Each year the SET dean's office presents awards to thank students, faculty and staff for efforts that contribute to the school's success.
Congratulations to all who were nominated!
Nominate Someone
To nominate a student, faculty or staff member, prepare a short statement of how they go above and beyond their daily duties, provide one or two examples, and then fill out this form:
Award descriptions
The purpose of this endowment shall be to provide funding for a merit-based, monetary award for students in the School of Engineering and Technology at the University of Washington Tacoma. With a preference that the award be directly tied to student examples of innovative solutions to real world problems. The goal of this endowment is to reward and recognize students from the School of Engineering and Technology for implementing innovative solutions to business, social or environmental problems.
Nominate a student
2022 nominations are now closed.
For a staff member or a team for service above and beyond their day-to-day job duties. Qualities of the staff member or team receiving this award include resourcefulness, innovation, creativity, and excellence and integrity in workplace relationships, interactions, and decision-making.
Nominate a staff member
2022 nominations are now closed.
Awarded to a SET faculty for excellence in teaching.
Nominate a SET faculty member
2022 nominations are now closed.
The School of Engineering & Technology Outstanding Student Leadership Award honors an undergraduate or graduate student who exemplifies outstanding leadership qualities; demonstrates a commitment to serving the University of Washington, the Tacoma community, and/or their scholarly or professional community; and actively seeks opportunities to advocate for UW's values of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The School of Engineering & Technology Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award recognizes an undergraduate student who excels in research and scholarship. Such a student shows remarkable innovation, creativity, and insight; effective writing skills and proficiency in the academic writing genres; has participated in scholarly pursuits that will benefit the University of Washington and the broader scientific community; and shows promise for continuing their education into the graduate-level.
The School of Engineering & Technology Outstanding Graduate Research Award recognizes a graduate student who excels in research and scholarship. Such a student shows remarkable innovation, creativity, and insight; effective writing skills and proficiency in the academic writing genres; has participated in scholarly pursuits that will benefit the University of Washington and the broader scientific community.
This year's recipients
Andrew and Julie Fry Innovation Award recipients: Joseph Casebeer and Natalie Hong
Joseph Casebeer, BSCES '22, has worked diligently to promote entrepreneurship within SET and has consistently brought in industry representatives and company founders to the campus to speak with the students. He kept the SET Entrepreneurs Club moving forward through the pandemic and has provided momentum to propel it into next year, promoting membership across the campus, including students from other disciplines. All while building his green solution platform Terrestrious.
Recent graduate Natalie Hong, BSCSS '22, is a shining example of students involved in research and development at the undergraduate level having real world impact Undergraduate student work with our entrepreneurial faculty is fundamental to building out innovative business solutions that grow companies and the economy. Natalie is highly motivated and eager to learn new skills. She often volunteers to do more work by joining new projects. She picks up new skills quickly, takes feedback seriously and works well with other interns.
SET Staff Award recipient: Marife Tabao
Marife Tabao, Program Coordinator, is one of the most dedicated people on the SET staff and is always eager to help and support new staff, continuing staff, faculty, and students with a smile on her face. She conducts her work from a place of care, empathy, and passion for higher education and student success, and serves as a touchpoint for everyone in SET and always helps guide you to the correct answer.
SET Faculty Teaching Award recipient: Dr. Mike McCourt
Mike McCourt, Assistant Professor in Electrical Engineering, is an excellent teacher who has demonstrated his abilities both inside and outside of the classroom. He shows passion for every aspect of teaching and he is committed to the success of his students. He works to extend the learning experience for students beyond the classroom through hands-on projects and research and his students appreciate his approach to teaching which includes well organized lectures and an enthusiasm for the topics he teaches. "Teaching is his gift."
Outstanding Leadership Award recipients: Heather Finch, Lourdes Tolmich, James Wedum
Heather Finch, BSCSS '22, is active in RSO’s such as Women in Computer Science (WiCS) and HusciiCoding club and she held a senator position at the campus level. She is a high achieving student and a great role model for the other students.
Lourdes Tolmich, MCL '22, has a long and successful career in information technology and cybersecurity ahead of her. She has exhibited professional behavior and a commitment to learning and success in her career, exceptional leadership skills, communication abilities and personal fortitude.
James Wedum, BSCSS/BSCES '22, represents multiple programs in SET. He is a motivated student who wants to work on assistive robotics in the future. He is starting a Ph.D. program in Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin Madison in the fall where he will continue to be a leader in his future education and future career.
Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award recipient: Kumiko Dunn
Kumiko Dunn, BSCSS '22, is always prepared and asks intellectually stimulating questions. She puts in major effort in researching the background and learning technical skills for the project, and is a star in undergraduate research.
Outstanding Graduate Research Award recipients: Sikha Pentyala, Shishir Reddy
Since joining UWT as a graduate student in 2019, Sikha Pentyala, MSCSS '22, has truly excelled in her studies and research. She has turned every research project that she worked on into a success due to her exceptionally high level of creativity, intelligence, and ambition, combined with a level of professional maturity far above that of her peers.
Shishir Reddy, MSCSS '22, has demonstrated excellent proficiency in programming, bash, Docker, cloud computing, machine learning, data science and genomics workflows. In addition, he is very dedicated, motivated, intelligent, diligent, mature, responsible, and demonstrated excellent communication skills.
