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Engineering Alumni Society honors EECS junior with first Ruvkun Award
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Zorigt Bazarragchaa (right), inaugural recipient of the Sam Ruvkun EAS Achievement Award, was welcomed to Berkeley his first week of classes by (from left) Richard Chinn (B.S.’61 CE) of the EAS Board of Directors and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Fiona Doyle.
AARON WALBURG PHOTO
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His name is Zorigt Bazarragchaa (pronounced Zor-EET Ba-za-ROTT-cha). His father, a mechanical engineer and college teacher in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, sought political asylum in the U.S. four years ago. So, at age 16, Zorigt moved with his parents to Massachusetts, where he completed his senior year of high school and began studying English. He now speaks the language so well you hardly notice his accent.
“At first it was really hard,” he says. “It took me about three or four months to understand what was going on. Now I’m very comfortable with the language.”
This fall Bazarragchaa landed at Berkeley Engineering as the inaugural recipient of the Sam Ruvkun Engineering Alumni Society (EAS) Achievement Award. Sponsored by the EAS and named in honor of the late founding EAS president Sam Ruvkun (B.S.’41 CE), the award is administered through The Achievement Award Program (TAAP) of the California Alumni Association. Criteria include extreme financial hardship and demonstrated potential for academic excellence through a history of overcoming challenges and community involvement.
The award will provide two years of support to the Laney College transfer, an EECS junior working toward a research career. One of three children, Zorigt is the last of his siblings to leave the family nest. While settling into his classes, labs, and student housing, he is mindful of his parents, who have limited language skills and are still adjusting to life in the Bay Area.
He is considering specializing in microfabrication but is still investigating all the possibilities Berkeley has to offer. On top of his studies, he likes to wrestle and swim and has been tutoring community college students in math, chemistry, and physics through the Laney College Tutoring Center, an activity he hopes to continue. He will also participate in the EAS mentorship program this year.
“I’m starting to forget my Russian, which I was studying at school in addition to my native Mongolian,” he says. “So I’m thinking of joining a Russian club here too.”
To make a gift to the Sam Ruvkun Award fund, contact Mark Gladden at 510-643-8361 or mgladden@berkeley.edu.
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