Top Stanford Engineering Students Share Their Graduation Spotlight With the Beloved K-12 Teachers Who Got Them There.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Behind every top graduating senior at the Stanford School of Engineering is an influential teacher who helped inspire the student to be the best. The school honored the 22 students (the top 5 percent) at the top of the class, and the teachers those students chose to share their Frederick Emmons Terman Scholastic Achievement Awards, at a recent ceremony on campus attended by teachers from across the U.S. and overseas.

"Students who win Terman awards are the academic stars of the School of Engineering at Stanford," says Stanford Engineering Dean Jim Plummer. "For each of them a teacher in high school, or perhaps even middle school, had a profound impact on them, encouraging them to be the best they could possibly be. We're delighted that these awards recognize both the student and a critical teacher in that student's career."

Back in the 1950s, then Dean Frederick Emmons Terman created an endowment from his speaking fees to recognize undergraduate achievers in the school, and their most influential teachers from the past. The funds are used to fund not only the luncheon but also the travel and accommodations of the secondary school teachers named by the awardees. This year, the invited teachers traveled from cities as near as San Jose and Larkspur, CA, and as distant as Singapore, Tokyo, and Hong Kong for the May 6 award ceremony. The students' Stanford faculty advisors were also honored.

Though the major rationale for creating the award was to applaud the significant achievement of the students, Plummer explains, another goal was to recognize the profound influence teachers can have on the students who pass through their classrooms. These students who have shown such excellence at Stanford, he said, are inspired to achieve and imagine by someone who cares long before they get to a university.

One would expect engineering students to have only been mentored by their high school math and computer-science teachers, but some were more deeply impacted by their French, cinema, or music instructors. A few go even farther back in finding their most influential teacher: Kristi Lin from Shoreline, WA, was computer science major Nathan Penner's first to third grade teacher. She apparently inspired a love of school and learning that has remained an integral part of Nathan ever since, Penner says.

Wataru Ebina's guest, Kathleen Krauth, taught him Japanese history at the American School. The multi-faceted version of World War II that she presented to the students varied dramatically from that taught in Japanese schools. Her approach shocked and awoke Wataru to a realization that learning was not a rote process but an exciting and worthwhile pursuit.

While many of the teachers expressed surprise at being recognized by their past students, they said they were pleased to be a part of the event. In all 18 teachers and 17 Stanford advisors attended.

The 2006 Terman Award winners are listed below, followed by the name of their teacher and location of their high school:

Biomedical Computation major: Alexander M. Chan (Dean Karagianes, Sacramento, CA)

Chemical Engineering majors: Wataru Ebina (Kathleen Krauth, Tokyo, Japan); Albert Keung (Jane Ezbicki, Wayland, MA); Qing Yuan Ong (Chai May Yong, Singapore)

Computer Science majors: Joseph C. Bonneau (Michael Kelemen, Larkspur, CA); John C. Duchi (Jeff Reinhardt, Upper Arlington, OH); Donghyun Daniel Kim (Soon-Young So, South Korea); Max Mednick (Ted Walch, North Hollywood, CA); Isil Ozgener (Brian Swan, Woodinville, WA); Nathan R. Penner (Kristi Lin, Shorline, WA); James K. Rodgers (Jane Backer, Boulder, CO); Daniel A. Salinas (David Wood, Weslaco, TX); Julie C. Tung (Barbara Swovelin, Carlsbad, CA); Chenli Wang (James Voytas, Cleveland, OH)

Electrical Engineering majors: Tim T. Chang (Cheryl Unland, San Jose, CA); Eric Yan Chu (Henry Chen, Taiwan); Joel Goh (Fabiola Soong, Singapore); Grace Pan Gu (Chengxiang Wang, Zhejiang, China); Timothy J. Tsai (Norm Liden, Franktown, CO); Jesse W. Young (Beverly Henderson, Kent, WA)

Mechanical Engineering majors: Chuen Chou (Johari Nur, Singapore); Taylor M. Keep (David Wood, Dallas, TX)

RELEVANT WEB URLS:

FREDERICK EMMONS TERMAN SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

http://soe.stanford.edu/about/terman_scholastic_awards.html