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May
22, 2004, 16S:
Special Commencement Issue
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Bechtel
Achievement Award: Emery
Sanford, ME
Bechtel
Engineering Scholarship:
Austin Minnich, Eng. Science
Departmental
Citation Winners:
Ryan Doan, BioE
Sarah Gidding, CEE
Kevin Simler, EECS
Olivia Or, Eng. Science
Anthony Paganini, IEOR
Priam Pillai, MSE
Matt Panzer, ME
Ryan Hannink, NE
Other
Departmental Awards
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Photo
by Nick Lammers
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Bechtel Achievement
Award: Emery Sanford
Emery Sanford came to Berkeley
from landlocked Wisconsin for the academics, but also for the yearround
sailing. Since then, his four years have been anchored by a steady routine
of sailing team practice three days a week for five hours a day. He dreams
of one day sailing in a race to Hawaii.
When not out navigating the choppy waters of San Francisco Bay, Emery
takes advantage of his land time by playing intermural soccer and participating
in the ME honor society Pi Tau Sigma.
Ironically, the time Emery devotes to his sports activities has been good
for his school work. He finds that the regimented schedule helps with
maximizing his time management skills.
“I can’t procrastinate my work because I have such a rigid schedule.
If I don’t do it now, I won’t have the time to do it later.
I find that the busier I am, the easier it is to manage my time,”
he says.
Despite his ability to juggle many activities, Emery feels that four years
at Berkeley just weren’t enough to do the things he wanted to do
and take the classes that interested him.
“I wish I wasn’t graduating so I could take the interesting
classes I missed out on and get involved in research,” he says.
That’s not to say he hasn’t taken some interesting classes.
His favorite was an advanced computer design class where he often stayed
up until 4 a.m. modeling a gas engine on the computer.
While engineering doesn’t run in his blood (with a dad who works
as a personnel manager of a public television station and a mom who retired
from a public relations job with the Wisconsin Public Library) Emery says
he was destined to be an engineer. As a child he spent many hours taking
things apart in his basement to see how they worked. He participated in
his high school’s cutting-edge engineering program and joined the
school’s supermileage vehicle team. Senior year he became the team’s
head engineer and mechanic.
That job was satisfying to Emery, who loves working with his hands and
has spent summers in boat shops fixing sailboats as well as teaching sailing
at yacht clubs in Madison, Wisconsin, and San Diego.
Few things are as satisfying to Emery as having a tangible physical product
to show for his work. That’s why he’s searching for jobs in
the product design and development field.
Emery will never forget the time he got his first midterm back freshman
year. He only got 45 percent of the test correct, but the curve turned
it into an A.
“It was a wake-up call. I realized that this experience wasn’t
going to be like high school. The academic level was much higher. I decided
to do my best no matter how hard it was going to be and that it would
all work out,” he says.
The fact that it all worked out so well gives Emery confidence to face
any challenge that comes his way in the professional world.
“Engineering school was such a big challenge to overcome that I now
feel I could handle any engineering task or problem that comes my way.”
He describes his four years at Cal as “constant movement.”
“It all tied in with my college goals. Do well, but also have fun.”
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