May 11, 2004

SIUC graduate wins prestigious fellowship

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill. - - Michele L. Holder of Carbondale, a December 2003 graduate in civil engineering from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is one of 35 recipients of graduate fellowships from the Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society.

High scholarship, campus leadership and service are the criteria Tau Beta Pi uses in selecting recipients. The award from the world's largest engineering society is a $10,000 cash stipend, said Holder, a 1999 graduate of Carbondale Community High School.

Holder indicated to Tau Beta Pi officials her goal is earning dual master's degrees in architectural design and also in structural engineering with a focus in seismic designs and analysis. She will begin work on her graduate degrees this fall at the University of Washington at Seattle. She is the daughter of John and Yolanda Holder of Carbondale.

The engineering honor society is distributing more than $4.07 million in stipends to this 71st group of scholars. The engineering honor society, founded at Lehigh University in 1885, has had more than 466,000 members in its 119-year history.