Students honored for scholarship and service

Nine CSE undergraduate students received awards at the College of Engineering Academic Awards and Service Recognition Reception on Tuesday, March 25th.

College of Engineering Academic Achievement Awards recognize outstanding academic performance at MSU. They are awarded to the top 3 percent of Juniors and Seniors in each department and Sophomores in the top 1 percent of their class.

The Service Recognition Award is given to a student in the College of Engineering for exemplary service to the MSU community.

Senior award winners

Keith Barber is a member of the Honors College and a section leader in the Spartan Marching Band. He spent a semester studying in Germany and is a recipient of the 2006/2007 Jeffrey & Kathryn Cole International Study Award. Keith has mentored elementary school children, been a peer mentor to CSE students, and served as a student ambassador for the College of Engineering. He is currently a software engineer at Red Cedar Technologies. After graduation, he hopes to pursue a career in industry. This is the third time Keith has been recognized for Distinguished Academic Achievement (2006, 2007, 2008).

Brian Beck performs in the Spartan Marching Band and is a member of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Freshman Scholarship Academic Achievement award. He has worked as a professorial assistant in the department of electrical and computer engineering at MSU. Brian is currently a Web Programmer for MSU MATRIX, the Center for Humane Arts, Letters, & Social Sciences Online. This summer, he will be a software development intern at Microsoft.

Derek Gebhard serves on the Department of Computer Science and Engineering Computing Environment Committee. He has worked as a developer for the Michigan Department of Information Technology and is currently a part time software engineer at TechSmith Corporation in Okemos, Michigan. This summer, he will be a technical intern for the IBM Extreme Blue team. He plans to earn an MBA at Harvard after completing his undergraduate degree at MSU. This is the second time Derek has been recognized for Distinguished Academic Achievement (2007, 2008).

Matthew Newman is a member of MSU Audio Enthusiasts and Engineers (AEE). He is working remotely as an Embedded Systems Software Engineer intern at Colorado vNet, Loveland, CO. This summer, he will start a position with Crestron, the number one company in home automation that also produces touchscreen control systems. This is the third time Matthew has been recognized for Distinguished Academic Achievement (2006, 2007, 2008).

Junior award winners

Kareem Janoudi is an Honors College member and MSU Scholarship recipient. He volunteered as webmaster for the Ingham County Youth Commission for four years and received first place in a statewide essay contest sponsored by the Michigan Municipal League. He is CEO of Order4Free, an online digital marketing business that partners with over 20 digital marketing companies and has recruited over 40,000 publishers. Kareem looks forward to being part of a Java development team this summer at IBM.

Brett Lesnau is a member of the MSU Association for Computing Machinery. His interests include playing guitar, developing Adobe Flash animations/games, and competing in TopCoder tournaments. After graduation, he plans to pursue a career in video game programming. This is the second time Brett has been recognized for academic achievement (2007, 2008).

Sophomore award winners

Bing Shi has a 4.0 GPA. He has been on the Dean’s list three out of three semesters at MSU. He is currently working in the MSU mathematics department, where he has served as an exam monitor, grader, and calculus tutor. This summer, he plans to obtain an internship or co-op in computer science.

Ryan Ley has a 4.0 GPA. He has been on the Dean’s list for three consecutive semesters. He enjoys all team sports, golf, and computer games. He plans to obtain a programming internship this summer.

Service Recognition Award

Tom Lavoy is an Honors College member and MSU Alumni Distinguished Scholar award recipient. He is pursuing a second bachelor’s degree in Computational Math. Tom is Vice President of the MSU Association of Computing Machinery and a member of the MSU Theater student organization. He has been in charge of the CSE department’s weekly donut hour for the last two years and has served as a student recruiter. He has participated in three undergraduate research experiences and has studied abroad in London, England. This summer, Tom will be an intern at Microsoft.

(Date Posted: 2008-03-26)