On October 20, 2023 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) faculty, staff, and honored guests gathered to celebrate 2023-2024 scholarship award recipients. 154 ECE-funded scholarships totaling $504,250 have been awarded to 110 undergraduate electrical and computer engineering students.
ECE Department Chair and Philip Dunham Reed Professor Susan Hagness led the program by recognizing the recipients as well as alumni and friends of the department who have made gifts to scholarship funds, “We are filled with immense pride seeing the extraordinary accomplishments of our students, and we are simultaneously filled with immense gratitude to the donors who have made these awards possible. The decision to create each of these scholarships reflects a generous donor’s belief in the power of education and exploration to drive change in the world.”
Hagness went on to address the group of recipients specifically, “Each one of our scholarship recipients holds the potential to make a lasting impact in this rapidly evolving field. Your innovations have the potential to improve lives, create opportunities, and solve some of society’s most pressing problems. With these scholarships, we aim to fuel your ambition, enabling you to focus on your studies, research, and projects.”
Sofya Akhetova, a senior studying both Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, presented remarks at the event as well. Akhetova, who was the recipient of the William and Beverly Zarnstorff University League Scholarship, shared, “While the immediate impact of scholarships is often seen in the individual stories of recipients like mine, the broader implication is profound and far-reaching. Scholarships such as these serve as pillars of support not just for the individual beneficiaries but for the entire student community. They nurture dreams, alleviate burdens, and pave the way for us to dive into our passions with undivided attention.”
Images by Todd Brown, UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health – Media Solutions