Tau Beta Pi Announces 2001 Laureates

Tau Beta Pi, the Engineering Honor Society, has named two Laureates in the Association’s annual program to recognize gifted engineering students who have excelled in areas beyond their technical majors.

        The 2001 Tau Beta Pi Laureates are: Laura S. Miyakawa, a 2001 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University in electrical and computer engineering, and Matthew T. Reiter, a 2001 graduate in civil engineering at Villanova University.  In addition to their scholastic achievements, Miyakawa and Reiter are lauded for the diversity of their accomplishments.  They join 49 other outstanding Tau Bates who have been named Laureates since 1982.

        The Laureate Program exists to further Tau Beta Pi’s second basic purpose as stated in the Association’s Constitution:  “ . . . to foster a spirit of liberal culture in engineering colleges.”  The primary concern of the Society is to recognize students of superior scholarship and exemplary character and to honor eminent practicing engineers.  The Society also encourages excellence in engineering education and in the ethical practice of engineering.

        The Tau Beta Pi Laureates will be honored on October 20, 2001, at the 96th annual Convention to be held in Columbus, Ohio.  President Douglas M. Green, P.E., will present each winner with a $2,500 cash award and a commemorative plaque.  Their biographies follow:

 Laura S. Miyakawa was nominated by the Pennsylvania Gamma Chapter at Carnegie Mellon University for her linguistic mastery, leadership, and service to the community. Her aptitude in mathematics and in French were recognized and developed early. Before enrolling in Carnegie Mellon, she was a junior-high competitor in MathCounts, and by her senior year in high school, she was named the most valuable player. After taking advanced math courses at Georgia Tech, she qualified for college credit in calculus 1, 2, 3, and matrix algebra. She studied the French language for six years and made two trips to France, was in the Georgia All-State choir for four years, and earned the Girl Scouts of America silver award for community service.

A national merit finalist and a presidential scholar, Miyakawa enrolled in CMU in 1998, where she earned a B.S. in electrical and computer engineering. While an undergraduate, she was involved as a research assistant in the department of electrical and computer engineering, a teaching assistant in the department of mathematics, and a resident assistant for the student life office. She was active in dorm and sorority life, helping to create programs, monitor policy violations, establish community standards, and allocate money for campus programs.

During her freshman year, Miyakawa joined the crew team as a coxswain; her duties later involved managing the team’s $60,000 budget and serving on its board of directors. She also became a resident assistant for her dorm floor; her duties there involved organizing events and learning time management and team building. During her junior year, she joined a sorority, involving herself in community service activities and striving to promote the campus image of the Greek community.

Gifted in various forms of languages, she is a computer programmer in C++, C ML, HTML, Verilog, and Java. Continuing with her French language and engineering studies, she traveled to Metz, France, where she took courses in microelectronics and Java programming through a Georgia Tech summer program.

Elected to Tau Beta Pi in May 2000, she served as president of the Pennsylvania Gamma Chapter this past year while completing her undergraduate research project—an effort to replace loop detectors at traffic intersections with pressure sensors.

Tau Beta Pi proudly introduces 2001 Laureate Laura Miyakawa for her numerous achievements.

Matthew T. Reiter, a graduate in civil engineering at Villanova University, was nominated by the Pennsylvania Theta Chapter for broadly benefiting his campus community. His self-sacrificing service to collegiate football and to foreign missions in Peru and Honduras are testimony of his determination to improve the quality of life for many.

Reiter entered college as the valedictorian of his high school class, a national merit commended scholar, a leader on his state champion football team, and the recipient of the school’s student athlete award and spiritual leadership award. His collegiate tenure further expanded his earlier accomplishments.

Reiter dreamed of playing Division I football and joined the team as a walk-on player in 1997. He devoted more than 20 hours a week—practicing, weightlifting, running, and reviewing films on weekends—to a sport which often left him exhausted and struggling to keep up with his classwork. He was rewarded during his senior year, earning a football scholarship after an outstanding career as a defensive back. With a nearly perfect GPA, he was named to the Academic Atlantic 10 All-conference team at the conclusion of his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons. Reiter suffered a career-ending injury last fall; he was the most celebrated student athlete on the team. At an awards banquet in January, his coaching staff selected him for the PNC performance award given to the player with the highest GPA.

He ranks first in his class of 42 and has been on the dean’s list each semester, was awarded a full Augustinian academic scholarship, and was inducted into both Tau Beta Pi and Chi Epsilon.

While a student, Reiter also sought to help others. He has tutored freshmen students, as well as upperclassmen in physics and fluid mechanics. He helped to design a two-story concrete orphanage as a team member on his civil engineering senior capstone project.

Reiter’s academic and athletic credentials pale in comparison to his accomplishments outside the classroom and off the playing field. With his infectious leadership skills and his desire to improve the quality of life for others, he had led service trips to Honduras, Peru, and some of the poorer areas of the United States as a Habitat for Humanity coordinator. In the Philadelphia area, he served as a eucharistic minister, a volunteer for the Special Olympics, a fundraiser for the homeless, and a lobbyist for the hungry.

Tau Beta Pi proudly introduces 2001 Laureate Matthew Reiter for his diverse accomplishments.