Rami Dahman and Angelica Sunga, seniors in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, received Gold Scholar Awards for their research projects with the Virginia Microelectronics Consortium (VMEC) Summer Scholars Program.

The VMEC Summer Scholars Program offers juniors and seniors attending a university in Virginia an opportunity to conduct research in an academic or industrial setting. Students present their research at the end of the session. VMEC’s Gold Scholar Award recognizes the top posters and presentations. Four Gold Awards were presented in the 2018 session.

Dahman received the Gold Award for his work with defense technology provider BAE Systems on a project called OrangeBox. OrangeBox uses hardware and software design to connect standard computers to the specialized space computers BAE produces for space travel.

“I loved working at BAE Systems, and VMEC helped me get there,” Dahman said. “I learned a lot about my field of computer engineering and gained real world experience that you can't get in the classroom.”

Sunga’s Gold Award recognizes her work with the University of Virginia’s Integrated Electromagnetics, Circuits and Systems (IECS) Lab. Her project “Suppressing Antenna Substrate Modes through Substrate Etching” comprised simulation, modeling and antenna fabrication.

"I am grateful to ICES Lab Director Dr. Steven Bowers, his graduate students and VMEC for the incredible experience,” Sunga said. “I was able to develop technical skills and get a better idea of what graduate school entails."