IEEE-USA Awarded Undergraduates and Journalists Who Add to Public Understanding of Engineering

Coinciding with Engineers Week from 14-20 February 2010, IEEE-USA announced scholarship awards to five U.S. undergraduate students and honoraria to two professional journalists who add to the public understanding of engineering.

IEEE-USA ONLINE VIDEO COMPETITION:  According to Nita Patel, IEEE-USA Vice President of communications and public awareness, $5,000  in scholarship awards were given to five undergraduates at three U.S. universities, who entered the IEEE-USA's 2010 "How Engineers Make a World of Difference" online video competition: First Prize ($2,000) to Sergio Flores Castro, Miguel Murillo and Carolina Flores of University of Neveda in Las Vegas; Second Prize ($1,500) to Zachary Phillips of LeTourneau University in Long View, Texas; and Third Prize ($1,000) to Carrie Hunter of Pensacola  Junior College, FL, and Hunter will also receive a $500 scholarship award for the most innovative and effective presentation of a video entry to the "tween" target audience.

The three video entries were deemed most effective in reinforcing for an 11-to-13-year-old audience how engineers improve quality of life. A representative of the first-prize team was recognized at the IEEE-USA Annual Meeting in Nashville, Tenn., in March 2010. Check out all of this year's award entries at YouTube. IEEE-USA will launch its fourth video scholarship competition in September 2010.

IEEE-USA JOURNALISM AWARD:  According to IEEE-USA Communications/Public Awareness Vice President Patel, the IEEE-USA also presented two $1,500 honoraria to recognize print and electronic journalists who had added to a greater public understanding of the contributions of engineering and computer professionals to society. The two recipients of the IEEE-USA journalism award are: Holly Morris from Fox 5 Morning News in Washington, DC; and Randy Atkins from the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), also in Washington, DC.

Readers interested in these activities by IEEE-USA may contact Pender M. McCarter, IEEE-USA Senior Public Relations Counselor, +1 202 530 8353, <p.mccarter@ieee.org>.  Learn more from the online public release on this activity.