Winning Big

| April 19, 2018 

USC Viterbi faculty, students receive multiple awards at the 2018 OCEC Awards and Honors Banquet.

The USC Viterbi School of Engineering cohort at the annual awards event. Photo/Courtesy of Jim Moore

More than a dozen USC Viterbi students and faculty members won awards at the 2018 Orange County Engineering Council (OCEC) Honors and Awards Banquet. Taking place on February 17 in Santa Ana, Calif., the event kicked off this year’s National Engineers Week.

Awards

Outstanding Engineering Student Award

Ahmed Mohamed, M.S. Petroleum Engineering (Smart Oilfield Technologies) ’18

Outstanding Young Engineer Award

Stacey D. Finley, Gordon S. Marshall Early Career Chair, Gabilan Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Daniel L. McCurry, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Outstanding Engineering Merit Award

Yong Chen, Associate Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Michelle Povinelli, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering-Electrophysics and Physics and Astronomy

Distinguished Engineering Merit Award

Nenad Medvidović, Director of the USC Center for Systems and Software Engineering (USC-CSSE), Professor of Computer Science

Alice C. Parker, Dean’s Professor of Electrical Engineering and Professor of Electrical Engineering-Systems

Outstanding Educator Award

Malancha Gupta, Jack Munushian Early Career Chair and Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Chemistry

Charles Radovich, Senior Lecturer of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Han Wang, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering-Electrophysics

James E. Ballinger Engineer of the Year Award (top award winner)

Iraj Ershaghi, Omar B. Milligan Professor of Petroleum Engineering and Director of the USC Petroleum Engineering Program

Winning Thoughts

On his Outstanding Engineering Student Award, Ahmed Mohamed MS PTE ’18 said: “This award absolutely boosted my self-confidence in my ability to connect with people in a larger-scale, help others and give back to the community, and that I can have a positive impact on this world.”

On receiving a top award, the James E. Ballinger Engineer of the Year, Ershaghi was proud to be recognized by engineers from all fields. “The majority of past awards and recognitions that I have been fortunate to receive over the years have been from the Society of Petroleum Engineers – my primary professional society,” Ershaghi said. “Receiving this Ballinger award is particularly a special honor for me as OCEC represents diverse fields of engineering and engineering leaders in Southern California.”

To view photos from the event, please visit the Flickr album.

About the OCEC Awards Banquet

The OCEC Honors and Awards Banquet recognizes the best of the best engineers, scientists, educators, students and projects from engineering and scientific corporations, professional societies, educational institutions, governmental agencies, STEM Program affiliates and individuals dedicated to serve the engineering profession, in and around Orange County. This year, OCEC presented more than 50 awards to outstanding individuals as well as projects.This year’s event sponsors included AECOM, Aeroplex, Air Liquide, T-Y-LIN, HUITT-ZOLLARS, PSOMAS, NMG Geotechnical, Inc., SAME, and USC.

Published on April 19th, 2018

Last updated on November 27th, 2024

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