Purpose

The MAE Department has a rich heritage which reaches back over one hundred years and encompasses a number of ancestor departments including Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanics, and Engineering Science. The alumni of the MAE Department and its forebears have traveled many roads since their graduation, and are a part of the University’s worldwide Gator Nation.  Students passing through our programs often wonder about how their careers will develop and whether their dedication and devotion to the highly technical aspects of engineering will provide a sound basis for success over a career that will span many years.

One beacon to light the way for our current students and to inspire them to do great things themselves, no matter where their career path leads, is the excitement generated by our many successful people that have come before them. To recognize exceptional personal and professional achievements of alumni of the MAE Department that brings credit to the alma mater and stimulates our newer members, we have created the annual MAE Distinguished Alumnus Award.

The MAE program is a particularly demanding one and success in navigating it shows one’s potential for making contributions not only as technical innovators, but also as business, government, and civic leaders.  Each year we seek to honor a select group of alumni who, by extraordinary effort, unusually creative endeavors, and remarkable success in whatever enterprise they set their hands to, are worthy exemplars of and ambassadors for the MAE department and all its alumni.

Description

The Distinguished Alumnus Award is the highest honor the MAE Department bestows upon an alumnus/a and is in recognition of a particular achievement of noteworthy value, a series of such achievements, or a career of noteworthy accomplishments.

The Department will establish the alumnus award under two categories. The Distinguished Young Alumnus Award is established to recognize the budding accomplishments of young alumni.  The Distinguished Alumnus Award is established to recognize the significant accomplishments of senior alumni.

Process

Each year a call for nomination will be issued and widely circulated among faculty, alumni, and friends. Nominations will close by a pre-announced deadline.  All eligible nominations will be considered by a committee appointed by the Chair of the Department and the committee will make final recommendations.  Decisions will be made by February of each year and communicated to the award winners.  The awards will be bestowed on the awardees at the MAE Annual Awards Banquet in April.

Guidelines

• Nominations will be automatically considered for three years.  If another nomination is submitted, we will evaluate the most recent nomination packet.
• Current UF faculty are not eligible for the Alumni Award
• Distinguished Young Alumnus are approximately within 20 yrs. of graduating with their BS  

Nomination Form

Academy of Distinguished Alumni