Four ECE students part of Senior 100 Honorary

The Student Alumni Ambassadors and the University of IllinoisAlumni Association recently announced their selections for the 2007 Senior 100 Honorary. ECE students Alex Kaplan, Benjamin Krop, David Tabriz, and Rahil Jogani were among those honored for their academic standing as well as their involvement and leadership throughout the campus and Champaign-Urbana.

Alex Kaplan transferred to the University his sophomore year from the University of Cincinnati, where he worked with Habitat for Humanity and the Salvation Army. While at Illinois, Kaplan continued to take part in Habitat for Humanity activities and became a member of the Eta Kappa Nu fraternity. He also served as a branch manager for the College Works Painting program internship over the summer and a maintenance and reliability engineer with Lyondell/Equistar Chemicals. Kaplan, a James Scholar and Bronze Tablet recipient, received the John Bardeen Award and the Brian and Sophie Leung Scholarship through the ECE Department.

Over the past four years, Benjamin Krop has held many positions on campus and participated in a variety of extracurricular activities. He has served as a research assistant in both the EM Lab, under ECE Jose E Schutt-Aine, and the Lidar Atmospheric Lab, under ECE Gary R Swenson. In addition, he has completed summer internships at Panduit Corporation, LOLA LLC, and GE Healthcare, where he was honored as manager of the summer. Krop, a James Scholar, is a member of the ACACIA Fraternity and was granted the VP Scholarship through the Interfraternity council. He has also received the Jules D. Falzer Scholarship through ECE, first place in Accenture's campus innovation competition, and participated in the Cisco Leadership Diversity Program.

David Tabriz has participated in a variety of activities since he arrived at the University. In 2004, he co-founded the Illini Investment Club and served as the treasurer. Tabriz also served as a resident advisor at the Illinois Street Residence Hall for two years, being named the MVP resident advisor at Townsend Hall in 2006. He was a summer intern for the Motorola Corporation in 2005 and is currently volunteering at Provena Covenant Medical Center. Tabriz served as a research assistant for Dr. Esmail Meisami, researching the hypothyrodic effects on perinatal rat brain development, and for ECE Stephen Allen Boppart, looking at the feasibility of non-invasive blood viscosity measurements through pulse oximetry. He made the Dean’s List in 2004 and 2006.

During his time at the University, Rahil Jogani has displayed his leadership through a variety of activities. He has been a member of the Biomedical Engineering Society since 2003, the Engineering Council academic programs committee and awards committee since 2005, the Illinois Cricket Board since 2006, and the Eta Kappa Nu ECE Honor Society since 2005. In addition, Jogani has completed more than 100 hours of community service to date, participating in a range of organizations. He has worked for Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., as well as the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. He has served as an engineering learning assistant for ENG 100, an undergraduate teaching assistant for ECE 110, and an undergraduate grader for ECE 210. Jogani, who is currently researching the integration of a surgical microscope with optical coherence tomography, has been a James Scholar and made the Dean’s List every semester since he arrived on campus. This year alone he has received the Bronze Tablet, the Harvey H. Jordan Award, and the Marcia Peterman Award.

To apply for the 2007 Senior 100 Honorary, students must have a minimum of 90 credit hours and must be graduating in May, August, or December.

The honorees were recognized for their achievements at the Senior 100 Honorary Banquet at the Illini Union on Sunday, April 15.