Engineering Department -

Annual Engineering Awards

The Engineering Department is pleased to announce our annual year-end student awards. This list of awardees represents just the tip of the iceberg of the amazing engineering students at Hope College. Descriptions of the awards and some information about the recipients are give below.

Clara Voskuil and Dylan Clem were selected by the engineering faculty to receive the Senior Engineering Prize. This award is given to the senior student who is the most outstanding student in engineering. While at Hope College, Clara was involved in Greek Life, intramural sports, and student orientation. She participated in several study abroad opportunities, including the first Engineering Summer Program in Germany. She was also a research student in Dr. Peckens’ lab and completed a second major in math. She will be working for Walker Consultants as a Structural Restoration Engineering in Ann Arbor.

While at Hope College, Dylan was involved in Football, including being captain of the team two times, was a member of Athletes Coming Together / Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and was part of the athletic mentoring program, Team 43. Dylan was also a research student in Dr. Peckens’ lab and completed a minor in math. After graduation, Dylan plans on obtaining a job as a structural engineer.

The VanPutten Prize is given by the Engineering faculty to a graduating engineering student who shows exceptional ability, interest, and accomplishment in engineering design. This award is named in honor of Professor James VanPutten in recognition of his accomplishments in engineering design and his efforts to establish the engineering program at Hope College. This year’s recipients is Parker Bos. Parker’s senior design project was sponsored by the company at which he was interning and where he will be working full-time after graduation, Mission Design and Automation. The project resulted in a robotic arm that interfaced with users to play roulette. While at Hope, Parker was a member of the Arcadian Fraternity and was part of the fly fishing club. In addition to his degree in engineering with a mechanical concentration, he also obtained a minor in math.

Rory Campagna received the Blok-Williams Graduate Student Award award, which is given to a graduating senior student who has demonstrated outstanding excellence in engineering studies and is bound for graduate school. This award acknowledges the recipient’s exceptional achievements, commitment to academic excellence, and potential for advancing the field of engineering. It serves as a notable accolade, honoring the recipient’s remarkable contributions to the engineering community and inspiring their future endeavors in graduate studies. While at Hope College, Rory worked in Dr. Christian’s research lab and held an internship at Sherwin Williams aerosol plant. He also was involved in IM sports, the spikeball club, and was a teaching assistant for Chemistry. In additional to his major in Engineering with a Chemical concentration, he also majored in Chemistry. This fall he will be pursuing his master’s degree at Penn State in Food Science and plan on going into an R&D position in the food industry.

The selection of the Paul Baeverstad Award recipient is based on a vote of the senior class of engineering students. It is given in recognition of a student who is valued as a superior engineer, classmate, and friend. This year’s winner was Nate Jobson. While at Hope, Nate worked on research in the Physics department for two years and in addition to his major in engineering, he also completed a major in Physics. He also played lacrosse for four years and served as the president of the pickleball club. This fall he will attend Worcester Polytechnic Institute to pursue a PhD in applied physics.

The Freshman Engineering Prize recognizes outstanding first-year engineering students who have demonstrated academic excellence and a strong commitment to the engineering community through leadership, initiative, and dedication in their studies and extracurricular activities. The award aims to encourage and inspire students to strive for excellence and become active members of the engineering profession. The two students to receive the award this year were Avery Almy and Ainsley VandenBrink. When asked about what he enjoyed most about Hope during his first year, Avery said, “I enjoyed making friends, goofing around, and learning more about subject matters I’ve been interested in for a long time with professors who care about me and want to see me succeed. I’ve enjoyed being more than a number and feeling like I belong here.”

Ainsley’s response was, “What I enjoyed most about my freshman year of college was the opportunity to immerse myself in my academic endeavors through various courses and research, delving into subjects that fascinated me. Additionally, the dynamic blend of challenging courses and the supportive relationships formed with professors and peers truly enriched my learning experience.”

Annual Engineering Awards

The Engineering Department is pleased to announce our annual year-end student awards. This list of awardees represents just the tip of the iceberg of the amazing engineering students at Hope College. Descriptions of the awards and some information about the recipients are give below.

