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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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Engineering
Science Citation: Olivia Or
Olivia Or is one of only a handful of people in her major, Engineering
Math. But she doesn’t feel alone, even after leaving her native Hong
Kong to study so far away. What has gotten her through school with such
stellar marks is her passion for the subject she is studying.
After getting a four-year scholarship to Cal, the only child of a homemaker
and government clerk, she took an extra load every semester and summer
classes to graduate a year early. Doing well while finishing early wasn’t
easy; it meant sacrificing sleep and campus activities to make time for
extra work and research.
Olivia’s research dealt with depicting an infinite tree on the computer
with statistics professor David Aldous. She says she got more out of the
experience than just programming skill. She developed a close mentoring
relationship with her professor, who gave her invaluable advice on classes,
career, and graduate school.
After entering Cal as an engineering undeclared major, Olivia took many
exploratory classes, including some writing classes, and realized she
had an affinity for math. She chose engineering math as her major, but
it wasn’t until later that it all came together. Junior year she
took a IEOR class and fell in love with the subject.
“It was exactly what I wanted to do because it was about how to apply
mathematics to daily scenarios,” she says.
Since Engineering Science is a major that incubates students for graduate
school, Olivia has settled on studying Management Science and Engineering
at Stanford University next year. She doesn’t yet know exactly what
she will do with the degree, but assumes she will “be an analyst
or do something quantitative in business.”
While Olivia didn’t have time to get involved in student groups at
Cal, she proved her senior year that you really can do everything. She
joined the Senior Gift Campaign Committee to give back to the College
that gave her so much. It also made her feel like she was part of a community.
To relax, Olivia enjoys reading, swimming, and playing the piano. She
also likes to write and says that her dream job is to be a novelist. But
that can wait.
“I don’t want to give up my quantitative engineering education
for a writing career at the moment. And if I have the talent to write
professionally, I will do it later.”
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