2017 Founders Award of Excellence Nominations

The 24th Annual Honors Convocation will be held on Saturday, October 28, 2017 at 10 a.m. Once again, the Founders Award Committee is asking for your assistance in identifying candidates for Rensselaer's Founders Award of Excellence, the highest honor of the Convocation ceremony.

The Founders Award of Excellence was established in 1994 to honor students who embody qualities of creativity, discovery, leadership, and the values of pride and responsibility at Rensselaer. The award consists of a special certificate, recognition by faculty, staff, and peers at the Honors Convocation ceremony, and a cash prize. Approximately 70 wonderful graduate or undergraduate students - about one percent of our student population - are honored each year as winners of Rensselaer's Founders Award of Excellence. We need your assistance to identify the next group.

Nominees for the Founders Award of Excellence should demonstrate all of the characteristics displayed below:

Strong academic performance. Candidates should be in the top 10% of their respective class.
Pride and responsibility in all aspects of her or his life at Rensselaer.
Outstanding leadership skills exhibiting discretion, judgment, and well-rounded regard for the opinions of others.
Originality and imagination that may be evidenced by the potential to solve problems and possess skills to promote new ideas and theories in his or her field of study.

Eligible nominees must be enrolled in one of the following categories in the Fall Semester of 2017:
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Fifth-year Architecture student
Graduate student (full or part-time)

Students may receive the Founders Award of Excellence only once during their tenure at Rensselaer. For a list of students who have already received a founder's award, please go to http://scer.rpi.edu/university-events/honors-convocation-past-winners.

Nominations can be submitted at https://webforms.rpi.edu/founders-award and should be completed no later than August 1. Nominators are required to submit supporting documentation with the Nomination Form or ask others to join in endorsing an excellent candidate.  A nomination may be supported by more than one nominator.  All nominations must have a letter of recommendation from the person submitting the nomination.   

Founders Award Committee:

Michael Hanna, Committee Chair Associate Professor of Biological Sciences and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education

Agung Julius Associate Professor of the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering

Kathleen Ruiz Associate Professor of Arts

Louis Trzepacz Associate Dean, Student Experience

For questions regarding the award, please contact committee chair Michael Hanna at hannam@rpi.edu.