Senior Engineering Prize

Carolyn Atkinson was selected by the engineering faculty to receive the Senior Engineering Prize. This award is given to the senior student who is the most outstanding student in engineering. While at Hope College, Carolyn was heavily involved in our Engineers Without Borders student chapter, holding leadership positions as international project lead and president. She also was a research student in Dr. Polasek’s lab and obtained a math minor. She will be attending Washington University in St. Louis in fall 2023 to pursue a PhD in biomedical engineering.

The VanPutten Engineering Design Prize

The VanPutten Prize is given by the Engineering faculty to a graduating engineering student who shows exceptional ability, interest, and accomplishment in engineering design. This award is named in honor of Professor James VanPutten in recognition of his accomplishments in engineering design and his efforts to establish the engineering program at Hope College. This year’s recipients are Dan Romano and Bridget Gagnier.

As an avid disc golfer himself, Dan’s senior design project sought to solve the problem of losing one’s disc through the implementation of an audible sensor on the disc. While at Hope, Dan was also heavily involved in football, serving as one of Hope’s Representatives in the MIAA Student Athlete Advisory Committee. He was awarded the Hope Athletics 2023 Men’s Be Strong. Be True. Athlete of the Year Award. Dan will be starting as a Project Design Engineer at Gentex this summer.

Bridget’s senior design project was a reflex trainer that was designed to help the user obtain a shortened reflex time for a variety of applications such as athletic improvement, motor skill assessment, or brain injury diagnosis and rehabilitation. Bridget worked in Dr. Odle’s research lab for three years and will be working as a research lab engineer at the Cleveland Metrohealth Medical Center.

Blok-Williams Graduate Study Award

Sarah Heinowski received the Blok-Williams award, which is given to a graduate school bound senior student for excellence in the study of the field of engineering. While at Hope College, Sarah worked in Dr. Polasek’s research lab to develop a non-invasive therapy for phantom limb pain and Dr. Calvo-Ochoa’s lab (Biology) to study the role of neuroinflammation on the cell proliferation process in zebrafish. While at Hope, Sarah played the clarinet in the Wind Ensemble and Orchestra and also did various tutoring and TA roles for the engineering department. This fall she will be pursuing her master’s degree in biomedical engineering with a concentration in neural engineering at the University of Michigan.

Paul Baeverstad Award

The selection of the Paul Baeverstad Award recipient is based on a vote of the senior class of engineering students. It is given in recognition of a student who is valued as a superior engineer, classmate, and friend. This year’s winner was Grace Van Dellen. While at Hope, Grace was a member of the women’s golf team for all 4 years and was captain for her junior and senior years. She was a member of the Society of Women Engineer’s, serving in roles of secretary and vice president. She was also part of the athletic ministries team for two years. After graduation, Grace plans on working at Gentex Corporation in Zeeland, MI.

Freshman Engineering Prize

The Freshman Engineering Prize is given to recognize the achievement of the best first-year students in Engineering. These students have already shown a strong ability to understand and express engineering concepts. The two students to receive the award this year were Andrea Torres and Bishop Carl. When asked about what she enjoyed about Hope, Andrea said, “During my first year of college, I most enjoyed the community and friendships I became a part of. My most treasured memories of my first year involve study sessions in the engineering building, late nights playing cards, and tossing around a volleyball at the beach.”

Bishop’s response was “My first year here at Hope has truly been remarkable and life changing. The best part has been the lifelong friends that I have made already in the engineering department. We have an amazing group that loves to study while also enjoying being active in Holland!”

Hope Engineering Goes to Germany

Hope Engineering students display the Hope College anchor flag in front of the Berlin Cathedral — Hope engineering students enjoy their trip to the Berlin Cathedral.

This past summer ushered in the inaugural Hope College Engineering summer program in Germany. Twenty engineering students spent five weeks in Germany taking an engineering class from a Hope professor and a German language and culture class at the Technical University of Berlin. The trip was led by Hope Professors Ned Nielsen, Katharine Polasek, and Miguel Abrahantes. The students attended classes during the week and stayed in dorm style rooms at St.-Michael’s-Heim in Berlin.

Three Hope engineering students enjoy Doners for lunch in Germany — Elias LaChonce ’25, Carter Mann ’25, and Andnet DeBoer ’25 enjoy Döners for lunch.

