June 1, 2004

Boise State 2004 Grad Selected To Receive National Engineering Award

Stephen Klick, who graduated from Boise State University in May with a degree in mechanical engineering, has been selected to receive the Charles T. Main Award given by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). This national award recognizes a student from among U.S. engineering colleges who has demonstrated outstanding leadership and public service through involvement with a student ASME chapter. Klick will officially receive the award at the ASME’s international congress and exposition in November in Anaheim, Calif. Then his name will join the list of exceptional students from outstanding universities who have received this award since 1919. In addition to earning a 4.0 GPA, Klick served as an officer of the Boise State student ASME chapter for three years, as president this past year and previously as fund-raising chair and treasurer. He provided leadership and organizational groundwork to enable the club members to pursue extensive public service and engineering competitions, and also participated in the hands-on work of the chapter. The chapter’s public service focused on community programs to raise awareness about engineering and get kids interested in the field. The chapter helped with high school Science Competition Day at Boise State and spent more than 130 volunteer hours demonstrating a hydro-turbine and a mini-baja car design at the JASON project, which brought hundreds of elementary and middle school kids to campus. The ASME students also brought engineering projects out into the community and hosted a well-received engineering program for 38 students at a middle school in Nampa. The ASME chapter also excelled in regional competition, earning 12 technical and design awards over the past two years at the Western regional ASME design competitions. The chapter has also won first place two years in a row in the prestigious Ingersoll-Rand Competition recognizing the overall work of their chapter, which is advised by mechanical engineering professor James Ferguson. Klick previously received a bachelor’s degree in history from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn. While at Boise State, Klick worked as an undergraduate research assistant for three years for civil engineering professor Molly Gribb. In the fall, he will attend graduate school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he has been awarded a graduate research assistantship and will work on automotive power train control systems. -30- Contact James Ferguson Mechanical Engineering 208 426-3679 jferguson@boisestate.edu Media contact Pat Pyke communications and marketing 208 426-1987 ppyke@boisestate.edu