Graduating senior Sathya Mathavan has been awarded the 2014 John A. Focht National Chi Epsilon Scholarship of $3500. Sathya's award recognizes her excellence in academics, ranking among the top 1% of the university in GPA while double majoring in Civil and Infrastructure Engineering, and Economics. Sathya earned a number of distinctions including Dean's List, University Scholar's Program, Honors Program in General Education, the GMU Vision Award for Academic Excellence, GMU Volgenau School of Engineering Dean's Scholarship, NVTC Daniel R. Bannister Endowed Scholarship, Booz Allen Hamilton Vision Scholarship and a BB&T Scholarship for academic achievement.
Sathya is not only an accomplished and exceptional student, however: she is also a leader in the GMU community. She devotes a significant level of effort to service in the Mason Life Program, is currently serving as president of the GMU Chapter of Chi Epsilon, and is past vice-president of the GMU chapter of Engineers for International Development. Her most recent accomplishment with Engineers for International Development was the design and implementation of a water storage facility to improve the water distribution system in San Isidro, Peru, a remote village in the Andes. Through these experiences, Sathya has honed her organizational, leadership and communication skills.
In addition to her volunteer service, Sathya has had several significant professional experiences. Beginning in June 2011, she served as an intern to the Marcatus Center where she researched, analyzed, and developed position papers on economic and environmental policy issues. During the summer of 2012, and summer of 2013 she served as an intern with Bowman Consulting and Black and Veatch respectively where she applied her technical knowledge of civil and environmental engineering to water resources and environmental engineering projects. Sathya's superior communication skills, leadership and technical expertise have resulted in success in all of her professional endeavors.
In some ways, then, it is not surprising that she has been named the commencement speaker for the Volgenau School graduation ceremonies on May 15. However, this was not awarded solely on past accomplishments. Sathya was chosen from a highly competitive field, based on her excellent communication skills. The department congratulates Sathya for adding this to her long list of distinctions at George Mason University.