The trip offered a wonderful opportunity for the students to engage with the global community and to also bond with each other. Civil engineering student, Clara Voskuil ’24 remarked, “Experiencing the excitement of a new culture while building relationships with peers was easily the best part of my experience. I learned so much about Germany and, more generally, about myself and preconceptions I had about different cultures that I wasn’t even fully aware of until actually being immersed in a different country. While workload and language barriers proved challenging at times, being able to lean on others (and to have fun while doing so) certainly made up for any obstacles faced.”

Clara continued, “The German language and culture class offered is very hands-on, and the professor (Herr Cristoph) is fantastic! Every week there is an outing around Berlin which allows students to immerse themselves in the new culture, rather than being solely confined to a classroom.”

The students also took extended excursions around Germany on the weekends. They had the opportunity to visit a variety of historical and architectural sites around Heidelberg, Köln, Bremen, and Wittenberg, among others.

Hope student enjoys a view of the Austrian Alps — Nathaniel Jobson ’24 enjoys a view of the Austrian Alps

According to electrical engineering student Matt McAllister ’23, “Overall, experiencing a new culture is intimidating but exciting at the same time. It is somewhat difficult at first to adjust, but it is very rewarding once you get the hang of it. Just seeing how non-Americans go about their daily lives and how different it is from the USA gives you a new perspective.”

The engineering department is excited to share this experience with a new cohort to of students and is busy preparing for the 2023 iteration of the summer program in Germany. Interested students can find more information about off-campus study opportunities on the Hope Engineering webpage.

Annual Engineering Awards

The Engineering Department is pleased to announce our annual year-end student awards. This list of awardees represents just the tip of the iceberg of the amazing engineering students at Hope College. Descriptions of the awards and some information about the recipients are give below.

Senior Engineering Prize

Chris Rexroth was selected by the engineering faculty to received the Senior Engineering Prize. This award is given to the senior student who is the most outstanding student in engineering. While at Hope College, Chris was heavily involved in our Engineers Without Borders student chapter, serving as the Project Lead during his sophomore year and the President during his senior year. His leadership helped to close out the project in Kenya, after installing three deep wells, and start a new project in Ecuador. He also was a research student in Dr. Polasek’s lab and played on the Hope football team. He will start work this fall at Gentex as an Embedded Software Engineer.

The VanPutten Engineering Design Prize

The VanPutten Prize is given by the Engineering faculty to a graduating engineering student who shows exceptional ability, interest, and accomplishment in engineering design. This award is named in honor of Professor James VanPutten in recognition of his accomplishments in engineering design and his efforts to establish the engineering program at Hope College. This year’s recipient was Adam Heisler. Adam’s senior design project focused on an interactive water fountain design. In addition to being a notable design engineer, Adam also is a great drummer and was on the Hope College Worship team for the past two years. After graduation, Adam plans on working as a systems control engineer at Apex Controls in Hudsonville, MI.

Blok-Williams Graduate Study Award

Josie Surel received the Blok-Williams award, which is given to a graduate school bound senior student for excellence in the study of the field of engineering. Josie was heavily involved in research while at Hope College, spending one summer doing research with Dr. Misovich and two summer’s in Dr. Christian’s lab. She presented her work two times at the annual American Institute of Chemical Engineers meeting and both times won first place in the undergraduate student poster competition. She was also awarded a graduate research fellowship program from the National Science Foundation, an extremely competitive program that provides research funding at a graduate institute for up to five years. While at Hope, she was involved in Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) and Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and also did various tutoring and TA roles across the engineering, math, chemistry, and physics departments. This fall she will be pursuing her PhD in Physics at the University of Oxford.

Paul Baeverstad Award

The selection of the Paul Baeverstad Award recipient is based on a vote of the senior class of engineering students. It is given in recognition of a student who is valued as a superior engineer, classmate, and friend. This year’s winner was Jackson Bode. While at Hope, Jackson served as a grader and a TA for several engineering courses and was also the president of his fraternity. After graduation, Jackson plans on working at Ameresco, a renewable energy company in Chicago, IL.

