Rice Engineering Alumni

🎉 Meet the 2026-2027 Rice Engineering Alumni Leadership Team! 🎉

As we begin a new academic year, we’re excited to introduce the 2026–2027 leadership team and welcome our newest ! 🦉💙

This year, five Rice Engineering alumni are joining the REA Board of Directors: Eamon Baqui (ChemE '97), Charlie Walker (MechE ‘00), Taha T. (EE PhD ‘24), Aloysius Utomo (ChemE ‘17, MBA ‘26), Robert Sheppard (CEVE ‘88)

REA Executive Team:
President - Brianna Singh
Immediate Past President - Félix Campos
Secretary - Lori Ding
Treasurer - Jim Powers

Please join us in welcoming in our new board. 👏 We're looking forward to working together on that support, honor and connect Rice University School of Engineering and Computing engineers both before and after graduation! 🤝 👩‍🎓

Interested in getting involved with REA? Explore the links below to learn more:

📅 Events - https://www.riceengineeringalumni.org/events
🙋 Volunteer Opportunities - https://www.riceengineeringalumni.org/get-involved
👥 Meet the Board - https://www.riceengineeringalumni.org/about

Join us for the Welcome to the NeighborHOOT event in your area!

Welcome to the NeighborHOOT is our annual kickoff event that welcomes new and longtime alumni to the community.

This is a chance to reconnect with fellow Owls, expand your network, and learn more about ways to stay engaged with Rice.

We hope you can join us this year!

P.S. Houston's event will feature one of our very own: REA President Brianna Singh on the Speaker Panel!!

https://alumni.rice.edu/welcome-to-the-neighborhoot

Our REA Grant and Award winners are meant to be celebrated. So this , we're spotlighting Daziyah Sullivan, Ph.D.! 🥳

Daziyah received REA's Graduate Student Travel Grant to attend the IEEE World Haptics Conference in South Korea! This premier international conference brought together researchers and industry leaders advancing the science and application of haptics (technology that simulates touch through vibration or force feedback). This provided Daziyah with the opportunity to present her work, expand her professional network, and engage with the latest developments in the field.

Under the advisement of Dr. Marcie O'Malley, Daziyah's research explores human-centered haptics and how it can support mental health through affective haptics, virtual and augmented reality, and wearable technologies. Her work investigates how people perceive and interact with haptic feedback, with the goal of creating more meaningful and effective human-technology experiences.

👏 Congratulations, Daziyah! We're proud to support your journey and excited to see what's next for you!
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🙌 Interested in supporting more stories like Daziyah's? Learn more about how you can help with the REA Grants and Awards Program here: https://lnkd.in/gECys6NP

It takes a village (or maybe an ✨ engineering ecosystem ✨) to launch a career! We want to send a big THANK YOU to our 2026 internship host companies (and alumni mentor volunteers) who helped our students take their first steps into the professional world.

This summer, the REA connected talented Rice University School of Engineering and Computing students in engineering internships with host companies, and paired them with Rice Engineering Alumni Mentors to provide them with support and skills training to accelerate their career development. The support of our SEE Partners has been invaluable in providing our students with real-world engineering experiences and helping them kickstart their careers!

Please join us in thanking our 2026 host companies! 👏 🎉 Unified Industries Incorporated, Prana Surgical, Blade Energy Partners, Skybound Medtech, Affiliated Engineers, Inc., Piping Technology & Products, Inc., Solidec, PulseForge, Inc., DexMat, OmniScience, H&H Business Development, LLC.

--- Interested in Getting Involved? —

👨‍👩‍👦 Alumni Volunteers: We are looking for Alumni volunteers to mentor and provide our students guidance on the professional work environment, communication skills and developing resumes. See our contact info below!

🏢 Host Companies: Interested in hosting a talented Rice Engineering student? See our contact info below!

If you are an interested student, prospective host company, or engineering alumni please email [email protected] or visit the SEE website (see the link in our profile!)

Class of 2026: You made it!! 🎓🎉

Congratulations on becoming a ! As a graduate of the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing, you are automatically a member of Rice Engineering Alumni (REA) -- the oldest alumni affinity group at Rice! 💙 👐

REA , and Rice engineers before and after graduation. Formed in 1938, REA is the oldest alumni affinity group at Rice and is dedicated to supporting the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing. REA provides over $150,000 in awards and scholarships to outstanding students each year, recruits students for meaningful internships and facilitates opportunities for alumni to interact with current Rice students and other students in their communities.

You can learn more about upcoming events and ways to get involved by following us (if you don't already!)

📲 Stay Connected!
- Instagram ()
- LinkedIn (Rice Engineering Alumni)
- riceengineeringalumni.org

Today we celebrate where we spotlight REA's Grant and Award Winners! 🥳

We're excited to share Junho Kim (B.S. Computer Science, 2026) earned the Research Excellence Award in recognition of his outstanding undergraduate research in computer vision and computational imaging using machine learning. Through his work in Rice’s Computational Imaging Lab under the mentorship of Professor Ashok Veeraraghavan and Dr. Salman Siddique Khan, Junho is helping push the boundaries of how imaging technologies can see beyond the limits of natural human vision.

