2019-2020 Outstanding Student Award Recipients are Announced!

Outstanding student awards for the 2019-2020 school year include seniors Will Fossett and Riley Barnes, juniors Callen Koiner and Hunter Lau, and sophomores, Megan Fox and Abbey Moore.

      Outstanding Senior in Mechanical Engineering: Riley Barnes

Riley Barnes is currently the lead teaching assistant for Circuits 1 (DC Circuits), Circuits 2 (AC Circuits), and Electromechanical Systems.

After graduation, he plans to work full-time as a mechanical design engineer in the aerospace industry for L3 Harris Technologies at their Greenville, TX location.

“I initially discovered my passion for mechanical design and manufacturing during my sophomore year on the Sooner Rover team, when we designed and built a new rover. Since that time, professors and colleagues in the AME program have continued to push me to grow as an engineer and a professional.  Leveraging resources in the AME program I was able to obtain a design engineer internship with Terex Corporation and this experience reinforced my desire to work as a design engineer.  The technical knowledge and lessons I’ve learned in AME are truly invaluable and will remain with me throughout my career.

         Outstanding Senior in Aerospace Engineering: Will Fossett

 Will Fossett is part of Sigma Gamma Tau, the national aerospace engineering honor society. He is also a team member of OU’s DBF, where he worked on static stability analysis, structural analysis, and construction of the fuselage and spar for the team’s aircraft. Fossett is also the teaching assistant for AME 3333 Flight Mechanics.

After graduation, he will be working in the Electronics and Payloads division at Northrop Grumman in Oklahoma City.

“OU’s AME program has introduced us to each of the primary fields of aerospace, such as propulsion, structures, aerodynamics, and flight controls. These classes allowed us to experience the basics of these fields so that we can understand what fields we are interested in and have aptitudes for. By introducing us to many different aspects of aerospace, the OU AME program has allowed me to find the aspects of aerospace that truly interest me.”

     Outstanding Junior in Aerospace Engineering: Callen Koiner

After graduation, Callen Koiner plans on furthering his education by pursuing a Master’s degree so that he can better understand how to design components for the next generation of air and space vehicles to help push humanity further than ever before.

“Ever since I was a kid, I have always been interested in the science of flight. I chose Aerospace Engineering because it allowed me to develop an understanding of all the different mechanisms of flight through the help of many different professors and faculty during my time at OU.”

   Outstanding Junior in Mechanical Engineering: Hunter Lau

After graduation, Hunter Lau hopes to enroll in the University of Oklahoma Medical school to pursue an MD.

“I am studying mechanical engineering in order to have the broadest and representative understanding of the Engineering field! I enjoy learning the variety of topics Mechanical Engineering has to offer including circuits, solid/fluid mechanics, heat transfer, biomechanics, and computational analysis.”

Outstanding Sophomore in Aerospace Engineering: Megan Fox

In the future, Megan Fox hopes to work on military aircraft and bring innovative ideas to an ever-evolving field.

“My natural curiosity and instinctive need to explore the universe have led me to know that aerospace engineering has always been my calling. Choosing my major may have been a simple decision, but I fell in love with it in a way I never expected. I came to love my major because of the way that it requires creativity. When it comes to exploring the universe, there will always be more questions than answers, and I’ve learned that sometimes the best solutions come from the most unexpected ideas. Building gliders and rockets has shown me that there is never an exact solution, but applying ideas and principles in an innovative way is how progress is made. Every time I see my ideas in action, I am reassured that I am in the right major.”

Outstanding Sophomore in Mechanical Engineering: Abbey Moore

After graduation, Abbey Moore plans to continue working at NASA’s Johnson Space Center where she can work on the next generation of spacesuits and support NASA’s return to the Moon.

“I’m studying mechanical engineering because I love the range of tools– from fluids and solids to design and analysis– that it gives me to address complex and dynamic problems.”