The Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE) held an awards presentation and ice cream social on May 15 in the Chipman Room. Professor David K. Roylance, executive officer of the department, presented the awards on behalf of department head Thomas W. Eagar, who was unavailable.
The award for best senior thesis went to Patrick R. LeClair of New Effington, SD. Nicole D. Gerrish, a senior from Canton, MA, won an award for best internship report by a student in the Course III-B degree program, which includes a year and a summer of cooperative work experience. Honorable mention for that award went to Merideth A. Rising, a senior from Santa Fe, NM.
Benjamin P. Nunes, a senior from Narragansett, RI, won the department's Outstanding Student Award. Certificates of honor for perfect 5.0 grade-point averages were presented to Nicole D. Gerrish; Wendy L. Mao, a senior from Fairfax, VA; Benjamin P. Nunes; and Sara L. Ransom, a graduate student from Princeton Junction, NJ.
The award for Outstanding Service to the MIT Community was won by William D. Perez of Philadelphia. While an undergraduate, he was an officer and active member of the MIT chapter of the Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers, a volunteer tutor at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and an MIT tour guide, among other activities. The award for Outstanding Service to the DMSE Community went to Ryan J. Kershner, a senior from Williams-burg, VA.
The John Wulff Award for Excellence in Teaching was presented to postdoctoral associate David E. Woolley, a teaching assistant for 3.20 (Materials at Equilibrium), a new 15-unit subject on thermodynamics required as part of the doctoral program core.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on June 3, 1998.
