Wilkes University presented its annual academic awards for graduating seniors on May 15. Awards are presented to outstanding students for achievements in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Science and Engineering, the Jay S. Sidhu School of Business and Leadership, the School of Education, the Nesbitt School of Pharmacy and the Passan School of Nursing.

• Scott Heffelfinger of Palmerton was honored with the Outstanding Leadership Award in Environmental Engineering award. Heffelfinger, graduating with a major in environmental engineering, is the recipient of this year’s Outstanding Leadership Award in Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences. He has worked on several research projects including the assessment of the impact of a natural gas pipeline in native species under the mentorship of Dr. Ken Klemow and North Lake (Sweet Valley, Pennsylvania) water quality under the mentorship of Dr. Holly Frederick.

He presented this research at the Ecological Society of America Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 2018, and the North American Lake Management Society Conference in Burlington, Vermont, in 2019. He had a summer internship at BrightWind in Dublin, Ireland, where he analyzed wind data and generated python code to process that data.

Heffelfinger was the recipient of the 2019 Environmental Engineering and Earth Science’s Department Extracurricular Achievement Award. Scott has served as the president of the Wilkes University Student Chapter of the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers and was a member of the Wilkes University President’s Student Advisory Council. He plans to attend Lehigh University to pursue a doctoral degree in environmental engineering.

• Susan H. Cook of Lehighton is this year’s recipient of the Mechanical Engineering Service Award, granted to a student who has demonstrated exemplary service to the department in club activities, teaching assistance, outreach events and open houses.

She developed an outstanding list of service accomplishments as a Wilkes student, including Engineering Student Activities Committee president, Wilkes Adventure Education facilitator, active member of ASME and SWE professional societies, teaching assistant/tutor for PHY 174, PHY 201, PHY 202 and fluids/heat transfer laboratory courses, machine shop assistant, senior projects inventory aide and student ambassador at many open house events.

In addition to department service, Cook performed admirably in her studies, earning a 3.00 GPA and receiving the Bierly Scholarship in summer 2019. She also conducted interdisciplinary research with Drs. Whitman and Faut in the area of tribology, designing a test apparatus to reduce friction and wear in piston-cylinder assemblies. Following graduation, she will join Dyco Inc. in Bloomsburg as an applications engineer.