2024 ECE Undergraduate Awards Announced

The Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department congratulates the following 2024 Honors and Awards recipients for excellence in academics, leadership, and service across all disciplines of the college:

The ECE Chair’s Award in Computer Engineering in recognition of outstanding academic performance is awarded to Lincoln Doney, Ezana Kebede, and Michael Orlosky.

Lincoln Doney is a senior computer engineering student who is additionally pursuing degrees in physics and mathematics. He has volunteered for outreach events for the greater College Park area aimed at getting underrepresented kids into STEM such as Physics is Phun and Maryland Day. He has volunteered for free tutoring programs, and has been a teaching assistant for CMSC106: Introduction to C Programming and PHYS401/402: Quantum Mechanics 1/2. Lincoln has been accepted to the University of Colorado Boulder for graduate school to pursue a Ph.D. in condensed matter physics, focusing on superconductivity research.

Ezana Kebede is a senior computer engineering student with a 3.98 GPA. He is a member of the University Honors program, Black Engineer Society, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He is a Northrop Grumman Engineer Scholar and has interned at Northrop Grumman for two summers. This past summer, Ezana interned as a software engineer at Google. After graduation, Ezana will be working full-time as a software engineer.

Michael Orlosky is a senior computer engineering student with a 3.935 GPA. He is a member of the University Honors program and studied abroad at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in 2023. In the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honors Society, he actively participates in fundraising and community service. He completed a Digital System Design Capstone and has also internships with Lockheed Martin and AWS. Michael has accepted a job as a Software Engineer at Microsoft and wants to explore graduate school in computer science.

The ECE Chair’s Award in Electrical Engineering in recognition of outstanding academic performance is awarded to Scott Fleischmann, David Kirkpatrick, and Elijah Taeckens.

Scott Fleischmann is a senior electrical engineering student. He is a member of the Gemstone Honors Program, where his team is researching direct laser writing to create nanoscale biodegradable capsules. Scott is also a member of the QUEST Honors Program. In Engineers Without Borders, Scott is currently the Workshop Lead and was previously the Solar Pump Lead, helping to supply a community in rural Nicaragua with reliable access to clean water. He has been an undergraduate teaching fellow for the past six semesters and has been inducted into the Omicron Delta Kappa leadership honor society.

David Kirkpatrick is a senior electrical engineering student. He attended Hagerstown Community College prior to attending the University of Maryland. There, he worked as a peer tutor and earned his Associate in Engineering Science degree. He interned at the University of Maryland Aerospace Engineering Department’s Motion and Teaming Lab through the Maryland Space Grant’s Summer Internship program. After transferring to the University of Maryland, he continued working with the Motion and Teaming Lab and served as an undergraduate teaching fellow for Intermediate Programming Concepts for Engineers.

Elijah Taeckens is a senior electrical engineering student and Banneker-Key Scholar. He works as an undergraduate researcher in the lab of Dr. Sahil Shah, where he develops algorithms that decode neural signals to enable more intuitive control of prosthetics for people with spinal cord injuries. He is also a member of a Gemstone Honors Research team studying the flight patterns of bees and works as a tutor for the ECE department. After graduation, Eli will begin working on his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University and studying the computations performed by the brain during motor control.

The ECE Outstanding Academic Performance Award in recognition of outstanding academic performance as a junior is awarded to Nicholas Venginickal for electrical engineering and Lawrence Rhoads for computer engineering.

Nicholas Venginickal is a junior electrical engineering student with a 4.0 GPA and is a member of the University Honors program. In the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space club, he is the avionics lead, working on a cube-satellite payload that will launch into space with the US Naval Academy. Nicholas is an electrical and computer engineering peer mentor for first-year undergraduate students and works as a teaching assistant for ENEE101.

Lawrence Rhoads is a junior computer engineering student with a minor in robotics and autonomous systems. He has a passion for robotics and outside of class is part of Robotics @ Maryland, the university’s student robotics team. Lawrence currently works as an intern at Northrop Grumman near Baltimore. Outside of school, he spends much of his time outside taking photos of wildlife.

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Service Award for graduating seniors who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and service to both their fellow students and the department is awarded to Justin Cargiulo and Warren Stewart.

Justin Cargiulo is a senior electrical engineering student researching explainability and fairness in machine learning. In the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Justin has served on the Undergraduate Affairs Committee and Departmental Council and spent four semesters as an undergraduate teaching fellow. He spent the fall semester as a recruiting assistant for the department, helping to recruit new teaching fellows for the spring semester. Next year, Justin will be working full-time as an electrical engineer while pursuing a Master’s degree in data science.

Warren Stewart is a senior electrical engineering student with a 3.98 GPA. He is in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Honors Program and a member of Team Transport in the Gemstone Honors Program. He has been an undergraduate teaching fellow for Intermediate Programming, Digital Logic, and Electric Circuits and a student member of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Warren is involved in undergraduate research, as well as being a hiking and camping trip leader for the Terrapin Trail Club. He plans to apply his knowledge of electronics in the medical device industry after graduating.

The Center for Minorities in Science and Engineering Service Award is presented to Friedrich Alvarez in recognition of dedicated service to the Center for Minorities in Science and Engineering through commitment to promoting diversity in engineering in the college, the university community, and through the Center’s recruitment, outreach, and retention programs.

Friedrich Alvarez is an electrical engineering student pursuing a double minor in robotics and project management. He is a member of the LSAMP Bridge 2022 cohort and VIRTUS program. Friedrich is a program assistant for the CMSE Bridge 2023 cohort and is also a mentor and tutor for CMSE. As a member of IEEE, Friedrich leads a collaborative project between IEEE and WIE for the WIE Are Makers program. He is an electrical member of the Robotics @ Maryland sister club, Terraformers, which aims at building and competing in international Mars Rover competitions.

The Women in Engineering Leadership Award for engineering students who have demonstrated leadership, engagement, and impact to Women in Engineering Program initiatives and student organizations is awarded to Sierra Raspa.

Sierra Raspa is a fourth-year student studying mechanical and electrical engineering. She is a member of the Gemstone Honors Program where she is leading a research team working on swarm robotics. She was a teaching fellow for Introduction to Engineering Design and Mechanics I, and is now a teaching fellow for Electric Circuits in the ECE Department. She has interned at NASA Goddard, Quantum Space, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Sierra also collaborated with the Women in Engineering Program to create and lead the first-ever WIE Code virtual coding bootcamp in order to help incoming first-year students feel more prepared for their coding journeys.

The Dinah Berman Memorial Award, presented to a third-year engineering student who has combined academic excellence with demonstrated leadership or service to the Clark School, is awarded to Owen Mank.

Owen Mank is a junior electrical engineer with a 3.92 GPA. He is a member of the Gemstone Honors Program, Flexus and Virtus, Banneker Key, and is in the leadership of the University’s IEEE student branch. In Gemstone, he leads the electrical design of Team SCOOT’s intelligent knee scooter and acts as a peer mentor. In the Flexus and Virtus program, Owen serves as a facilitator and educator for the program’s final class. In IEEE, he has been designing a relaxing lounge for students to study in and a process for students to access IEEE’s technical equipment for personal and academic use.

Published April 26, 2024