Back of the Yards, McKinley Park Students Receive Incentive Awards for Undergraduate Engineering Studies

Pictured above Victor Cueto and Cristina Liang, both attending University of Illinois at Chicago

Students from Back of the Yards and McKinley Park were among the 106 Chicago students admitted to an accredited college or university engineering program who received renewable Incentive Awards from the Chicago Engineers’ Foundation of the Union League Club of Chicago recently.

For the 2012-2013 academic year, 52 rising college freshmen, 21 sophomores, 12 juniors, 18 seniors and three 2012 college graduates received Incentive Awards from the Foundation.

“America needs a cadre of well educated professional engineers to design and create the infrastructure, systems and products of the future so our nation can continue to compete in the fast changing world economy. We’re dedicated to encouraging Chicago young people to pursue engineering careers by recognizing their talents and providing them with financial assistance for their studies,” said William Nissen, president of the Chicago Engineers’ Foundation.

The Foundation, one of three independent philanthropic organizations associated with the Union League Club of Chicago, assists young people who aspire to the engineering profession by providing renewable financial Incentive Awards for their undergraduate college or university education.

This year, $91,500 was awarded to 106 students at a recent reception in the Union League Club of Chicago. Kurt Karnatz, president of Environmental Systems Design, Inc., a Chicago-based international engineering and design firm, addressed the 180 attending students, parents and members of the Foundation.

Focusing on engineering as a career, Karnatz described some of the challenging projects he and his firm have undertaken, including Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia, which will be the world’s tallest building; the Masdar Headquarters building in Abu Dhabi, designed as the world’s first large scale net zero energy building; and the Mansueto Library at the University of Chicago, a unique glass domed structure requiring exact temperature and humidity controls to preserve rare books.

The Chicago Engineers’ Foundation Incentive Awards are renewable if the students maintain satisfactory grade point averages in their undergraduate engineering studies. In total, students in good standing can receive up to $5,000 each through the completion of an undergraduate degree, Nissen said.

“In addition, the Chicago Engineers’ Foundation encourages the awardees to form a professional network to call upon as needed as they progress in the field of engineering. And, we foster and encourage professional relationships with other engineering societies as a member of the Illinois Engineering Council’s Chicagoland Engineers Week,” Nissen explained.

Following are students who received Chicago Engineers’ Foundation Incentive Awards from the McKinley Park/Back of the Yards area:

(Freshmen and University attending in the fall)

-Ruben Estrada: Illinois Institute of Technology

-Kevin Gallegos: Iowa State University

-Stuart Gronkowski: Milwaukee School of Engineering

-Cristina Liang: University of Illinois

(Sophomores and University attending)

-Kelley McKenzie: Carroll University

(Seniors and University attending) 

-Victor Cueto: UIC

-Tanya Patino: University of Illinois