GW Engineering students continue to be recognized for their academic excellence and professional promise, receiving selective scholarships across both interdisciplinary and specialized domains. This year, four students received scholarships from the Foundation of the Association of Energy Engineers (FAEE), while Rumbidzai Paradza was named a graduate student scholarship winner by the American Society for Engineering Management (ASEM).
For each student, these scholarships make a meaningful contribution to their education and professional development by removing the added pressure of financial constraints and helping to broaden their network. Simultaneously, the scholarships affirm the students’commitment to their chosen field.
“The FAEE scholarship motivates me to keep working toward a sustainable future and reassures me that I am capable of doing so. The energy industry faces many skeptics, but it is inspiring to know there are people who believe in and work toward creating a clean, energy-efficient world,” said Katherine Cruz-Orellana, a junior mechanical engineering major.
FAEE awardees hail from various academic disciplines and levels but are united by using their technical expertise to advance a clean and resilient future. Along with Cruz-Orellana, GW Engineering’s scholarship recipients include Vanessa Gbireh and John Sebastian Alvarez Fuentes, both master’s students in electrical engineering, and Bethlehem Tesfaye Mekonnen, a master’s student in engineering management.
For Cruz-Orellana, her passion for the intersection of engineering and sustainability began in high school after taking a course focused on combatting carbon emissions. Now at GW Engineering, she’s found a community of like-minded peers through student organizations, including Electric Yacht at GW, the Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers, and the co-ed professional engineering fraternity Theta Tau. Her undergraduate coursework also enables her to delve further into energy engineering and begin to apply her skills to the betterment of society.
“Engineering is the study of solving problems, so with this big problem in front of us, I want nothing more than to fix it,” Cruz-Orellana said. “With my studies at GW, I have taken incredible courses with brilliant professors who are molding me into a better engineer.”
At the graduate level, Mekonnen draws on both her academic background at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia and her practical experience working at Golden Relief Resources in her engineering management coursework. By focusing on topics such as energy systems, sustainability strategy, and climate change, she examines how organizations can manage resources more efficiently and sustainably.
Mekonnen shared that as a woman engineer, particularly a woman from Ethiopia pursuing this path, she often has to navigate spaces where she’s one of the few with a similar background. Her scholarship recognizes this, as it was awarded by FAEE’s Council on Women in Energy and Environmental Leadership, which is dedicated to supporting career development for women like her as they aim to advance, lead, and make a meaningful impact in the energy and environmental fields.
“That experience has strengthened my resolve rather than discouraged me. It has shown me how important it is to have diverse voices at the table when we are designing solutions for energy and environmental challenges,” Mekonnen said. “I hope my work contributes to a future where energy management is more sustainable and more inclusive, and where more women and international students see a clear path for themselves in this field.”
Like the FAEE awardees, Paradza aims to leverage her domain knowledge to tackle complex global issues. Her graduate research, conducted in Associate Professor Caitlin Grady’s FEWsLab, focuses on food security, exploring how nations and international institutions coordinate across sectors to prepare for disruptions and build resilience.
The combination of Paradza’s studies in engineering management at GW, her background in biosystems and agricultural engineering, and the connections she will make through ASEM will help her achieve her long-term goal of leading interdisciplinary programs that enhance food security, sustainable agriculture, and resilient infrastructure.
“The decision to go back to school, having already gained some experience in the biosystems and agricultural engineering industry, has demanded courage, perseverance, and a readiness to keep on developing,” said Paradza. “This acknowledgment gives me confidence that it is never too late to set ambitious objectives and reinforces my determination to apply engineering leadership in order to tackle the complex challenges affecting vulnerable communities, especially food insecurity and climate resilience.”