Freshman Engineering Prize

The Freshman Engineering Prize is given to recognize the achievement of the best first-year students in Engineering. These students have already shown a strong ability to understand and express engineering concepts. The two students to receive the award this year were Elias LaChonce and Benjamin Jackson. When asked about what he enjoyed about Hope, Elias said, “This year I have enjoyed doing interesting labs in my intro to engineering lab. I have also been working on the project for Engineers Without Borders which is really fun.”

Benjamin’s response was, “The people I have met have been by far the best part of college and many I believe will become life long friends. From my hallmates to my professors, everyone is so supportive and I am grateful to be at an institution that encourages such a unique sense of community no matter your concentration, major, or position at Hope.”

The Engineering Department offers heartfelt congratulations to all of this year’s award winners!

Annual Engineering Awards

The Engineering Department is pleased to announce our annual year-end student awards. This list of awardees represents just the tip of the iceberg of the amazing engineering students at Hope College. Descriptions of the awards and some information about the recipients are give below.

Senior Engineering Prize

Shelby Harper was selected by the engineering faculty to received the Senior Engineering Prize. This award is given to the senior student who is the most outstanding student in engineering. Shelby served the department as a teaching assistant, help session leader, and grader for countless courses. She was always eager to help the department in any way. After graduating in just 3.5 years, she is now working in Dayton, Ohio at KBR Inc. as a Research and Development Engineer supporting contracts at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base.

The VanPutten Engineering Design Prize

The VanPutten Prize is given by the Engineering faculty to a graduating engineering student who shows exceptional ability, interest, and accomplishment in engineering design. This award is named in honor of Professor James VanPutten in recognition of his accomplishments in engineering design and his efforts to establish the engineering program at Hope College. This year’s recipient was Theodore Roffey. Theo’s senior design project focused on a radiator design for the Hope College’s Formula Racing Car (Formula SAE). Over the past four years, Theo has been heavily involved in Formula SAE and served as the team captain during the 2020-2021 academic year. After graduation, Theo plans on working as an engineer at Innotec.

Blok-Williams Graduate Study Award

Matthew Dickerson received the Blok-Williams award, which is given to a graduate school bound senior student for excellence in the study of the field of engineering. Matthew was involved in Hope College’s Engineers Without Borders and served as the project leader during a team trip to Bondo, Kenya. Matthew also participated in several cultural exchange programs at Hope, including Technos International Week in Tokyo, Japan. this summer Matthew will be interning at OWL Biomedical in Santa Barbara, CA and in the fall, he will be attending Purdue University to pursue a PhD in power and electrical engineering.

Paul Baeverstad Award

The selection of the Paul Baeverstad Award recipient is based on a vote of the senior class of engineering students. It is given in recognition of a student who is valued as a superior engineer, classmate, and friend. This year’s winner was Rachel Foy. Rachel was very involved in Hope College’s Society of Women Engineers , serving as the president during the 2020-2021 academic year. She also was a dual major in engineering and business. After graduation, Rachel plans on working at Consumer’s Energy as a rotational engineer.

Freshman Engineering Prize

The Freshman Engineering Prize is given to recognize the achievement of the best first-year students in Engineering. These students have already shown a strong ability to understand and express engineering concepts. The two students to receive the award this year were Yeageon Song and Gabriella Bishop. When asked about what he enjoyed about Hope, Yeageon said, “I enjoyed spending time with my friends and it was also my first time experiencing so much snow, so that was great as well.”

Gabriella’s response was, “With my first year at Hope College coming to an end, I can honestly say that although I came here with high expectations, Hope has succeeded in exceeding those expectations. There is a certain energy at Hope that is infectious and I believe it starts with the enthusiastic updates from President Scogin along with the passion my professors show in the classroom and the kindness I encounter everyday by my colleagues. I am grateful that Hope was able to maintain as many classes as possible in-person, as I feel strongly that this has been instrumental to my academic success. The professors here at Hope have played a huge role in my education, first and foremost by getting to know me personally. I am blessed to be surrounded by people who want me to succeed and are there to help me achieve my goals. In a year where there have been so many challenges due to the pandemic, Hope College has been a blessing for which I am truly grateful.”

The Engineering Department offers heartfelt congratulations to all of this year’s award winners!

Alumni Highlight: Electrical Engineer Jorge Benitez ’18

Alumni Jorge Benitez smiling in profesional attire.

