Engineering Students Awarded Scholarships from Tau Beta Pi

Utah State University student Joshua R. Templin received a $10,000 graduate fellowship from Tau Beta Pi, the world’s largest engineering honor society. Manuel I. Diaz Martinez received $2,000 from the same organization for his senior year of undergraduate studies.


Templin is an electrical engineering student and one of 35 in the nation to receive the honor for the 2008-2009 academic year. The graduate fellowship allows Templin to continue studies at USU in the area of electrical engineering, where he will focus on researching the use of reconfigurable computing systems and their use in cognitive radio applications.   

 

Templin applied for the fellowship by submitting a transcript, a character essay, a plan for graduate schooling, a list of extracurricular activities and service and two faculty recommendations.

“I feel honored to have been considered for this prestigious fellowship,” Templin said. 

 

Templin is currently in a leadership position in the USU Gamma Chapter of Tau Beta Pi. He holds a 3.97 GPA and is first in his class in USU’s department of electrical and computer engineering.

Diaz Martinez is a civil and environmental engineering student and one of 145 senior engineering students in the nation to receive the honor. He is pursuing a dual major in civil engineering and math. Diaz Martinez is from the Dominican Republic and one of several students sponsored by his country to study at USU.

 

“I feel very fortunate to receive the Tau Beta Pi Fellowship,” said Diaz Martinez. “I have worked hard to achieve my goals and this fellowship is a reminder of my commitment as well as a reminder to continue to work hard.”   

 

Tau Beta Pi fellowships are awarded on the basis of high scholarship, campus leadership and service and the promise of future contributions to the engineering profession. Templin is the only graduate fellowship recipient from the state of Utah and is a Tau Beta Pi Fife Fellow, named in honor of the father of late Tau Beta Pi member William Fife. Diaz Martinez is a Record Scholarship Tau Beta Pi Scholar. The Record Scholarships commemorate the late Leroy A. Record, a Tau Beta Pi member whose bequest has provided scholarship funds since 2001.

 

“These are two examples of the great students that are part of the USU engineering program,” said Scott Hinton, dean of the College of Engineering. “We are very proud of their accomplishments.”

 

Tau Beta Pi was founded at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania in 1885. The society has collegiate chapters at 234 engineering colleges in the United States and has initiated nearly 500,000 members in its 123 year history.

 

For more information visit the Tau Beta Pi Web site.

Contacts: Joshua Templin [j.templin@aggiemail.usu.edu]
Manuel Diaz Martinez [m.diaz@aggiemail.usu.edu]
Scott Hinton, 435-797-2775
Pat McDaniel, Tau Beta Pi Publicity Chair, 865-546-4578