On May 28, the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences celebrated outstanding student achievements during a virtual ceremony. The Annual Awards Ceremony honors the excellence and achievements of the graduating class. More than 100 participants joined the virtual event including the dean, faculty and staff members, student honorees, and their family members to celebrate 51 award recipients receiving 52 awards. There were 16 graduate awards and 36 undergraduate awards.

The event began with remarks from Babak D. Beheshti, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences.

“All the challenges that you had to go through this semester makes this event even more important than the awards ceremonies in the past. The fact that you accomplished so much and are being recognized for your outstanding achievements in the midst of this pandemic speaks to your perseverance, work ethic, and professionalism,” noted Beheshti.

Although this event was very different than the awards ceremonies in years past, it is a special time for the award recipients to reflect on their achievements and to stay motivated as they enter their careers or future studies. “You’re amongst the very few select honorees in our annual awards ceremony. I am very proud of you,” said Beheshti.

The event featured five student speakers:

• Mouad Chemrah: Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology, B.S., recipient of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology Award

• Robert Bradford: Energy Management, M.S., recipient of the John J. Theobald Graduate Achievement Award in Energy Management

• Mansi Himanshu Master, Environmental Technology and Sustainability, M.S., recipient of the John J. Theobald Graduate Achievement Award in Environmental Technology & Sustainability

• John Hayes, Mechanical Engineering, B.S., recipient of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Award

• Michael Cenzoprano, Computer Science, B.S., recipient of the N.A. Karr, Chairman Emeritus of NYIT Board of Trustees Award

In his speech, Robert Bradford spoke about how 30 years after he graduated with a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering, he returned to pursue the Energy Management, M.S. program at NY Tech. He spoke about how the Energy Management, M.S. program helped him apply what he was learning to his job as an engineering manager for the New York Power Authority.

“[The Energy Management program] afforded me the opportunity to gain an unparalleled expertise in the energy management field. As the classes became more advanced, I noticed that my abilities to critically think about advanced energy management subjects grew accordingly. Since I work in the energy management field as an engineering manager for the New York Power Authority, I began to see a direct correlation between my classes at NYIT and my career. I was able to take what I was learning and immediately apply this to my job – let me tell you, you can’t say that for a lot of colleges, but you can for NYIT,” said Braford.

Mansi Himanshu Master received the John J. Theobald Graduate Achievement Award in Environmental Technology & Sustainability. In her speech, she reminisced about when she arrived at NY Tech in 2018.

“All the professors, friends, and all the NYIT members constantly guided me, worked with me, and supported me throughout to achieve my goal and make the entire journey more successful,” said Mansi.

“I know it’s different in this pandemic time [but] I feel grateful that NYIT has not stopped motivating its students by [holding] this online ceremony. We are class of 2020 which will always be remembered as [an] extraordinary class as we are celebrating here our happiness online.” She closed with congratulating the class of 2020. “We did it. We are all here today with our knowledge to share with society for a better tomorrow.”

The College of Engineering is very proud of the accomplishments of the award recipients and looks forward to hearing about the future successes of the class of 2020.

By Sarah McGough