Jorge Benitez ’18 graduated from Hope College with a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering with a concentration in electrical engineering. He started his career working part time at GMB Architecture + Engineering in Holland during the second semester of his senior year. After graduation he transitioned into a full time role at GMB.

As an electrical engineer, Jorge is responsible for interior and exterior electrical design for buildings, primarily in the education market. His design work includes power distribution, lighting design and lighting controls, communication systems, and electronic safety and security systems.

What do you find most exciting or interesting about the work that you do?

I love the mix of creative design of electrical systems within my projects and the practical problem solving to meet codes. It’s a career field where the learning never stops, and no two projects are the same! I am working alongside peers, both inside and out of engineering, who bring fresh perspectives and a new way of thinking to the design process. I also have the pleasure of interacting with our clients to guide them through the design and construction process and deliver spaces that will have lasting impacts on their communities for years to come.

What are some activities you were involved with at Hope that helped shape you as a person?

I had such a positive experience within the Hope student culture, from meeting lifelong friends and my wife, to engaging in various athletic, social clubs, and residential life that it’s hard to pick just one! All of these contributed to my well rounded education at Hope College.

What aspect of your engineering education at Hope was most beneficial?

The ability to think critically is imperative in an engineering education, because it’s impossible to prepare students for the specific career field that they will find themselves in. So much of engineering is simply learning how to solve problems!

Can you comment on the liberal arts aspect of Hope?

Immensely. I have a passion of connecting with people, and in my career field I am able to explain engineering concepts and solutions to our clients in a non-technical way, making me a better engineering consultant.

What advice would you give to current students?

Take advantage of the level of interaction with your professors available to you. Grab a coffee, share a meal, utilize office hours. Hope’s faculty is a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips, and a great source of mentorship as you navigate the next steps in your life and careers.

Meet Your Engineering Professor

This semester was filled with in-person classes using masks and social distancing and online learning through Zoom classes. The Engineering Department shined a little light into the lives of its faculty and staff members with a social media series termed “Meet Your Engineering Professor”

Here is a summary of this series.

Dr. Miguel Abrahantes

How long have you been teaching at Hope? 16 years
What is your favorite course to teach? Electronics
What are some of your hobbies outside of work? Traveling, gardening, swimming
What is an interesting or unknown fact about you? I am from Cuba and I lived in Argentina during my graduate studies and I came to the U.S. as a refugee. I hold 3 citizenships and carry 3 passports: Cuban, Spaniard and American!

Dr. Jeffrey Christians

How long have you been teaching at Hope? 3 years
What is your favorite course to teach? Fluid Mechanics
What are some of your hobbies outside of work? Running, Fishing, Watching Basketball (I like playing too but am not what one would call “good”)
What is an interesting or unknown fact about you? I can (or I used to be able to…. I’m medium old now) do a barrel roll on a tube being pulled behind a boat. With my brother and cousins, we spent a lot of time on the water during summers at my parent’s cottage on Cowden Lake, North of Rockford, MI.

Prof. Susan Ipri-Brown

How long have you been teaching at Hope? 7 years
What is your favorite course to teach? Mechanics of Materials Labs
What are some of your hobbies outside of work? Volunteering, cooking, exciting kids about engineering
What is an interesting or unknown fact about you? I have an identical twin sister.

Dr. John Krupczak

How long have you been teaching at Hope? 26 years
What is your favorite course to teach? Hard to say, they are all my favorite!
What are some of your hobbies outside of work? I have been doing work on our house lately and I enjoy getting out to the beaches.
What is an interesting or unknown fact about you? Our cat Sophie likes to watch zoom meetings.

Dr. Michael Misovich

How long have you been teaching at Hope? 18 years
What is your favorite course to teach? Too many to choose! Process Calcs, Separations I, Chem E Design are all favorites
What are some of your hobbies outside of work? Walking, hiking, traveling
What is an interesting or unknown fact about you? At different times and places in my life, I have lived on a street where George Washington had marched (in the 1770s, I wasn’t there) and where Martin Luther King marched (in 1966, I was there).

