ECE faculty, students and staff celebrated the end of the year with a picnic and awards ceremony on the oval of EBII, Friday afternoon, April 4, 2007.  Tekelec sponsored this great picnic.

Fun was had by all at this picnic where over 400 students, faculty and staff enjoyed barbeque, fried chicken, hummus, salad and all the fixings.  Dean Louis Martin-Vega addressed the large crowd encouraging these types of departmental social activities.

Dr. Joel Trussell, Director of Graduate Programs, volunteered to be auctioned off in the Dunking booth which was a big hit with students.  Dr. Greg Byrd and Dr. Rhett Davis were also great sports and participated in the dunking booth festivities, all getting very wet by the end of the night.

The following awards were presented at this year’s picnic:

Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher of the Year, voted on by the ECE undergraduate students, went to Dr. Griff Bilbro

Outstanding Graduate Teacher of the Year, voted on by the ECE graduate students, went to Dr. Paul Franzon

Most Helpful Out of Class Award, voted on by all ECE students, went to Dr. Paul Franzon

Most Valuable Person (MVP) in ECE went to Tara Britt, Director of Administration & External Relations

Outstanding Student Service Awards were presented to graduate student Matt Craver and undergraduate student Saket Vora

Outstanding Student Leader Awards went to:

• Glen Garner: President of HKN
• Michael Alligood: President of IEEE
• Andrew Pita:  President of SHPE
• Kyle Luthy: President of GSA

Outstanding TA of the Year Award, voted on by all ECE students, went to Vinayak Sudhakar Devasthali

Fun awards went to the following:

All Nighter:  Yannis Viniotis

Open Door Award: Michael Escuti

The Joker:  Paul Franzon

Athletic Supporter of the Year: Veena Misra

Most Athletic:  Gianluca Lazzi

Best Dressed Award:  Michael Steer

Father Goose:  Mo-Yuen Chow

Musician of the Year:  Mehmet Ozturk

Best Hair Award: Rhett Davis

Zoom Zoom Zoom Award for Hot Cars: Tom Conte

Helping Hand Award: David Lassiter

Prowliing Practioner: Rudy Salas

Mr. Rogers Award: Griff Bilbro