Three students from the UCF Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering were awarded scholarships from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Power and Energy Society (IEEE PES).
Electrical engineering students Isabella Figoni, Andre Llanos and Elvis Rodriguez were among the 244 awardees nationwide who received this year’s scholarship. The honor is awarded to undergraduates who have demonstrated exceptional academic excellence, with an interest in pursuing a career in the power and energy field. Recipients are recognized with a plaque and a monetary award of $2,000 to be used toward tuition, mentoring programs or internships.
Their selection is especially notable since the scholarship was more competitive this year. For this award cycle, IEEE PES opened the application to non-engineering students, receiving 330% more applications than the previous cycle.
This year’s scholarship recipients each have their unique reasons for entering the field.
Rodriguez knew he wanted to work in electrical engineering space early on thanks to his experiences as a freshman on his high school robotics team.
“I started out as a programmer for the team, but after a while got bored with sitting behind a computer and wanted to try something different,” he says. “When I talked to the team leader, he suggested I try working with the electrical team, and I fell in love with it ever since.”
Llanos was motivated by the opportunity to grow professionally and hone his technical skills.
“I chose this field because I enjoy its mix of technical complexity and real-world impact,” he says. “I was previously a technician in the wind industry and wanted to grow my skills and transition to the design and engineering side of the sector.”
Figoni’s reasons for choosing the field stem from a desire to work on updating our energy infrastructure.
“The shift toward renewables and smarter grids is one of the biggest engineering challenges of our generation, and I wanted to be part of that transition,” she says. “The idea that my work could help push sustainable energy forward is what drew me into this field.”
Their future career plans, just as their motivations for entering the field, are varied as well.
Llanos will be the first to graduate from the trio. This December, he will complete a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, with a focus on power systems and renewable energy. He plans to work in industry, focusing on power system design and energy integration.
Rodriguez plans to use his degree in the construction field and looks forward to modernizing business processes.
“I interned at an electrician company before and was surprised to see they were still using software from 2005 for day-to-day work,” he says. “I believe that creating new user-friendly software could improve productivity tenfold.”
Figoni plans to pursue an advanced degree through UCF’s accelerated bachelor’s-to-master’s program, continuing her research in the power and energy space.
“My goal is to use my skills to make an impact by contributing to sustainable, smart energy systems and contribute to a cleaner and more reliable energy future.”
Written by Bel Huston | Jan. 16, 2016