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Vernon Newhouse (third from left) with Corvette Plant Manager Wil Cooksey, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz and Onstar President Chet Huber. |
For the third consecutive year, a University of Michigan student has received the prestigious GEM Black Engineer of the Year Student Leadership Award. Masters recipient Vernon Newhouse received the recognition for his outstanding leadership in engineering and his continuing dedication to education for young minorities.
He received the award at the 2005 Black Engineer of the Year Awards conference held in Baltimore in February 2005. When he received news of his honor, Newhouse was appreciative of the recognition.
“I was honored to receive this award,” he said, “since it was recognition on a national level for my contributions during my internship at General Motors.”
The award is presented in recognition of both professional achievement and work in the community. Newhouse’s supervisor at GM, Martin Monte, recognized the exceptional skills and dedication that Newhouse demonstrated during his internship, and nominated him for the award. His work in the community was equally exemplary. Newhouse serves as a tutor for other Mechanical Engineering students at the Unified Minority Mechanical Engineers study jams and has also tutored high school athletes.
Newhouse’s dedication to learning had not gone unnoticed prior to this recognition. He’s been the recipient of the Minority Engineering Program Office Undergraduate Student Achievement Award on two occasions; the Amoco/BP Mechanical Engineering Scholarship; and the Dow Chemical Mechanical Engineering Scholarship. He’s also been recognized as a University of Michigan James B. Angell Scholar.
Even with the honors he’s earned, Newhouse’s primary concerns relate to his work. “I am not out for recognition, but if it does occur, then I accept it and go on with what I am doing.”
GEM, the National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science, is a nonprofit organization network of universities, companies, government agencies, alumni and faculty. The collective mission is to help students succeed in their quest for graduate degrees and to enhance the value of the nation's human capital by increasing the participation of underrepresented minorities at the master’s and doctoral levels in engineering and science.