Junho shared: “I am truly honored to receive this award. I feel grateful and fortunate that my work in advancing computational imaging and my passion for problem-solving have been recognized. This recognition motivates me to pursue a career as a professional researcher, pushing the boundaries of academia and contributing to new scientific discoveries in imaging."

Junho’s research spans lensless imaging, video synthesis, and AI-driven perception systems, with projects ranging from developing facial recognition systems for lensless cameras to generating humanless walkthrough videos of real-world environments.

👏 Congratulations, Junho! We’re proud to support your journey and your innovative work advancing the future of computational imaging and AI research!

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🙌 Interested in supporting more stories like Junho’s? Learn more about how you can help with the REA Grants and Awards Program here: https://lnkd.in/gECys6NP

Happy , everyone! Welcome back to our weekly series showcasing the experiences of our talented Summer Engineering Experience (SEE) participants and the impact of the REA SEE program! 👏 🚀

In this week's post, we are featuring Mechanical Engineering Junior and REA SEE Program participant Nicolas De la Colina about their experience interning with our partner and host company Blade Energy Partners.

“[During my internship], I worked as an Engineering Intern for Blade Energy Partners in Frisco, Texas, where the purpose of my project was to design a high-level feasibility study to provide electricity for an isolated village... Through my time at Blade, I learned how to apply engineering principles to real-world challenges and how engineering works in the real world beyond the classroom... The REA SEE program played a pivotal role in the success of my internship by providing consistent mentorship that equipped me with the confidence, readiness, and skills needed to excel... This experience also provided me with invaluable insight into the aspects of engineering that resonate most with my interests and wish to pursue in the future. I would like to thank my mentors, Suri Suryanarayana and Sharat Chandrasekhar, for their insightful advice and contributions along the way.”

Thank you, Nicolas, for sharing your experience and thank you to our partner Blade Energy Partners for supporting this opportunity!

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💡 Interested in supporting the program as a host company? We are always seeking additional partners! Contact us here: https://lnkd.in/gQr3HPKP

🧠 Want to learn more about serving as a REA SEE Mentor? SEE mentors provide our students guidance on the professional work environment, communication skills and developing resumes. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gkEt8KJq

🙌 Interested in making a financial contribution to the SEE Program and other REA programs? See our REA donation page: https://lnkd.in/gECys6NP

In this week's post, we are featuring Mechanical Engineering Junior and REA SEE Program participant Brandon Lozano about their experience interning with our partner and host company Unified Industries Incorporated.

“This summer at Unified Industries Incorporated, I worked as a Junior Metrology Technician, helping the Lab Manager, Thomas Rouan, update Quality Manuals in preparation for audits and assisting lab technicians with tasks such as calibrating Standard Platinum Resistance Thermometers. During my time at UII, I learned how to navigate life in an office and put my skills to use in unexpected yet rewarding ways. Along with fellow Rice student Callista Baker and lab technician John Wetjen, I created and presented two slide shows on uncertainty, how to construct uncertainty budgets, and how to operate the Measurements International Resistance Bridge... I’d like to thank my coworkers and the management team at UII for allowing me to learn new skills, improve old ones, and take full advantage of the beautiful scenery the DC and Northern Virginia area offers.”

Thank you, Brandon, for sharing your experience and thank you to our partner Unified Industries Incorporated for supporting this opportunity!

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💡 Interested in supporting the program as a host company? We are always seeking additional partners! Contact us here: https://lnkd.in/gQr3HPKP

🧠 Want to learn more about serving as a REA SEE Mentor? SEE mentors provide our students guidance on the professional work environment, communication skills and developing resumes. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gkEt8KJq

🙌 Interested in making a financial contribution to the SEE Program and other REA programs? See our REA donation page: https://lnkd.in/gECys6NP

Last week, Alumni in gathered for brunch and a thoughtful conversation about building and strengthening !🦉 👐

The group included alumni across several classes and disciplines, including CHBE, CEVE, and MECHE alumni from the classes of 2015 through 2020.

One important takeaway: showing up is easier when you know at least one person in the room. Having an “anchor” at an event can make a big difference, especially for alumni who may be new to Denver or new to the local Rice network. 🏔️ The conversation also generated several ideas for future gatherings, including outdoor activities like hikes, volleyball, community service events, sports games, and casual meetups afterward. Smaller recurring opportunities, such as intramural teams, book clubs, or a buddy-style network for alumni open to being contacted, were also discussed as ways to make connections feel more natural and approachable!

Thank you to our Denver Alums for sharing your ideas and helping the Denver Rice Engineering alumni community continue to grow! We’re excited to keep supporting events and initiatives where Owls can connect, reconnect, and support one another. 🦉✨

💙 Interested in getting involved with Rice Engineering Alumni? Learn more about our events and volunteer opportunities here:
Events: https://www.riceengineeringalumni.org/events
Volunteer Opportunities: https://www.riceengineeringalumni.org/get-involved