Logan Kunka Ending OSU Career with a Bang
Thursday, April 26, 2018
STILLWATER, Okla. – Logan Kunka, mechanical and aerospace engineering major, is ending his career at OSU with a bang. Kunka has been named the Sigma Gamma Tau Southwestern Region Undergraduate Award winner, DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (CSGF), and National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) honorable mention.
He will begin his master’s studies in the fall at Texas A&M University.
“MAE offers a wide variety of opportunities for me to expand my knowledge beyond what is just taught in classrooms,” said Kunka. “I was able to become heavily involved in undergraduate research, having been a Freshman Research Scholar, Wentz Research Scholar and Niblack Research Scholar. Additionally, I have been able to become involved in various organizations in the engineering college such as CEAT Student Council, Engineers Without Borders and Student Government Association. I personally have worked as an academic mentor, a teaching assistant and as an intern at the New Product Development Center. These helped lead to my summer internships at Texas A&M and Sandia National Lab.”
The Sigma Gamma Tau Undergraduate Awards serve to select outstanding Aerospace Engineering students at both the regional and national levels. SGT consists of nine different regions. As a regional winner, Kunka will receive $250, a plaque, and his name plate will be forever affixed to the award board in MAE. The national winner, who is selected from the regional winners, will receive the Ammon S. Andes National Award and an additional $750, for a total of $1,000.
“[Kunka] was particularly well-qualified for this award because he served as OSU’s SGT Chapter President and Regional Representative at the Triennial SGT Conference this past January, not to mention his stellar academic, research and extracurricular excellence,” said Dr. Kurt Pouser, assistant professor in MAE.
The DOE CSGF was established in 1991 to train and produce the country's next generation of leaders in computational science. More than 450 students have been named fellows in the time since, each a representative for computing's capacity to advance science across a variety of disciplines. Kunka was one of 26 selected this year and will receive a yearly stipend of $36,000, payment of full tuition and fees, a $5,000 academic allowance in the first fellowship year, and more.
The NSF’s GRFP recruits high-potential, early-career scientists and engineers and supports their graduate research training in STEM fields.
“There were 12,000 applicants for this program,” said Jean Van Delinder, senior associate dean of the graduate college. “Of those, 2,000 fellowships were awarded and honorable mention recognition went to 1,459 individuals.”
RELEASE CONTACT: Kylie Fanning | CEAT Marketing | 405-744-2745 | kyliecf@okstate.edu
Oklahoma State University is a modern land-grant university that prepares students for success. OSU has more than 35,000 students across its five-campus system and more than 24,000 on its combined Stillwater and Tulsa campuses, with students from all 50 states and around 120 nations. Established in 1890, Oklahoma State has graduated more than 240,000 students who have been serving the state of Oklahoma, the nation and the world.
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