May 22, 2016
Aerospace engineering graduate Ruifei Wang was selected to receive the spring 2016 Cockrell School of Engineering Outstanding Scholar/Leader Award. Only one student from the Cockrell School is selected each semester to receive the competitive award. Dean Sharon Wood presented him with the award at the Cockrell School Commencement on May 20.
Wang graduated with two degrees – a B.S. in aerospace engineering and a B.S. in biochemistry – ranking first among his aerospace engineering class.
During his time as an undergraduate student in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at UT Austin, Wang was involved in extracurricular activities, volunteered in many capacities and took on a variety of leadership roles.
Wang immediately became involved with student projects during his freshman year when he joined the Design/Build/Fly team. That year he also took an internship with the NASA Ames Research Center. During his time there, Wang worked in Intelligent Robitics Group handling android code and robots.
During his sophomore year, he worked on the research team in the Texas Spacecraft Laboratory where he worked on communications sub-systems. The following year he worked as a research assistant with Dr. Lauren Webb in Physical Chemistry, where he won a research fellowship for his research work on protein electrostatics.
Throughout the majority of his student career, Wang was also active in the United States Air Force ROTC (AFROTC) program. He received a scholarship from the Society of American Military Engineers and became Vice Wing Commander, making him second in command of UT Austin’s AFROTC program. He later went on to become a Flight Commander and learned how to train small groups of first-year cadets.
Wang was also involved in several outreach activities, which included traveling abroad to Nicaragua and Honduras with Global Public Health Brigades, a non-profit organization that works with community members on health and sustainable development.
Wang has plans to attend the Baylor College of Medicine after graduating to pursue an MD. Once he completes medical school, he intends to practice medicine in the Air Force.
