Student Awards- Spring 2019

Three years ago, I transferred to Boise State University from a college in my home state of Alaska without realizing how impactful the BSU engineering community would be to me. Over the past few years, I have integrated myself within a department of dedicated professors and peers devoted to teaching and learning. I feel as though the engineering building has become a second home – not just because of the amount of time I spend there; but because the people I am surrounded by within the building support and encourage the pursuit of greatness through failures and successes. After graduation, I will continue my education at Boise State University by earning a masters degree in mechanical engineering. I will be advised by Dr. Trevor Lujan in the Northwest Tissue Mechanics lab. I would like to greatly thank my professors and the graduating class for giving me this incredible award and recognition.

I entered Boise State in the fall of 2015 and was accepted to the college of engineering in 2017. After entering the college of engineering, I was accepted to Tau Beta Pi (TBP) the engineering honor society and become the president of the chapter. While I was president of TBP the number of initiates has more than doubled compared to previous semesters and we will be initiating electrical engineering students for the first time in recent history. I planned and managed the district conference for TBP, a first in Boise State history. I was also able to be part of the initial rollout of the peer educator program. This program allows upperclassmen to assist students with classwork while also cultivating cross semester unity and a sense community within COEN.

I decided I wanted to attend Boise State when I was in seventh grade strictly because of the blue turf field. But I realized after graduating high school that BSU had so much more to offer. I immediately became an active member of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). After my first year, I was elected to the Treasurer position and had the opportunity to work on an outreach project that helps children with disabilities become more active through electrically and structurally modified power wheels cars. I continued in SWE as the President during my junior and senior years. This opportunity
allowed me to learn as a leader how to prioritize, remain organized, and solve problems. I realized coordinating and creating learning opportunities for the members of the club are my most favorite parts of being a leader. During this time, I was also a member of the Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering student advisory board where I contributed to the development of future curricula.

This year I worked to create a committee on campus to encourage artwork in the engineering buildings. With the help of incredible faculty members, I founded the Art in Engineering Committee & Pop-Up Gallery to mix visual arts into the engineering scene while beautifying a common student space.

After graduation, I’ll be taking a well-earned break from my studies and traveling to a national park or two. I hope to find a position at a company that challenges me and piques my interest in new product development and the outdoors.

Bradley Henderson is an accelerated master’s student who has worked as an academic researcher for the last two years studying the biomechanics of soft tissue through the Northwest Tissue Mechanics laboratory. In his free time, he enjoys watching baseball and being out in nature. Bradley will be continuing his education by completing his master’s degree in 2020 at Boise State University.

I have been a student at Boise State for five years working on my Mechanical Engineering Bachelors with a Biomedical Minor. It was no easy venture. Luckily, the professors were more than willing to answer all my questions and help me understand the content. Alongside school, I worked at BSU as a PE for ME 350, Mechanics of Materials, for several semesters. I also served as the treasurer for SWE, Society of Women Engineering, for a school year. Both ventures gifted me a variety of educational and fun experiences.

Outside of school, I enjoy camping in Idaho’s surrounding mountains, drawing, and playing my Ukulele. I also enjoy reading a good fictional book, a break from thinking so hard can be a blessing.

After graduation, I plan on attending medical school at Loma Linda University, where I have already been accepted and will be starting this July. My dream job includes being a surgeon and working with engineers on creating new medical devices that could help save lives.

• 2019 Boise State Top Ten Scholar
• Spring 2019 Commencement Speaker
• 2019 Spirit of Boise State Award
• 2019 International Student Award

Born in Ethiopia, I came to the USA four years ago to attend Boise State University. I left home with the hope to learn the best of engineering to expand industries in Ethiopia. I started out my career as a research assistant in the Computational Biosciences Laboratory at Boise State. After presenting my work on Computational Evaluation of Patellar Dislocation in a High-Risk Population, I joined the Robot Control Laboratory to learn more about automation and robotics. Currently, I am working on Cooperative Manipulation of Polygonal Objects with Nonholonomic Wheeled Mobile Robots.

Majority of my Boise State experiences involve the time I spent working as a learning assistant and peer educator. I have had the privilege of helping over 350 students in many engineering math courses over the years. The connections I have made over this experience have been the most valuable to me. I am a member of the Society of Women Engineers, Phi Eta Sigma honor society and Tau Beta Pi Engineering honor society.