ORIE Students Are Recognized As Engineering Global Fellows

In a new initiative, the College of Engineering held a special ceremony to recognize undergraduates who work, study, conduct research or perform service learning abroad, designating them as Engineering Global Fellows. Erica Mallare and Chibueze Ekeoma Ekeh were among the ORIE students who attended the ceremony. 

Mallare, from Millersville, Md., spent a semester abroad at the University of Nantes, France. All of her courses were taught in French, and covered topics ranging from French language to economics to politics. "I cannot speak highly enough of my time spent abroad," she said. "I would recommend to every student, and especially to engineers, that they find a way to spend time in another country. T he greatest benefit of immersing yourself in another culture is that you learn how to understand, appreciate, and interact with people who are drastically different from yourself. And I suspect that as the world becomes increasingly global, this skill will be in high demand."

Ekeh, who is from Nigeria, participated in a project with other Cornell engineering students to build a water plant in Honduras in January, 2007. "My experiences of travelling and empowering people in rural areas around the world has taught me that people who have an opportunity to learn in a great university like Cornell owe so much to those who are not able to," Ekeh said. "I have learned that service to humanity is more rewarding than service to oneself no matter one's race, nationality, gender or religion," he added. Ekeh also participated in a rural electrification project in his village in Nigeria.

Both students have received their BS degrees, Ekeh in January and Mallare in May of this year. Ekeh completed the Master of Engineering program in Civil and Environmental Engineering in May and is now starting a business. Mallare joined the Atlanta office of Kurt Salmon Associates, a consumer products, retail and health care consulting firm.

Richard Liao, who received his BS from ORIE in January of 2007, did an internship in Germany in the summer of 2007 with Archelon, a company founded by Charles Tall, ORIE '78. He says that "the international internship at Archelon was actually the most rewarding experience of my college life. I was able to explore cutting-edge trading technologies while getting a broad exposure to European cultural diversity." The whole experience "dramatically changed my perspective on life," says Liao. Liao continued his education at Cornell in ORIE's Master of Engineering program, with a concentration in Financial Engineering. He completed his degree in January of 2008 and went to work for JP Morgan Chase in New York City.

Charles Tall, who hired Liao, says "we like to hire Cornell interns and co-op students to introduce Archelon and the idea of working in a small firm with global reach to a limited group of talented students." Archelon is an options market maker and proprietary trader of exchange listed options, futures, and equities.