Jessica Yuan - Being extremely curious about humanity's potential in outer space, Jessica is dedicated to exploring the engineering foundation that could lead us to that future. In the Mars City State Contest, her team wrote a 20-page proposal of building a 1-million people settlement, and were chosen as one of the ten Finalists out of 176 international teams to present at the 23rd Mars Society Convention. Currently pursuing a Mechanical Engineering degree, Jessica hopes to hone her technical expertise and communication skills not only through the rigorous coursework, but also through extracurricular activities such as leading student design teams.
Allison Van Horn - Allison is a fourth-year student at Oregon State University pursuing a double major in honors mechanical engineering and honors manufacturing engineering. During school, Allison dedicates her time to leadership roles in a variety of extracurricular activities, including as the Chair of the Mechanical, Industrial, & Manufacturing Engineering Student Advisory Board; VP of Marketing & Communications for the Student Alumni Ambassadors; and SWEsters Ambassador for the Society of Women Engineers. This spring and summer, she interned at Tesla as a Manufacturing Engineering Intern and at Intel as a Project Manager Intern. In the future, she hopes to use her engineering knowledge to launch a sustainable tech company and make a positive impact on the environment.
Nicole Beautz - Nicole decided to have an impact on others by majoring in biomedical engineering where she could improve the lives of people across the world through the medical device industry. Throughout college Nicole has been heavily involved on campus through student organizations and holds multiple leadership positions. She is currently the Vice President of the Biomedical Engineering Society, an ambassador for the Society of Women Engineers, and the President and Founder of Alpha Omega Epsilon at UTK. Last year she worked on the production floor for Procter and Gamble as a manufacturing intern, which led her to a quality engineering position with Boston Scientific for this summer. She plans on applying to a two-year dual MBA and MS Engineering program at UTK in order to learn the business perspective needed in industry as well as the technical. In the coming years, Nicole strives to use her biomedical engineering degree in the medical device industry, inventing and manufacturing the top medical solutions to everyday health problems.
Jillian LaTour - Beyond being a member of Alpha Omega Epsilon Sigma chapter, Jillian is a product manager for GT Bits of Good, HackGT organizer, and student assistant in the College of Computing. Jillian will also be working remotely at Microsoft this summer as a software engineer intern!
Elizabeth Benos - At Virginia Tech, Elizabeth is studying Industrial and Systems Engineering with a focus on business and green engineering. Outside of academics, she has contributed to and been supported by the community of female engineers in Alpha Omega Epsilon, among other organizations. Professionally, Elizabeth has interned for Milliken & Co. and PepsiCo, roles which have helped her understand industrial design, manufacturing processes, and global supply chain management. This upcoming summer, she plans to build on these experiences as a Management Rotation Program Intern at Capital One. With her degree, she aspires to earn the title of Professional Engineer and continue to deploy the leadership and service skills that she has honed at Virginia Tech. Through maintaining her commitment to mentorship, especially for other women in STEM, she hopes to help others gain access to the learning community that has made her the leader and engineer she is today. Elizabeth is thankful for this award and scholarship because it helps to ensure that she can continue to contribute in and beyond the classroom, and helps open the door to becoming a female STEM leader.
Gabrielle Koepke - Gabrielle began studying electrical engineering when she was sixteen. Her top achievements have been working on a team to build a large-scale 3D printer, scheduling industry tours as president of the student IEEE chapter, and scoring a 104% in calculus due to extra credit. Her goal is to use engineering to solve problems with the Internet of Things and Web 3.0, specifically relating to the physical structures behind these systems.
Emily Greaney - As a student at Syracuse University, Emily has been fortunate to take advantage of great academic, extracurricular, and social opportunities. These include achievements such as contributing to cutting edge research in cyber-manufacturing and turbulence (and even being published on some papers!), serving on top student advisory panels to the Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Dean of Students at SU, and the Vice President of the Student Experience at SU, and being a vocal advocate for more women to join STEM related fields (through groups such as A. Ω. E). In addition, after obtaining her bachelors and master’s degree from Syracuse University, Emily would like to enter either the energy or aerospace sectors and work in industry. Furthermore, she plans to obtain her Professional Engineer’s license and continue to work in industry.
