Contact: Phil Hearn
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A senior civil engineering major at Mississippi State is the winner of a nationally prestigious 2004 Cooperative Education Student of the Year Award.
Micah L. "Moose" Adams of Brandon was recognized by the Cooperative Education Division of the American Society of Engineering Education during the organization's recent Conference for Industry and Education Collaboration in Savannah, Ga. He also received a cash prize.
"I'm very honored to represent such a fine co-op program as that at Mississippi State," said Adams, a 2000 Brandon High School graduate.
Now in its 50th year, MSU's cooperative education program enables students to alternate semesters between campus coursework and full-time employment in their career preparatory fields. Open to all academic majors and enrolling more than 600 at work locations around the country, it is the second largest such program in the South and one of the 20 largest in the nation.
Adams was nominated for the award by the university and the Vicksburg District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where he worked in the Hydraulics Branch office during the spring and summer of 2004.
"(Adams) is an excellent ambassador for cooperative education," CED student award chair Suzanne H. Norris said in notifying MSU Career Center Director Luther Epting of Adams's selection.
"Micah Adams is an exemplary co-op student," said Epting, noting that the son of Gerald and Judy Adams also has been selected to serve as an Engineering Ambassador for the Bagley College of Engineering.
Adams has completed four semesters of co-op education employment and is scheduled to graduate in May. His duties with the Corps of Engineers included mapping drainage areas, performing environmental studies and helping senior engineers analyze data on the Big Sunflower and Southeast Arkansas flood control projects.
"His strong ability to remember and recall details contributed to the successful effort to model this large watershed in an excellent and timely fashion," said spokesman Basil K. Arthur in the corps' letter of nomination.
Arthur said Adams also became the first co-op student to win three "on-the-spot" awards from the district within one year "for exceptional work during 2004."
Also a selection for the MSU Cooperative Education Ambassador program, Adams assisted the university co-op staff in promoting the program to new students through participation in such activities as Discovery Day, Co-op Interview Days and Career Day.
While on campus, he has worked part-time as a laboratory technician for the civil engineering department. "Micah is an excellent student with tremendous intelligence and natural learning ability," said assistant professor Shane Buchanan, Adams's lab supervisor.
Adams said, "Co-oping has changed my life. I wouldn't change a thing that I have done. It has been a major force in making me into the man I am today."
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information, contact Melody Dubard at (662) 325-3823 or mdubard@career.msstate.edu.