrestling): Jonathon Bunt (MAE)

Commissions
United States Army: Kristian Pitney (CEE)
United States Air Force: Eric Neubert (MAE), Nicholas Siefert (MAE), and Kimberly Small (CEE)

The Departments

Photo by Ann Haver-Allen Neshante D'Inga Morris ’02, an electrical engineering major, joins the alumni ranks. George Scherer, professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was presented with the 2002 SEAS Distinguished Teacher Award at Class Day.

Civil and Environmental Engineering
Achievement Award of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Concrete Institute: Michael Starc
Sigma Xi Book Award: Rebekkah Wagner
The Christine Trmal Prize in Environmental Engineering: Gregory Wong
David W. Carmichael Prize: Angela Ovecka and Michael Starc
Moles Award: Rebekkah Wagner
W. Mack Angas Prize: Abbie Liel
W. Taylor Thom Jr. Prize: Patrick Shamberger
Arthur F. Buddington Award (from the Department of Geosciences): Patrick Shamberger

Computer Science
Accenture Prize: Joyce Chen, Philip Davidson, and Shubha Nabar
Sigma Xi Book Award: Benjamin Barshied
Computer Science Senior Prize: Philip Davidson
Computer Science Service Award: Amr Kronfol, Rachel Fithian, and Maryam Kamvar

Electrical Engineering
Charles Ira Young Memorial Tablet and Medal: Afsheen Afshar and Thomas Petersen
Computer Engineering Excellence Award: Michael Cohen
G. David Forney Jr. Prize: George Alban Heitz III
John Ogden Bigelow, Jr., Prize in Electrical Engineering: Samuel Edoho-Eket
Peter Mark Prize: Laura Ruppalt
Sigma Xi Book Award: Andrew Lookingbill and Ganesh Ramanarayanan

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Donald Janssen Dike Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Research: Stephen Ahnert, Eric de Braun, and Meghann Lomas; second: Elizabeth Condliffe; third: Justin Vican; honorable mention: Probal Mitra (EE), Flavio Poehlmann, and Christopher Schneider
George Bienkowski Memorial Prize: Justin Vican
John Marshall II Memorial Prize: Mary Dunlop; second: Christopher Schneider; third: Sherwood Forlee; honorable mention: Stephen Ahnert, Eric de Braun, and Meghann Lomas
The Morgan W. McKinzie ’93 Senior Thesis Fund Award: Flavio Poehlmann, and Probal Mitra (EE); second: Kaijen Hsiao; third: James Doyle and Alison Fournier; honorable mention: Marsha van Dalen and Sasha Levy
The Morgan W. McKinzie ’93 Senior Thesis Prize: Robert Cirincione and Marsha van Dalen
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Undergraduate Academic Support Prize: Flavio Poehlmann
Sau-Hai Lam *58 Prize in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering: Flavio Poehlmann and Justin Vican
Sigma Xi Book Award: Justin Vican

Operations Research, Financial Engineering
Dr. Frank S. Castellana Prize in Operations Research: Edward Colburn
The Kenneth H. Condit ’13 Prize: Sarah Cross and James Faust
Professor Ahmet S. Çakmak Prize: Gregory Larkin
Sigma Xi Book Award: Heather Fleming
Applied and Computational Mathematics Independent Project Prize: Imran Chaudhary