FINALIST - 2009

W. Ben Towne As I reflect on the last four years, I am reminded of just how far Lafayette has brought me. With direct support, Lafayette has sent me to study with fellow Leopards in Germany and South Africa, serve on mission in the Dominican Republic, strengthen a local economy in New Orleans, construct homes in South Carolina, and present research at a number of conferences. Extracurricular groups have led me to a Tau Beta Pi convention in Sacramento, an IEEE workshop in Boston, along PA trails and up NH's Mt. Lafayette, sea kayaking off the Jersey Shore, through the trading floors, gold vaults, and theatres of New York City, around the world through Extravaganza, and abroad again to the World Telecommunications Policy Forum in Portugal. This global Lafayette Experience concludes with bringing the world to Lafayette: by recruiting at Admissions events, bringing the 2009 Sustainable Energy Conference to campus, and by building a partnership with an Austrian solar firm for a project now under the Trustees' consideration. On and off campus, I have been blessed to work alongside the type of people who first attracted me here – people who can keep their eyes in the skies and their feet on the ground. In the last four years, we have shared depth and diversity across all aspects of the Lafayette experience "from polymers to poetry." To me, the Lafayette ideal is excellence across many fields, woven tightly with an understanding of the rich, diverse human cultures which will shape and be shaped by our work in the coming decades. This ideal is measured not just in a summa cum laude, a record of organizational leadership, and publications, but also in lifelong friendships, memories of athletics, an appreciation of diversity, and most importantly, new perspectives which challenge the ignorance and artificial limits around us.

Majors: electrical and computer engineering (B.S.), community development (A.B.)
Thesis: Cellular Automata on an FPGA: A Special-Purpose Processor for Discrete Deterministic Systems

Academic Activities

• Scholarship Awards (1,2,3,4). Udall Scholar, Scholarships from American Council of Engineering Companies, Marquis Scholar, National Merit Scholar, Alcatel-Lucent Scholar, Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation, etc. Nominated for Rhodes, Marshall, Gates-Cambridge, Hertz, NSF, NDSEG fellowships (no Lafayette winners this year).
• Tau Beta Pi (2,3,4). (TBP is the national engineering honor society.) William G. MacLean Tau Beta Pi prize, 2007. Tau Beta Pi national scholarship, 2008. Chapter president 2008-9. Delegate to 2008 National Convention in Sacramento, led national charge to keep the decision about A. B. Engineering students' eligibility on the chapter level (and in favor of keeping Lafayette's own A. B. students as eligible).
• Eta Kappa Nu (3,4). (HKN is the Electrical and Computer Engineering honor society.) Smith Electronic Engineering [departmental] Prize, 2009.
• IEEE (3,4). (IEEE is the worldwide ECE professional society). Active in Lafayette student chapter, IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (including participation in "Technology For Society" workshop, Boston 2008) & IEEE Communications Society.
• Excel Scholars (4). Exploring Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Options for Nazareth Borough Municipal Authority. Community partnership with direct application of research. Most significant finding supports a possible 1.25 MW photovoltaic array for their wastewater treatment plant.
• World Telecommunications Policy Forum (4). Winner of worldwide video contest. Representing youth of the developed world at a high-level conference in Lisbon, April 21-24 2009. All expenses paid by International Telecommunications Union, which is part of the UN.
• International Symposium on Technology & Society (4). Paper on the ways that technology (e. g. Internet, mobile phones) changes social structures; based on independent-study research done during Junior year.
• Dean’s List every semester (1,2,3,4)
• Lafayette Autonomous Robotics Competition (3). Best Performance (within stated contest rules).

Campus Activities

• Sustainability Committee (1,2,3,4). Interface between administration, faculty, staff, & students.
• Tutor (1,2,3,4). Calculus, Physics, Computer Science, & Communications.
• The Marquis literary magazine (1,2,3). Editorial review board (blind to authors' names), and occasional contributor.
• TREEhouse (2,3,4). Founding member, floor president (3,4).
• Departmental Representation (3,4). Interviewed for article in ASEE's Prism magazine about engineering in a liberal arts environment ("From Polymers to Poetry"); often example of 'current student' in open houses, panels, etc.
• Admissions office (3,4). Reaching out to New England prospectives & visitors, high school recruiting.
• Computing Services (1,2,3). Employee in computing services, plus media digitization for Religious Studies department, minor website work for History Department & course catalog.

Community Service

• College Hill Presbyterian Church (CHPC) (1,2,3,4). Bell Choir, Mission Team, Global Partnership with church in Sovata, Romania (including mutual travel & hosting)
• Foundation For Peace (3). Mission trip to the Dominican Republic, Summer 2008 (school-building, medical clinic, education). Funded by Lafayette's Jeffrey B. Havens Award. Traveled as part of mission team from College Hill Presbyterian Church.
• Economic Empowerment and Global Learning Project (EEGLP) (3). "Technology and Society" researcher for a project in New Orleans, helping a Lower 9th Ward community rebuild and rebrand after Katrina.
• Alternative School Break (ASB) (1). Charleston, South Carolina: Homebuilding with Habitat for Humanity. Team Builder for our ASB crew.
• Habitat for Humanity (2). Volunteering in the Lehigh Valley as well as for a week in New Orleans (during Interim) with the Coca-Cola Scholars' Foundation.
• Kids In the Community (1)
• Equi-librium (horse therapy) (1). (A volunteering program in Stroudsburg, also coordinated through Landis).

Athletics

• Outdoors Club (1,2,3). Board member freshman year.
• Kayak Club (2,3)
• Scouts (1,2,3,4). Assistant Scoutmaster with home troop (served during occasional return visits). International Service Team for Information & Communication Technology at the 21st World Scout Jamboree (Olympic-like event), England 2007. Attended 2007 Belgian National Scout Jamboree. American Legion Eagle Scout of the Year National 2nd Place (scholarship).
• Cycling (2,3,4). Exploring the Easton area, and riding guided trips with Genesis Bicycles.
• Interim Intramural Sports Tournament (4)

Special Interest

• Lafayette Environmental Awareness & Protection (LEAP) (1,2,3,4). Webmaster (2-4), chair of Solar committee, brought 2009 Sustainable Energy Conference to Lafayette (July 27-Aug 1), brought proposal for 11,000 sq. ft. solar-thermal array on Kirby Sports Center through $19,000 engineering phase to current Trustee consideration (project net savings $1.6 million), pioneered Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb exchange and Better World Books collection.
• Lafayette Christian Fellowship (LCF) (1,2,3,4). Worship, study, community events, conferences, etc.
• Investment Club (1,2,3). Treasurer during sophomore year. Club manages a portfolio of $300-400K.
• International Student Association (ISA) (1,2,3,4)
• Arts Society (1,2,3,4). Active participation in events, including the annual Block pARTy and favorite poem reading; regular patron at Williams Center shows.
• Lafayette-Jacobs (3). Study abroad group in Bremen, Germany. Organized low-cost trips (to great destinations such as the Black Forest) and travelled most weekends. Created Lafayette-Jacobs DVD at semester end, and then backpacked through 2 dozen European countries, including stops to strengthen partnerships for Lafayette (at a solar project partner’s Austrian HQ), CHPC, and LEAP.
• Photography Club (1,3). Public Relations Officer freshman year. Photography exhibits at Block Party (3,4), Earth Week (3), and the RISExhibit (3). 6/12 photos in the 2008-9 Lafayette Calendar (4).
• Misc. Special Interest Clubs (1,2,3,4). Occasional participation in Geology club, German club, CHILL, Physics club, Lafayette Student Initiative (campus service), and others.