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May 16, 2005
Vol. 76, no. 15S
Bechtel
Achievement Award
Heather Bischel, CEE |
Bechtel
Engineering Scholarship
Heena Patel, CEE |
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| GOOD
FRIENDS, TOO: Bechtel winners Heather
Bischel (left) and Heena Patel. The Engineering Scholarship honors
an outstanding undergraduate. Photo by Nick Lammers. |
| Heather
Bischel grew up in Auburn, Calif., just west of Lake Tahoe. But
it's the ocean that enchants her, specifically its chemistry.
Last summer, the CEE senior traveled to Cape Cod, Mass., to do
research at the renowned Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
There she worked on coastal contamination and remediation studies,
learning more about the chemical interplay between oil spills
and salt marshes. The work cemented her passion, and this fall
she'll go to Stanford to pursue a Ph.D. in environmental
engineering with a focus on chemical oceanography.
"I've always loved the ocean and the beach so much,"
she says effusively.
At Berkeley, Bischel's passion for the environment extended
beyond her courses and research. A few years ago, she helped found
the Berkeley chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World. She
also served as a mentor in Cal's Environmental Science Teaching
Program for local high schools and as an officer for the last
four years in the Cal chapter of the American Society of Civil
Engineers. On top of that, she co- captained the women's
club tennis team, which placed in the top 20 last year.
"I've made it a point to work hard and have fun at
the same time," she says. "And do the best that I
can do." |
CEE
junior Heena Patel didn't know what she wanted to do in international
development until she took an environmental science course. Then
the lightbulb went on: water. Now, the Toronto native gushes about
water. "I tell my friends, 'It's so much more than just
H2O!'"
Patel harnesses her enthusiasm at the Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory, where she's helping research a cheap and efficient
method to remove arsenic from water in Bangladesh. Her ultimate
goal is to run her own non-governmental organization in a developing
country that would help engineer solutions to water and sanitation
problems. She also envisions something else. "I can see myself
in a village learning how to do their dances and teaching some
of my own."
That's because Patel is also mad about South Asian dancing. She
began dancing competitively at age four and hasn't stopped since.
"It's such a great way to express myself," she says. At Berkeley,
she formed Satrang, a student dance organization that now boasts
80 members and performs many different dance styles, such as Bhangra
and Raas. She also teaches dance to others and is involved in
the engineering honor society Tau Beta Pi.
With her dual joys, Patel finds herself happily busy. "Find out
what you're passionate about and do it," she says. "It's the biggest
motivator."
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Department
Citation Winners
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| CRÈME
DE LA CRÈME:
From left to right, Hedi Razavi, Sarah Jockin, Fang He, Mihir Tendulkar,
Shiyun Ruan, David Sontag, and Heather Bischel. Photo by Nick Lammers. |
Hedi
Razavi, BioE
A native of Iran, Razavi moved to San Jose when she was 14, but it wasn't
until she got to Berkeley that she felt at home. "Thank God, finally
something challenging," Razavi remembers thinking. She challenged
herself outside the classroom too, from tutoring in the Multicultural
Engineering Program to helping run the journal California Engineer,
to researching the hand movements of surgeons. "What I love most
about Berkeley is how everyone respects everyone else," she says.
In the fall, she'll go to Stanford for a Ph.D. in bioengineering.
Heather Bischel, CEE
See story above.
David Sontag, EECS
Sontag has courage. Not only does he fearlessly tackle difficult CS
problems but, as a freshman, Sontag cornered Eric Schmidt after the
Google CEO spoke on campus and asked for a job. That summer, Sontag
found himself interning at Google, where he helped create the advertising
space on the company's website. Recently, he turned down a job
at Google to go to MIT this fall for a Ph.D. in machine learning. "I
love Berkeley to death," he says. "It's been a great
four years."
Mihir Tendulkar, EngSci
Tendulkar admires two people: Colossus, the giant man of steel in comic
books, and Einstein, a real giant in the field of physics. The Engineering
Physics student says he looks to both in order to do well in any endeavor,
from conducting research in applied physics to being president of the
engineering physics honor society and the Society of Engineering Science.
"I've also gotten through it thanks to Monkey Head Beer,"
he says, laughing. Tendulkar will go to Stanford in the fall for a Ph.D.
in applied physics.
Fang He, IEOR
When he's not going for a six-mile run, or building a Lego robot
for class, or watching "Law & Order," or studying economics
(his other major), Fang dabbles in politics. Actually, he persuades
other Asian Americans to dabble. "We need more role models in
politics," he says. With that conviction, Fang became president
of the Asian Political Association. "I've met a lot of good
friends here," he says. Fang will go to Columbia this fall for
a Ph.D. in economics.
Shiyun Ruan, ME and MSE
At the end of classes with MSE professor Tom Devine, one of her favorites,
Ruan felt sad. "Why is he ending? Why can't he go on?"
she remembers thinking. Great professors are just one of the highlights
of Berkeley, the Singapore native says. She's been involved in
an alphabet soup of student societies, including the Singapore/Malaysian
Student Association. In her spare time, Ruan plays the violin and hikes.
This fall, she'll head to MIT for a Ph.D. in polymer science.
Sarah Jockin, NE
The German native arrived at Berkeley via the romantic route. She took
a year off after high school to travel in the South Pacific and was
hitchhiking in Hawaii when her future husband picked her up. He was
from Berkeley, and Jockin transferred here to be closer to him. Her
college highlight, she says, was helping host the American Nuclear Society's
annual student conference in 2003. "I've really enjoyed
my time here," she says. She begins dentistry school at UCSF in
the fall.
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