Contact: Phil Hearn
Laura Beth Dong
Laura Beth Dong of Webb is Mississippi State University's 2003 Outstanding Engineering Senior.
The award is presented annually to any graduating major in the James Worth Bagley College of Engineering who excels in the classroom, is actively involved in the local community and displays leadership within the college and among other students. The college, one of MSU's oldest academic units, offers bachelor's degrees in nine specialized areas.
A chemical engineering major with a double minor in chemistry and mathematics, Dong received the award from Robert Green, MSU engineering undergraduate coordinator, during a recent Natchez event hosted by the Mississippi Engineering Society.
The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Dong, she entered MSU as a National Merit Finalist and currently maintains a perfect 4.0 grade-point average.
As a freshman in 2000, she was selected MSU chapter representative to the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and now is the chapter's internal vice president. In addition to serving as president of Omega Chi Epsilon engineering honor society and a tutor for local schools and other chemical engineering majors, she is a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Tau Beta Pi honor societies, among others.
Dong earlier received the Donald F. Othmer Sophomore Academic Excellence Award and the Holmes Cultural Diversity Award for Excellence in the College of Engineering. She also recently was named the 2002-03 Outstanding Undergraduate Woman by the MSU President's Commission on the Status of Women.