Underclassman Achievement Awards Presented by the KU Gamma Iota Chapter of Eta Kappa Nu

For the sixth year, Eta Kappa Nu presented the Underclassman Achievement Awards as a way of honoring the achievements of the department’s most promising sophomore level students. In EECS, the 200 level courses are considered ‘make or break courses.’ They are arguably the hardest undergraduate courses EECS offers, and understanding them is essential to success. Award recipients are the highest three performers in a given course as identified by the professor who taught the course. The highest performing student from each course also received a Raspberry Pi.

Recipents of Eta Kappa Nu Underclassman Achievement Awards

For EECS 210, Discrete Structures the award recipients were:

Morning section - Fall 2016

  • Andrew Monroe
  • Carter Maxcy
  • Matthew Taylor (top performer)

Afternoon section - Fall 2016

  • Zachary Bruennig
  • Grant Jurgensen
  • Mason Wilde (top performer)

Morning section -  Spring 2017

  • Dylan Herrig
  • Zachary McGrath (top performer)
  • Jason Purinton

Afternoon section - Spring 2017

  • Giovanni Artavia (top performer)
  • Jacob Hegna
  • Vivek Tallavajhala

For EECS 268, Programing II the award recipients were:

Morning section - Fall 2016

  • Evan Brown Artavia (top performer)
  • Zachary Bruennig
  • Jacob Hegna

Afternoon section - Fall 2016

  • John Freeman
  • Juzer Zarif
  • Mason Wilde (top performer)

MWF section -  Spring 2017

  • Nicole Johnson (top performer)
  • Zachary McGrath
  • Ellis Spring

TR section - Spring 2017

  • Sherman Choi (top performer)
  • Trenton Potter
  • Alex Shadley

For EECS 211, Circuits I the award recipients were:

Fall 2016

  • Nobus Oghenekaro (top performer)
  • Matthew Taylor
  • Lisa Zhu

Spring 2017

  • Evan Brown (top performer)
  • Rachel Chang
  • Zachary Thomas

For EECS 220, Electromagnetics I the award recipients were:

Fall 2016

  • Matthew Heintzelman
  • Nicholas Mechler (top performer)
  • Zachary McGrath

Spring 2017

  • Brandon Randolph (top performer)
  • Tyler Sharp
  • Matthew Taylor

Eta Kappa Nu is a international Electrical and Computer Engineering honor society founded at the University of Illinois in 1904 with the intent to ‘(encourage) and to (recognize) excellence in the electrical and computer engineering fields.’ KU’s Gamma Iota chapter was founded in 1952 in order to carry on the national organization’s values and give back to the KU EECS community. Besides the Underclassman Achievement Award Ceremony, Eta Kappa Nu presents the Henry Talley Teaching award every spring and hold a variety of events throughout the year. Membership in Eta Kappa Nu is invitation only. Juniors in the top quarter of their class and seniors in the top third of their class may be invited to join.