Six graduates recognized with AerE department honors

Each semester, the Department of Aerospace Engineering confers special awards to selected seniors — Academic Excellence and Overall Achievement. An overview of accomplishments by spring 2025 awardees is presented here.

Pictured above at the department pre-commencement reception, from left: Vance and Arlene Coffman Endowed Department Chair Wayne Chen, Jack Kolker, Samuel Hersom, Jillian Enke, Matthew Mehrtens, Jun Maruyama, Matthew Greer.

Academic Excellence Award

Matthew Greer

• Co-ops/Internships: Honeywell FM&T
• Honors: Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honors Society; Dean’s List all semesters; selected as Outstanding Senior in Department of Aerospace Engineering
• Activities: Society of Automotive Engineers aero design project director; ISU marching band drumline guide; intramural basketball, disc golf, soccer, volleyball
• Post-graduation: Honeywell FM&T as full-time mechanical engineer with product quality team

Jun Maruyama

• Activities: Sigma Gamma Tau Aerospace Engineering Honor Society (treasurer, leadership team)
• Leadership Experience: Star Tracker and attitude determination system research with Dr. David D. Lee
• Post-graduation: Graduate school, Iowa State University, in aerospace engineering to continue studying topics related to spacecraft dynamics

Matthew Mehrtens

• Honors: Graduating Summa Cum Laude; member of Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society (served as initiation officer and now president)
• Research: Undergraduate research with Dr. Ping He (optimal mesh density for computational fluid dynamic optimization of a wing undergoing transonic flow); undergraduate research with Dr. Brandon Runnels (phase field mechanics and computationally modeling agglomeration of aluminum in solid composite propellants)
• Post-graduation: Engineering mechanics Ph.D. program at Iowa State University with Dr. Runnels (computational modeling of phase field mechanics in solid composite propellants)

Overall Achievement Award

Jillian Enke

• Co-ops/Internships: Woodward, Inc., 2022 (non-volatile residue testing, space product line); Woodward, Inc., 2023 (project development engineering intern, product design and testing, extreme pressure and temperature in supercritical environments); Woodward, Inc., 2024 (design engineering intern, convergence fuel systems team)
• Study Abroad, Ghana (Engineers Without Borders)
• Activities: Aeronautical Innovative Research student organization (engineering lead); Engineers Without Borders (water distribution team lead)
• Post-graduation: Woodward, Inc., full-time engineer (electrohydraulic servo valve team)

Samuel Hersom

• Co-ops/Internships: Spirit AeroSystems
• Study Abroad: Brunel University of London
• Honors: Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society; Phi Beta Kappa Academic Honor Society
• Activities: Vice President, Sigma Gamma Tau aerospace engineering honor society; research fellow, Boeing SPACE Laboratory; American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Iowa State University student chapter; Society of International Engineers
• Post-Graduation: Employment with the Timken Company

Jack Kolker

• Co-ops/Internships: United Launch Alliance (flight software engineering intern, Vulcan rocket); BAE Systems (GPS software engineering intern); Gits Manufacturing Company (research and development intern); NASA L’SPACE student developmental program, team lead and GNC engineering
• Honors: Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society; Phi Beta Kappa Academic Honor Society
• Leadership: Iowa State University Marching Band section leader; senior capstone project team lead
• Activities: Iowa State University Symphony Orchestra (principal viola); Tau Beta Pi educational outreach program (team lead)
• Post-graduation: Employment with SpaceX as flight software engineer, Starship program