Darlene Martinez - As a child of immigrant parents and a first generation student I aspire to become someone greater in life and prove that my mother's sacrifices were worth it. I am pursuing a career in Mechanical Engineering. I aspire to add a greater value to human life through engineering, as I want to solve the most impactful problems, like generating clean energy, detecting cancer, improving food security, and facilitating clean water access. I have started to explore by participating in events like robotic competition, or designing objects on solid works. As well as collaboratively working with a team to design, build, code, and test a robot for a given mission. I am currently working as a part time technician at AdoreMe services where I troubleshoot and repair robot/automation system faults.
Noa Korneev - I am a computer science and neuroscience major, looking forward to revolutionize the AI world. I am part of society of women engineers on campus, an analyst at MIT Capital Partners and an undergrad researcher at CSAIL. Before MIT, I worked at the Israeli space center for a few years, leading satllelites' technology implementation and development.
Sydney Bradshaw - My top achievements include the group Project Lead the Way capstone project that won third place in Southington High's Senior Knight and first place at Skills 21 expo fest in the Engineering - Teams category and being installed as an active sister of Alpha Omega Epsilon and being appointed recruitment chair for the chapter. My goals for my degree are to become a practicing engineer that can add value to the communities I am working in, and bring STEM education to the younger generations and provide learning opportunities for children who do not have STEM focused classes. It is my goal to inspire children and let them know they can do anything they set their minds to.
Manasa Akella - I hope to use my engineering degree to better the community around me. I am minoring in robotics and automation and the my hope is to use my degree to do research with personal assistant robotics and create robots for those who require assisted living technology. My degree is also the first step to helping become a role model for other young women interested in the STEM fields. As an alumnae of the FIRST Robotics programs I am very dedicated to giving back to the program that helped me get to where I am today. I volunteer and help coach many FIRST teams and my focus is on getting other young women involved in programs like this and helping them find their passion for Science, Technology, and Engineering.
Renee Saraka - During my time studying in an accelerated chemical engineering BS/MS program at Drexel University, I've been a part of Alpha Omega Epsilon, Beta Mu, the student chapter of AIChE, the Undergraduate Research Fellows program, as well as Career Development Peer Mentor. In my senior year, I was named the 2021 Outstanding BS/MS Student for the College of Engineering, and awarded the 2020 Chemical and Biological Engineering Undergraduate Achievement Award. After completing my degrees, I plan to work in the chemical industry and continue to support women in STEM, both my co-workers, but also high school and college students. I hope to hold a technical role in chemical engineering for most of my career.
Hailey Joan Preston - While at Cal Poly, Hailey has kept busy with helping to plan the civil conference PSWC 2019, and holding executive positions for the past 2 years for the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (secretary and president) and Alpha Omega Epsilon (treasurer and president). She plans to finish her undergrad in civil engineering in June of 2021, and is currently applying to both the Cal Poly Civil and Fire Protection Engineering master programs. Hailey’s plan is to complete both masters by June 2023 and hoping to go into structural fire protection engineering, and potentially urban/wildfire interface. She hopes to be able to design buildings that are better able to withstand fire and help protect communities from wildfire.
Vondenkamp Family Scholarship ($500)
Raven Warner - Currently matriculating as a junior at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, majoring in Computer Science and minoring in STEM Education through UABTeach, my name is Raven Warner. During my academic journey at UAB, I have had the opportunity to engage in a wide range of organizations and community involvement that has allowed me to diversify my range of perspective and give me insight into the depth of the "real world" when it comes to interacting with others, taking a deep dive into the technical reality of computer science, and growing in my ability to collaborate and lead alongside various individuals differing from myself in a number of ways. While embracing these unique, yet highly beneficial experiences, I have also been able to interact with various government and corporate agencies via internships/co-op programs with NASA (Software Development Student Trainee), U.S Department of Defense (Front-End Development Co-op), Bastion Technologies, Inc. (Software Engineering Intern) and Daikin America (Database Development). Through these roles, I have been able to gain an influx of knowledge within the computer science sector, yet also been able to grow in gaining genuine workforce skills that are simply unattainable in the classroom setting. Alongside my computer science experience, I have taken the time to interact with the UAB Honors College, serving as a SMART Leader, helping younger students acclimate themselves to our campus; I have also taken on the role of Programming Chair within my local UAB Women in STEM organization that aids to benefit the women of UAB with excelling in their STEM-based fields. Incorporating a more social and community service driven aspect into my technical driven experiences, I also am an active member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. where I serve as the Chaplain and Storage Chair; as an organization, we take time to serve the community through our national initiatives such as Operation Bookbag (school supply drive for students) and SWIM1922 (diversifying the sport of swimming).
