TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The University of Alabama College of Engineering named mechanical engineering major Heather Hendrix as the UA 2002 engineering student of the year at the Engineering Council of Birmingham’s 44th annual awards banquet.

Hendrix, a Dothan native, interned with ACIPCO and Southern Nuclear Operating Co. She is a member of the Society of Women Engineers 2003 national conference committee working on “Explore Engineering,” an outreach program for more than 200 high school students, and has worked on two American Society of Mechanical Engineers diversity action grants to introduce high school women to engineering.

Her research is in the area of fastening and joining in reduced gravity, and she plans to fly an experiment on the KC-135, a NASA aircraft. Hendrix also has submitted a paper on the mobility of a child with spina bifida to the ASME BioEngineering summer meeting.

College of Engineering departmental honors also went to:

• Jeffrey Carroll -- electrical and computer engineering department student of the year. The Hoover native is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Tau Beta Pi honor society, Eta Kappa Nu electrical engineering honor society, the Million Dollar Band and Alabama Wind Ensemble. His research includes remote control of an electric motor using Real Time Linux and Wave Equation.
   
• Joshua Carroll -- chemical engineering department student of the year. He is a member of the Southern Nuclear Leadership Association, Tau Beta Pi honor society and Omega Chi Epsilon chemical engineering honor society. Carroll, a Kennedy native, received a National Academy for Nuclear Training Scholarship and has participated in Cooperative Education with Southern Nuclear Operating Co.
   
• Robert Davis -- aerospace engineering and mechanics department student of the year. A Montgomery native, Davis is a Blount Presidential Scholar and is earning a minor in the computer-based honors program. He has performed research with Dr. Stanley Jones, research professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics, in improving the performance of projectiles for the Air Force. Davis is the co-author of an article to appear in the Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science.
   
• Christy Rogers -- civil and environmental engineering department student of the year. The Athens native has interned with Gallet and Associates, the Stormwater Management Authority and Saiia Construction. She has received a University Transportation Center scholarship and is vice president for membership for UA’s chapter of American Society of Civil Engineers.
   
• Tonita Romero -- industrial engineering department student of the year. The Prattville native is a Presidential Scholar, a member of XXXI honorary and president of Alpha Pi Mu industrial engineering honor society. Romero is a Capstone Men and Women ambassador, the executive secretary for the UA Student Government Association and has served as a senator for the College.

In 1837, UA became the first university in the state to offer engineering classes and was one of the first five in the nation to do so. Today, the College of Engineering, with about 1,900 students and more than 90 faculty, is one of the three oldest continuously operating engineering programs in the country and has been fully accredited since accreditation standards were implemented in the 1930s.