Chaz Goodwine ’13 receives the RPI Founders Award of Excellence

Sigma Chi graduate student Chaz Goodwine ’13 receives the RPI Founders Award of Excellence.

The 24rd Annual Honors Convocation was held on Saturday, October 28, 2017 at the RPI EMPAC. The Rensselaer’s Founders Award of Excellence is the highest honor of the Convocation ceremony.

The Founders Award of Excellence was established in 1994 to honor students who embody qualities of creativity, discovery, leadership, and the values of pride and responsibility at Rensselaer. The award consists of a special certificate, recognition by faculty, staff, and peers at the Honors Convocation ceremony, and a cash prize. Approximately 70 wonderful graduate or undergraduate students – about one percent of our student population – are honored each year as winners of Rensselaer’s Founders Award of Excellence.

Criteria for the Founders Award of Excellence nominees include demonstration of all of the following characteristics:

• Strong academic performance. Candidates should be in the top 10% of their respective class.
• Pride and responsibility in all aspects of her or his life at Rensselaer.
• Outstanding leadership skills exhibiting discretion, judgment, and well-rounded regard for the opinions of others.
• Originality and imagination that may be evidenced by the potential to solve problems and possess skills to promote new ideas and theories in his or her field of study.

Chaz plans to graduate in 2018 with his Ph.D. in chemical engineering.  In 2013, Sigma Chi Charles Carletta ’14 was also recognized with the Founders Award of Excellence.