Congratulations to engineering students Katy Hammersmith and Sean McGee for their recent awards. Hammersmith, a biomedical engineering major, was named the recipient of the Helen Grenga award. McGee, an electrical engineering major, received the 2012 Tau Beta Pi award.

The Helen Grenga award was created in honor of Dr. Helen Grenga, the first woman faculty member in the College of Engineering, and celebrates the accomplishments of women in engineering. It is presented annually to a woman engineering student who has demonstrated outstanding scholarship, leadership, and service in her field and in the Tech community. Hammersmith is an undergraduate researcher in the Stem Cell Technologies Lab; an Admissions Ambassador; a mentor for the Women in Engineering Program; a member of the Biomedical Engineering Society; and a volunteer with the Foundation for the International Medical Relief of Children.

The Tau Beta Pi Cup, which some say is arguably the highest honor that an undergraduate engineering student can earn at Georgia Tech, was given to McGee. The Tau Beta Pi Cup was funded through a generous endowment from Narl Davidson, faculty ombudsman and professor emeritus of Mechanical Engineering, and his brothers in memory of their parents. Based not only on excellent scholarship, but also outstanding accomplishments and contributions, the award recognizes the top Georgia Tech engineering undergraduate who has demonstrated academic excellence, leadership, and service to the field and the Institute, and who has shown potential for continuing growth.

McGee is an electrical engineering BS/MS student at Tech and will attend the Harvard Business School. He received the E. Jo Baker Outstanding President's Scholar award and Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Award. McGee is a National Merit Scholar, a member of the Tech Honor's Program, an AMD Scholar, and co-founder of Georgia Tech StartUp, a business leadership mentoring program.