Each year, the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership proudly recognizes the outstanding achievements of our students by presenting two awards to seniors whose qualities of character, leadership and responsibility have been outstanding during their undergraduate years at Rice University.
Awards
2025 Winner
Robert H. Parks
Prize for Excellence in Engineering Leadership
The Parks Prize is given annually to a graduating engineering student who displays exemplary leadership qualities and experience as an undergraduate student at Rice University, both in and outside of the classroom. The award comes with a $5,000 prize and is intended for students who plan to pursue a career in industry. Candidates must be a U.S. Citizen.
This award is made possible by the generous support of Robert H. Parks Jr. ’76.
| NAME | YEAR RECEIVED |
| Emily Aspey ’25 | 2025 |
| Bryant Ruff ’24 | 2024 |
| Joseph Urso ’23 | 2023 |
| Juan De La Garza ’22 | 2022 |
| Katelyn Givan ’21 | 2021 |
| Tiffany Bauman ’20 | 2020 |
| Kevin Sterling Zhang ’19 | 2019 |
| Jacob Behling ’18 | 2018 |
| Kelly Kidder ’17 | 2017 |
| Teju Kishore ’16 | 2016 |
| Lindsey Witte ’15 | 2015 |
| Tolulope “Tolu” Akinwumi ’14 | 2014 |
2025 Winner
RCEL Award for Engineering Leadership
This award is given annually to a graduating Rice engineering student who displays exemplary leadership qualities and experience as an undergraduate student at Rice University, both in and outside of the classroom. The award comes with $3,500 prize.
|
NAME |
YEAR RECEIVED |
|
Nathan Morriss ’25 |
2025 |
|
Katie Hart ’24 Jackson Hughes ’24 |
2024 |
|
Derin Okunubi ’23 |
2023 |
|
Jade McAdams ’22 |
2022 |
|
Ryan Udell ’21 |
2021 |
|
Alejandro Toscano Rodriguez ’20 |
2020 |
|
Gigi Rill ’19 |
2019 |
|
Andrew Gatherer ’18 |
2018 |
|
Andrew “Drew” Petty ’17 |
2017 |
|
Colin C. Shaw ’16 |
2016 |
|
Adrian Bizzaro ’15 |
2015 |
Scholarships
Catherine Bracken Internship Assistance Scholarship
Awarded annually to female Rice engineers undertaking summer internships in a high-cost-of-living area, the Catherine Bracken Internship Assistance Scholarship grants $500-$1000 scholarships for students to use towards living expenses during their internship! These scholarships are made possible by the generous gift from Catherine Bracken ’79.
|
NAME |
YEAR RECEIVED |
|
Lucy Han |
2025 |
|
Vivian Li |
2024 |
|
Emily Aspey |
2023 |
|
Bryn Gerwin |
2022 |
|
|
2021 |
|
Amy Huyen ’21 |
2020 |