Dr. Brooke Odle

How long have you been teaching at Hope? 2 years
What is your favorite course to teach? Engineering Computing
What are some of your hobbies outside of work? Cooking and Baking
What is an interesting or unknown fact about you? I participated in a study abroad program (at Tec de Monterrey in Mexico) as an undergrad. It was one of the best experiences of my undergraduate studies.

Adam Peckens

How long have you been at Hope? 6 years as the department lab director
What is your favorite course to teach? Geotech Labs or Intro to CAD Labs
What are some of your hobbies outside of work? Hobby Farming/Homesteading, kayaking, backpacking, making maple syrup in the spring
What is an interesting or unknown fact about you? I Hiked the Appalachian Trail. All of it. From Georgia to Maine, ~2,200 miles in five months.

Dr. Courtney Peckens

How long have you been at Hope? 8 years
What is your favorite course to teach? Steel Design because I get to use real world design problems that I encountered when working in this area in industry.
What are some of your hobbies outside of work? vegetable gardening, kayaking, hiking
What is an interesting or unknown fact about you? In the past three months, we added 2 Mini Silky Fainting goats and 11 chickens to our “farm”.

Dr. Katie Polasek

How long have you been teaching at Hope? 10 years
What is your favorite course to teach? I like them all but maybe Rehabilitation Engineering since I get to talk about all of my passions!
What are some of your hobbies outside of work? I play hockey (or did before the pandemic). I also like doing puzzles and kayaking.
What is an interesting or unknown fact about you? I started fostering kittens this summer and have our second litter of three with us now.

Dr. Matt Smith

How long have you been teaching at Hope? 9 years
What is your favorite course to teach? Statics (of course!)
What are some of your hobbies outside of work? Playing sports with my kids, gardening, fantasy baseball, and trying out new foods
What is an interesting or unknown fact about you? My dad is a veterinarian and I got to help out a lot around the clinic when I was a kid including, on multiple occasions, rubbing down puppies just born by cesarean section.

Striving for Excellence: The Story of Ernest Haight

Ernest Haight ‘51 (August 5, 1924 – June 1, 2018) was born in the midst of the Great Depression. Having joined the Army in 1945, he served with the post-World War II troops in Tokyo, Japan and always aimed for excellence. His expectation for himself, as well as others, was this: Do the best that you can with what you have been given. And that he did.

Born to Bill, a welder, and Marge, a bank teller, Ernie utilized his GI Bill from the military to attend Hope College in 1947. While at Hope, he not only earned a degree in mathematics, but he also met his future wife, Kathleen Hagstron ‘51 Haight. They married in Dimnent Chapel. He then went on to earn his master’s degree in Advanced Mathematics from the University of Nebraska.

Excellence.

Already, being the only member in his family to earn any degree, let alone an advanced one, showed Ernie’s will to excel in life.

He went on to spend the entirety of his adulthood working in the aerospace industry — a stressful job, one that wasn’t always enjoyable, but Ernie persisted. He ended up being part of a seven-man team to design the heat shields for the Project Mercury and Project Gemini space capsules.

Ernie believed that a good worker should be able to not only design a product but also — and more importantly — get that product to actually work in the real world. And work they did. Those shields sustained the lives of each astronaut during their missions. They helped the projects succeed.

Ernie always regarded his education — both from Hope College and from the University of Nebraska — to be the foundation for all that he was able to achieve in his professional life. His final gift, which represents his total salary from nearly three years of his working life, has established the Ernest Haight ‘51 Summer Research in Engineering Fund. It also provided the resources necessary for the Engineering Lab Renovation Fund.

His heart for Hope College has been beautifully reflected through this generous gift.

At age 93, Ernest Haight was asked to look back on his life, to which he responded, “For a kid who grew up during the Great Depression, with a welder for a father and a bank teller for a mother, I far exceeded all expectations — even my own. I did the best that I could with what I had.”

May we all strive to do the best that we can with what we have been given!

Alumni Highlight: Shawn Bates ’16 Civil Engineer

Alum Shawn Bates leans, smiling against a stair railing in professional attire.

