Student Competition Advisor Award

Recognizing an individual or group of outstanding faculty/staff member(s) in the Clark School who have served as exemplary leaders of an engineering student design competition team in a national or international engineering design competition.

Nomination Form

2024 award winner Alireza Khaligh with Suzanne Ashour-Bailey at the 2024 Faculty & Staff Recognition Celebration. Photo by Greg Fiume.

The Student Competition Advisor Award is for an individual outstanding faculty or staff member, or a group (not to exceed 3) of faculty/staff members in the A. James Clark School of Engineering who have served as exemplary leaders of a student competition team. The awardee(s) will be recognized at commencement for their commitment to leading and mentoring an engineering student design competition team as part of a national or international engineering design competition. The individual(s) receiving the student competition advisor award will be presented with a plaque and a cash award.

Nominations from students, faculty, and staff are hereby solicited. The evaluation factors, as appropriate to the nominee, for determining the award are as follows.

  • Effective leadership, management, and mentoring of diverse and inclusive student competition team.
  • Mentoring effective execution of the engineering design process.
  • Service to the Department, College, and Campus community.
  • Fostering a positive attitude.

Attach the nomination package with these components:

  1. A nomination letter explaining how the candidate meets some or all of the above criteria, or similar attributes.
  2. A maximum of four letters of support from any combination of the following:
  • Nominee’s supervisor
  • Person supervised by the nominee
  • Nominee’s peer
  • Faculty, staff, or student who has had personal experience with the nominee’s service activities

Note that previous nominations will be considered again for up to two additional years, and nominators have the option to withdraw or update the package. Prior recipients are not eligible to be nominated again.

Submit a Nomination

Meet Our 2024 Recipient: Alireza Khaligh

As advisors to the Clark School’s Terps Racing EV Team,  Alireza Khaligh, Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Rakesh Resalayyan, a post-doctoral Research Associate, have demonstrated positive leadership and mentoring that have empowered students and fostered a team culture that values inclusion and collaboration. They have also shown exceptional dedication to the academic and professional growth of their students, preparing them for competitive and dynamic engineering roles. Their leadership in guiding students through national competitions highlights their ability to mentor and manage teams towards achieving excellence in engineering innovation.

Alireza Khaligh, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Meet our 2024 Recipient: Rakesh Resalayyan

As advisors to the Clark School’s Terps Racing EV Team, Rakesh Resalayyan, a post-doctoral Research Associate, and Alireza Khaligh, Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering have demonstrated positive leadership and mentoring that have empowered students and fostered a team culture that values inclusion and collaboration. They have also shown exceptional dedication to the academic and professional growth of their students, preparing them for competitive and dynamic engineering roles. Their leadership in guiding students through national competitions highlights their ability to mentor and manage teams towards achieving excellence in engineering innovation.

Rakesh Resalayyan, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Past Recipients


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