Aerospace engineering senior Daniel Oluwalana ‘21 has been selected as the 2021 Ammon S. Andes National Award Winner from the national aerospace engineering honor society, Sigma Gamma Tau. The award is highly competitive and designed to recognize the top undergraduate aerospace engineering student in the United States.

There are 54 current chapters of Sigma Gamma Tau across the country and each chapter nominates one student for the Ammon S. Andes Award each year.  The national award winner is chosen from the above 54 nominees based on GPA, rank in their graduating senior AE class, academic honors and distinctions, engineering and non-engineering extracurricular activities and length of service in each, technical achievements such as published works, projects and technical hobbies, with emphasis on engineering creativity used, and on an essay written by the candidate about “near-term and long-range career goals and how you hope to use your aerospace education.” The Syracuse chapter of Sigma Gamma Tau is advised by mechanical and aerospace engineering Professor Barry Davidson.

“I am very honored to be recognized in such a manner as an aerospace engineering major,” said Oluwalana. “I am extremely grateful for Dr. Davidson’s support as the Sigma Gamma Tau advisor and appreciate everyone else who supported me throughout the process.”

“Daniel displays the strength of character, the academic excellence, the research skills, and the compassion for others that are the hallmark of a great individual and a great scholar,” said Davidson. “It has been a pleasure for me to teach, mentor and interact with him over the past three years. I was so proud to have Daniel represent SU in this competition, and I’m so incredibly pleased that Sigma Gamma Tau recognized and honored him with this award.  It is certainly well-deserved.”

Oluwalana is the president of the Syracuse chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers, an Academic Excellence Workshop facilitator and has worked in two research labs in the College of Engineering and Computer Science as an undergraduate.

“Syracuse University exposed me to amazing research opportunities and instilled in me a balanced mindset. I have developed a deeper knowledge about my field and have become a better communicator by being a student here,” said Oluwalana.

While multiple Syracuse University students have won Sigma Gamma Tau’s Northeastern Regional Award in recent years, Oluwalana is the first Syracuse University student to receive the Ammon S. Andes National Award since the national honor society began recording winners on its website in 2001.

“Daniel is an incredible young engineer, leader and person. He is being honored for the ‘visible’ work that people notice, including his NSBE leadership, grades, and research. For each of those achievements, there is also the ‘invisible’ work where he supports his classmates, greets prospective students, and counsels other leaders about issues that are vital to our College,” said Engineering and Computer Science Dean J. Cole Smith. “I’m so excited for Daniel and for impact he will make in his next phase of life.”