National conference recognizes NSBE

Modupe Edogan, a fourth-year Biomedical Engineering major, took home the Distinguished Member Award of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) last week at the organization's national convention in Columbus, OH. In addition, Tech's team of undergraduates placed second overall at NSBE's Academic Technical Bowl, and the local chapter was named National Large Chapter of the Year.

"I was really excited about being selected for this award," Edogan said.

She was selected for the award, the highest given to any student member of NSBE, because of his accomplishments and dedication to the organization.

In order to qualify for the award, a member must have a minimum GPA of 3.2 and answer three essay questions regarding involvement in NSBE, career plans and the future of NSBE.

During her Tech career, Edogan has served as regional conference planning chair, chapter president, vice president and treasurer.

"NSBE is a great organization and is one of the reasons why I decided to attend Georgia Tech and the way that I first heard about biomedical engineering as a major," Edogan said.

Edogan was also proud of Tech's National Large Chapter of the Year award and the chapter's success in the Academic Technical Bowl. NSBE is divided into 300 national chapters, where Large Chapters have over 50 members.

As a chapter, NSBE is required to submit documentation to the national office for every project and activity that they do. The national office then grades their types of projects and success of those projects when deciding which college chapters win awards.

"Programs like Project HONOR, our trip with AASU to New Orleans, the annual GTSBE career fair in the spring, the fact that we work with eight high school NSBE junior chapters and our weekly community service hours at the Intel Computer Clubhouse at the Harland Boys and Girls Club are all reasons why we were able to receive this award," Edogan said.

Edogan said that success in the Academic Technical Bowl was a result of strong competition against teams like the University of Florida, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County and Texas A&M. Tech lost in a close match to MIT in the final round.

NSBE is split into six regions across the country and each region holds its own version of the conference. The Tech chapter of NSBE competed against other colleges in their region for top honors at the awards conference in Columbus, Ohio.

Team members were students Khalil Thomas, James Hall, Ronnie Hudson, Josh Wilkerson and student coach Alex Jackson. They answered on topics such as physics, circuits, materials science and NSBE history to win their top honors at the convention.

Also at the convention, Gordon Moore, director of the Office of Minority Education (OMED), was named Outstanding Minority Engineering Program Director, and Birdell Jackson, a College of Civil and Environmental Engineering alumnus, received the Golden Torch Award for Entrepreneur of the Year.

This is another example of how student organizations have been recognized for their impact on campus.