Engineering Scholarship Winners

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StraightForward Media is proud to announce that the winner of our 1st Quarter, 2008, Engineering Scholarship is Joshua Chynoweth . "My childhood dream was to be an engineer and inventor. However, becoming an engineer was a challenge – I grew up on a Mexican ranch without any formal education until starting high school in Texas at age 15. School was never easy, but I studied at Arizona State, completing over fifty credits in engineering classes. With my background, I thrive in problem-solving questions in low resource settings like the developing world, where materials are limited, or at a start-up company, where cost is an issue. My projects include starting a film production company from scratch, constructing and running a microbiology lab for research in Tanzania, and building a portable incubator for water quality assessments in Papua New Guinea. Now, eight years after concluding my initial studies in engineering, I have returned to finish my studies in engineering, and am currently pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering at UCLA."
Read an excerpt from Joshua's winning essay here.
StraightForward Media is proud to announce that the winner of our 3rd Quarter, 2007, Engineering Scholarship is Nickalus Khan . "My name is Nickalus Khan. I am a Senior Civil Engineering Major pursuing also a degree in Biology and Chemistry. I have plans to attend medical school in the Fall of 2009. I am interested in using my engineering background to apply to biological and medical problems. Within Civil Engineering I am exclusively interested in Environmental and Structural topics. I am interested in Civil Engineering because my father was a Civil Engineer and he helped me to achieve a good mathematics background. He also helped me to get introduced to the various fields of Civil Engineering at a young age. I think that Engineering is a great field because it improves society as a whole, and solving 3rd order Differential Equations are a good way to pass the time! Personally, I have served as the Vice President for my fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and participate in many other campus organizations. I enjoy traveling, playing basketball, hiking and golf."
Read an excerpt from Nickalus' winning essay here.
2nd Quarter, 2007 StraightForward Media is proud to announce that the winner of our 2nd Quarter, 2007, Engineering Scholarship is Christopher Veto . Christopher plans to either study at the Ira A. Fulton School of engineering at the Arizona State University’s Barrett Honors College -- working with the NASA internship program for a BSE in aerospace -- or study engineering as part of an integrated engineering and law program at The George Washington University to pursue the interests of his greatest role model: Benjamin Franklin. An Eagle Scout and two-year varsity starter as Hamilton High School’s offensive center, Christopher helped contribute to a 5A DI State Championship his junior year. As a senior, he was named first team All-Region, second team All-Tribune, and All-State Honorable Mention by the Arizona Republic. He has further been named Old Spice’s Red Zone Player of the Year and was selected as a team captain his senior year against Chandler High School, a cross-town rival, for the Fiesta Region Championship. Christopher is an AP Scholar, earning all A’s since first grade; he is ranked 8th in his class of 720 with a GPA of 4.66 and takes great pleasure in leading as President of his National Honors Society -- helping the less fortunate through programs like ICAN’s backpack drive. He additionally holds the position of President for both his school’s state runner-up “We the People” Citizen and Constitution team as wells as his school’s Link Crew freshman transition program. Christopher enjoys spending his free time volunteering locally through Chandler Regional Hospital, Mayor’s Youth Advisory Commission, and Habitat for Humanity. He has also spent a portion of his summer helping younger Huskies to hone their football skills and strengthen their work ethic. Christopher fully acquiesces to the following belief: individuals in search of their identity should ultimately find themselves by becoming lost in the service of others.
Read an excerpt from Christopher's winning essay here.
1st Quarter, 2007 StraightForward Media is proud to announce that the winner of our 1st Quarter, 2007, Engineering Scholarship is Brad Harken. Brad Harken is a 2007 graduate of Grundy Center High School, Grundy Center, Iowa. He is enrolled as a freshman in the engineering program at the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is in the freshman Fessendon Honors Engineering Study program. He is planning to major in civil engineering, with an emphasis in environmental engineering.
Read an excerpt from Brad's winning essay here.
StraightForward Media is proud to announce that the winner of our 4th Quarter, 2006, Engineering Scholarship is Antonia Rivera. "My hometown is Milwaukee, WI. I received my BS degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I am still at UW-Madison now pursuing my PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering with an emphasis in Human Factors and Safety. My research instrests are currently specific to patient safety. This is my first year of grad school, but as I continue on in my graduate career, I have three goals I want to accomplish before I gruaduate: 1) Learn how to conduct a quality research study; 2) Improve on communicating my findings through presentations, journals and teaching; and 3) Be a good role model to young women!"
Read an excerpt from Antonia's winning essay here.
3rd Quarter, 2006 StraightForward Media is proud to announce that the winner of our 3rd Quarter, 2006, Engineering Scholarship is Sikiru Adesina. "I was born in West Africa, Nigeria on October 20th 1989. I was born in Ogbomosho village in Oyo state but my family soon moved to the city of Lagos. My father’s name is Wale Adesina, he is my hero. I moved to America in 2001. I now hope to go to college to pursue a career in Engineering. I am a person who is goal oriented and refuses to fail. I hope that my drive will aid me in accomplishing my goals like it has done for me in the past.". Bradley is currently a freshman at Penn State Behernd in the Plastics Engineering program.
Read an excerpt from Sikiru's winning essay here.
2nd Quarter, 2006 StraightForward Media is proud to announce that the winner of our 2nd Quarter, 2006, Engineering Scholarship is Bradley Beers. Bradley is currently a freshman at Penn State Behernd in the Plastics Engineering program.
"I enjoy Playing Tuba in the concert and pep bands and with my family at Tuba Christmas events. Dungeons and dragons with my friends is always a good time, as are evenings at campus improvisational theater. I also enjoy creating wire wrap jewelry for my friends between my classes. I like to grow my hair for locks of love and have donated several times and hope to do so again before I follow family trends for hair loss." Read an excerpt from Bradley's winning essay here.
1st Quarter, 2006 StraightForward Media is proud to announce that the winner of the 1st Quarter, 2006, Engineering Scholarship is Serena Yeoung.
"I have strong interests in science and engineering and will enroll as an engineering student. My major could be chemical (CHE) or electrical and computer engineering (ECE), but at this point I lean more toward to the former. CHE offers diverse career opportunities ranging from petroleum, plastics, agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, food processing, aerospace, biomedical, genetic engineering, electronics, to robotics." Read an excerpt from Serena's winning essay here.

4th Quarter, 2005

She currently attends Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA, and plans to receive a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Science and Mechanics with a concentration in Biomechanics. "Afterwards, I will participate in the Virginia Tech and Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences to receive my master’s degree. After finishing my education, I plan to pursue a career as an orthopedic bioengineer and be on a research team to develop artificial biomaterials. In my spare time, I enjoy playing soccer and basketball with my friends, doing community service through Circle K International, listening to music, and being involved with my church on campus, New Life Campus Fellowship. "

Please click here to read an excerpt from Melina's winning essay.

3rd Quarter, 2005

"The idea to pursue a degree in engineering came to me while I was enlisted in the US Air Force. My job presented many technical and mechanical problems that often times required an on-the-spot solution, and I found that I loved the challenge of solving problems and now feel that engineering is something that I could do great in."

Please click here to read an excerpt from Patrick's winning essay.

2nd Quarter, 2005

Kristina is married and a new mother. After graduating from Cal Poly, she plans on pursuing a graduate degree and hopes to work for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA. Her main interest is the building of colonies in space and on the Moon. After finishing college, she also plans to apply for the astronaut program and be the first Hungarian woman in space.

Please click here to read an excerpt from Kristina's winning essay.

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