Mechanical and Aerospace Graduating Senior awarded prestigious Tau Beta Pi Fellowship for Graduate Studies

Paul J. Rossetti, a current undergraduate and future graduate student in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department, was recently awarded a $10,000 Tau Beta Pi fellowship for advanced study in physics of fluids. Among his accolades is having earned a 4.0 cumulative grade point average throughout his entire undergraduate career at UC Irvine. Mr. Rossetti will be attending graduate school at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering beginning in Fall 2004, pursuing a PhD. Only thirty five out of an applicant pool of 306 were chosen for the fellowships.

Rossetti, who has participated in research as an undergraduate, plans on studying the fundamentals of high-speed fluid mechanics and thermodynamics from an experimental investigation. As a graduate student, he will most likely be linked with Professor and Chair of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, Dimitri Papamoschou, conducting research on supersonic nozzles.

The Fellowship Board of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society, announced the selection of 35 young engineering graduates from 306 applicants for graduate fellowships in 2004-05. Fifteen of the year's winners will receive cash stipend of $10,000 for their advanced study; the others do not need financial aid from Tau Beta Pi. All Tau Beta Pi Fellowships are awarded on the competitive criteria of high scholarship, campus leadership and service, and promise of future contributions to the engineering profession. All fellows are members of Tau Beta Pi and may do their graduate work at any institution they choose.

Seven of the winners will study electrical engineering, four biomedical engineering, four chemical engineering, three mechanical engineering, three structural engineering, two environmental engineering, and two aerospace engineering. The others have chosen to study law, physics of fluids, robotics, transportation technology and policy, and aeronautical & astronautical, civil, computer, and financial engineering. Two will pursue an MBA.