Southern Polytechnic State University: Home to State's Engineering, Engineering Technology Students of the Year

MARIETTA, Ga., Feb. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the second consecutive year, Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU) students have been selected by the Georgia Engineering Alliance (GEA) to receive both the Engineering Student of the Year and the Engineering Technology Student of the Year. These prestigious awards will be presented during the GEA's 2012 Georgia Engineers Week Awards Gala on Feb. 25. No other institution in recent history has been honored with both of these student awards.

Garrett Bailey, a senior majoring in mechatronics engineering, is the state's Engineering Student of the Year, while Christopher Cutter, a senior in mechanical engineering technology (MET), is the Engineering Technology Student of the Year.

Bailey recently became the first recipient of SPSU's new Engineering Innovation Scholarship, and he has maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout his time at SPSU. A non-traditional student, he holds a degree in philosophy from Georgia State University and, among other pursuits, worked as a ferryman on Martha's Vineyard for several years before coming to SPSU.

Cutter's 3.46 GPA places him in the top 15 percent of seniors in the MET program, and he has made the Dean's List and received a Georgia Engineering Foundation Scholarship for the past two years. He is secretary of the campus chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers and is active on the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Team.

"Chris is a bright and determined student, someone who always takes the initiative and is not a follower," wrote one of his professors in nominating him for the GEA award. "He has a very special personality."

Georgia Engineers Week will be celebrated Feb. 20-25.

SOURCE Southern Polytechnic State University