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Ashwin Menezes
Mechanical Engineering
Ashwin Menezes is senior Mechanical
Engineering major with a minor in
Business from Goa, India. He spent
most of his life in the United Arab
Emirates, after which he graduated
as valedictorian from Hebron School,
an international boarding school in
southern India. He is a member of
the Deans list for the Dwight Look
College of Engineering as well as
the recipient of the J. Malon
Southerland Aggie Leader
Scholarship, the Texas A&M
Foundation Excellence Award, the
Engineering Scholars Program
Scholarship and was one of four
nominees for the Eppright
Outstanding International Student
Award.
During his time at Texas A&M, Ashwin
has done a lot to grow as an
individual, a leader, and as an
active member in the community. His
sophomore year he served as a
volunteer for Texas A&M's Student
Counseling Helpline, a listening-ear
service that provides support,
information, crisis intervention and
referrals for students, parents,
faculty and staff. He has dedicated
over 500 hours of his time to the
Helpline, receiving the Presidents
Volunteer Service Award from George
W. Bush for his commitment last
year.
Ashwin also served as a Resident
Advisor for Schuhmacher Hall, a
co-ed residence hall on campus,
where he promoted cultural diversity
by encouraging residents from
diverse backgrounds to interact with
one another and by organizing events
such as ethnic food tasting. In
addition, Ashwin has worked other
part-time jobs around campus, which
include working as a copy editor
with The Battalion student
newspaper, a student technician with
the Computing and Information
Services, a telephone interviewer
with the Measurement and Research
Services and more recently a Student
Peer teacher with the College of
Engineering where he provides
tutoring sessions and teaches
reviews for tests in Calculus,
Physics and Engineering classes.
Ashwin is highly involved in
professional organizations related
to his degree program. As a member
of the legislation council of the
Student Engineers Council, Ashwin
works with team members to design a
semi-annual survey of the
engineering program at A&M. The
results of the survey are used to
develop recommendations for
improvements within the college that
are shared with the Deans of
Engineering. Ashwin is also the
treasurer for the local chapter for
the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers, where he manages the
organizations bank account, prepares
monthly financial statements and
maintains an annual budget of
$75,000.
During the summer of 2007, Ashwin
worked with Mustang Engineering in
Houston where he was involved with
an ongoing project to build a
multi-billion dollar oil refinery in
Rajasthan, India. After graduation,
Ashwin hopes to return to the oil
and gas industry in order to gain
further experience in all phases of
the business, project,
engineering, and construction
management for upstream and
midstream oil, gas, products, and
energy-related facilities. He later
plans on getting an M.B.A. with
hopes of opening his own consulting
firm to provide economic
analysis, strategic planning, and
execution of energy projects within
the Middle East and India. Through
participation in the Academy, Ashwin
hopes to achieve a more in-depth
perspective into world politics,
economics and business. He also
aspires to gain a more comprehensive
understanding of leadership in the
global context.
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