Three Cockrell School of Engineering seniors will be recognized on April 26 by Texas Exes for their leadership at The University of Texas at Austin.
The Cockrell School recipients are civil engineering major Rosaura Estrada, chemical engineering major Julie Fogarty and biomedical engineering and computational biology major James Salazar. These three seniors are mentors, researchers and leaders in the Cockrell School.
On a mission to increase the number of minority students in civil engineering, Estrada has served as a tutor for Student Engineers Educating Kids and the Equal Opportunity in Engineering Program. She is president of Pi Sigma Pi Minority Academic Engineering Society, as well as both a Terry Scholar and a Gates Millennium Scholar. She will work for Teach for America after graduating this spring.
Fogarty is passionate about recruiting young women into chemical engineering and hopes to one day work in academia to continue teaching what she loves. She has served as service chair, vice president and president of the chemical engineering society Omega Chi Epsilon, and she has worked as a tutor, peer adviser and TA in her department. This fall, Fogarty will attend Stanford to pursue her Ph.D. in chemical engineering.
Salazar has made an impact in getting kids excited about engineering education. He has served on the Biomedical Outreach and Leadership Team as well as in the Student Engineers Educating Kids Program. Salazar does research in the lab of Mia Markey and has already co-authored a scientific paper.
The President’s Leadership Awards were created in 1985 with an endowment from past Texas Exes president Frank Denius. The awards recognize undergraduate students who have demonstrated outstanding leadership within UT Austin’s student community.
Each year, one sophomore, two juniors and three seniors receive the honor. And this year, all three seniors are from the Cockrell School. Students are nominated by UT faculty and staff and are selected by alumni in Texas Exes.