Shawn Bates ’16 graduated from Hope College with a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering with a concentration in civil engineering. Upon graduation, Shawn joined Fleis & VandenBrink Engineering as an E.I.T., or Engineer in Training. The E.I.T. is a common designation for entry level civil engineers. E.I.T.s have completed their educational preparation. However, they still need to accrue work experience before becoming licensed Professional Engineers. Shawn initially performed construction inspection on various projects, such as, roads and bridges. He then began transitioning into the office, where he performed various design tasks and assisted with client management. Since then he has continued to execute duties in the areas of design, inspection, project management, and client management.

In the fall of 2017 Shawn began pursuing his Master’s Degree in Business Administration at Davenport University while continuing to work full-time. He completed his MBA – Strategic Management program in the spring of 2020. He also became a Certified Manager (C.M.) through the Institute of Certified Professional Managers. Shawn is now preparing to take the Professional Engineers (P.E.) exam in order to become a licensed professional civil engineer.

The following are excerpts from a recent correspondence with Shawn.

What do you find most exciting or interesting about the work that you do?

What I find most interesting about my work is the wide variety of projects I have been a part of. Going into the engineering field, I was concerned about being pigeon-holed into a limited variety of projects/tasks. From the very beginning this could not be further from the truth. My employer has given me opportunities to see a wide range of projects. Some of the projects I have worked on include sea wall improvements, a tunnel design for a private developer, and load ratings for bridges throughout the state of Michigan. Other projects I have contributed to are public utility asset management, underground utility design with street improvements, and inspection of sand/gravel mining operations.

What are some activities at Hope that helped shape you as a person?

Plying football at Hope College certainly shaped who I am today. Many of my closest friends also played football at Hope. My college football career was short-lived, but it was filled with meaningful life lessons and development of team skills. While at Hope I also tried out for the baseball team. This took a tremendous amount of effort and determination. In the end I did not make the team which served as a tough, but very beneficial failure that only motivated me more in the engineering field. I also assisted with the construction of the Formula SAE car which was full of valuable lessons. Working as a team with one common goal is something I do on a daily basis!

What aspect of your engineering education at Hope was most beneficial?

The smaller classes really helped me understand some of the most crucial engineering principles that I draw on today. Also, the education was no walk in the park! The rigorous curriculum pushed my limits and I would not have it any other way!

Can you comment on the liberal arts aspect of Hope?

The liberal arts aspect has enhanced my communication skills greatly. My employer has taken notice of this, and I have been able to take on more client and project management tasks as a result. It is important to have that well-rounded education.

What advice would you give to current students?

Join a club that interests you early on! Establishing yourself in a team/club setting will set you up for success in the future. Also, start early looking for summer internships.

Engineers Without Borders: Learning the Importance of Community

I am not one to usually go outside of my comfort zone, but this year I was determined to change that. Joining the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) club at Hope College seemed like a great place to start. By working to provide clean water to Bondo, Kenya, I would be able to satisfy my desire to help people while also applying engineering skills. This participation in EWB had a significant impact on me, which I was not entirely expecting.

EWB Travel Team (left to right): Rebekah Ludema (’22), Cameron Maloney (’23), Dale Nowicki, Nick Frank, Brianna Rucinski (’23), Caroline Burkhardt (’22), Chris Rexroth (’22), Krista Nelson (’21)

Even the best plans change during a pandemic

Six students, including myself, and two mentors planned on traveling to Bondo, Kenya in March 2020. The goal of the trip was to install a well in the community. On March 12th we started the trip to Africa with a 3 hour drive to Chicago O’Hare airport. While at the check-in counter, we received a call that Hope College and EWB-USA were restricting travel due to COVID-19. We returned back to campus, disappointed in our inability to travel to the community. We did continue to manage the project remotely and a new well was installed by the end of the month.

I am proud of the community for continuing the work to complete the new well. The videos and pictures that we were sent during the construction were inspiring and helped overcome the disappointment of not traveling. Seeing the joy on the community members’ faces while using the well made me grateful for the mission of EWB. It became very clear to me how much a group of people can accomplish if they work together.

Drilling the borehole for the well in Bondo, Kenya

Bondo community members using the new well

But lessons learned last forever

When I joined Engineers Without Borders I was not planning on being part of the travel team. But through the support of friends and family, I made the decision to go further out of my comfort zone than I ever had before. I learned how important it is to lean on those around you and also support them in their own endeavors. Such a supportive community enabled significant personal growth for me and I am grateful for that.