ChBE Honors its Outstanding Undergraduate Students

In a typical spring semester, the A. James Clark School of Engineering holds an Annual Honors and Awards Ceremony to recognize undergraduate students for their excellence in academics, leadership and service. Alas, the ceremony was canceled this year due to the current health crisis, but that does not mean the efforts of our outstanding students have gone unnoticed. To that end, the UMD Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE) would like to recognize the following students:

Noah Eckman, recipient of the ChBE Chair’s Award for excellence in academics, outstanding service, and/or leadership in the department.

Joshua Fernandes is the recipient of the ChBE Outstanding Junior Award for academic excellence.

Megan Forte is the recipient of the ChBE Student Service Award, presented to a graduating senior in the Department for outstanding service.

Jeremy Rosenblatt is the recipient of the David Arthur Berman Memorial Award for the highest cumulative scholastic average in the Department at the end of the first semester of his junior year, and who has been elected to Tau Beta Pi.

Katherine Sniezek, recipient of the ChBE Outstanding Senior Award, for scholarship, leadership, and service to the department.

About our awardees:

Noah Eckman is a graduating senior in chemical engineering. For three years, he served on the UMD Student Government Association representing Clark School students, including a year as the Speaker of the Legislature. Noah now serves as the Chief of Staff of the SGA and also served as the founder and first chair of the UMD Student Facilities Fund. He has worked in the research groups of Professors Michael Zachariah and Ryan Sochol, performing research on advanced manufacturing of nanocomposite materials. Noah has been a teaching assistant for CHEM242 and CHBE426. Noah will continue on to Stanford to begin his Ph.D. studies in the fall.

Joshua Fernandes is a junior seeking a double degree in chemical engineering and applied mathematics. He is a member of the Honors Humanities program within the Honors College and the RISE Leadership Academy in the Clark School. Joshua works in the Laboratory of Molecular and Thermodynamic Modeling, where he conducts research on the properties of lipid membranes. In his free time, he enjoys writing and solving puzzles for the UMD puzzle club.

Megan Forte is a senior chemical engineering student with a minor in sustainability. She is a member of Engineers Without Borders, where she has had roles as project steward, subteam leader, and technical leader. Megan led an assessment trip to a community in Ghana and led the design of a water storage system for a community in Nicaragua. She is the volunteering coordinator for the honor society Omega Chi Epsilon and a member of the RISE leadership program. Megan is currently an intern at the Maryland Clean Energy Center and plans to pursue a career in sustainability and clean energy.

Jeremy Rosenblatt is a junior chemical engineering major and business analytics minor. He is a member of University Honors, the QUEST program and Tau Beta Pi. Jeremy has served on the board of UMD's chapter of the American Institute for Chemical Engineers (AIChE) for the past three years. For nearly two years, he worked as a lab technician in the UMD Bioprocess Scale Up Facility (BSF). Last summer, Jeremy interned at Merck & Co and will be returning this summer. Upon graduation, Jeremy plans to pursue employment in the biopharmaceutical industry and/or graduate studies in chemical engineering.

Katherine Sniezek is a senior chemical engineering student with a 4.0 GPA. She is a member of University Honors and the Omega Chi Epsilon Honors Society. Katherine is also a graduate from the Flexus living and learning program and has volunteered for many Women in Engineering events, including the WIE DREAM conference. She has also served as a teaching fellow for several ChBE courses, and is an undergraduate researcher in the Karlsson Lab. After graduation, Katherine plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering with research interests in drug delivery and bioengineering/biotechnology.

Published May 12, 2020