The Founders Award Committee is asking for your assistance in identifying candidates for Rensselaer's Founders Award of Excellence, the highest honor given at the annual Honors Convocation ceremony.

The Founders Award of Excellence was established in 1994 to honor students who embody the qualities of creativity, discovery, and leadership, and the values of pride and responsibility at Rensselaer. The award consists of a special certificate, recognition by faculty, staff, and peers at the Honors Convocation ceremony, and a cash prize. Approximately 70 wonderful graduate or undergraduate students – about 1% of our student population – are honored each year as winners of Rensselaer’s Founders Award of Excellence. We need your assistance to identify the next group.

Nominees for the Founders Award should demonstrate all of the characteristics below:

Candidates should have a strong academic performance and be in the top 10% of their respective class. They should exhibit pride and responsibility in all aspects of their life at Rensselaer and have outstanding leadership skills. They should also demonstrate good judgment and have well-rounded regard for the opinions of others. Originality and imagination, that may be evidenced by the potential to solve problems and promote new ideas and theories in their field of study, is desired.

Eligible nominees must be enrolled as a sophomore, junior, senior, fifth-year architecture student, or graduate student in the fall semester of 2023.

Nominations should be submitted via web form no later than August 15. Nominators are required to submit supporting documentation with the nomination form or ask others to join in endorsing an excellent candidate. A nomination may be supported by more than one nominator. All nominations must have a letter of recommendation from the person submitting the nomination.

The Founders Award will be given out at Honors Convocation during Family Weekend. Nominators are encouraged to attend Convocation on Saturday, October 28, at 10 a.m. More information will be sent out in late August with instructions on how to register to attend.

Founders Award Committee:
— Louis Trzepacz, Committee Chair, Dean, Office of Student Success
— Sibel Adali, Associate Dean of Science for Research and Graduate Studies
— Agung Julius, Professor of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering
— Kathleen Ruiz, Associate Professor of Arts

For questions regarding the award, please contact Committee Chair Louis Trzepacz at trzepj@rpi.edu.