Engineering and technical work has no force or presence unless it’s communicated well. The CUP Awards recognize undergraduate students who create powerful presentations about their engineering projects. Cornell Engineering and the Engineering Communications Program invites undergraduate individuals and teams to be considered for three separate awards for presentations. Winning students will earn both a monetary award and recognition.
CUP Awards Overview
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Objective
These competitions all come with cash awards. The categories of awards listed below allowed for extraordinary students to be recognized for their high levels of presentation prowess, even in the most trying of years.
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Cash Awards
The goal of the Engineering CUP Awards is to highlight undergraduate work within Cornell Engineering, showcasing the importance of strong communication for any technical endeavor. Presenters will benefit, too, from the training, advice, and guidance offered by training workshops and feedback.
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Submission Process
The process for submission will be outlined with each award. The categories of awards listed on this page allowed for extraordinary students to be recognized for their high levels of presentation prowess.
Awards
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The Roger K. Berman Oral Presentation Award
For individual speakers. New topical theme each year. Each year, submissions follow a new theme. Presentation topics can connect to a Cornell Engineering undergraduate course or a Project Team. Students can also enter individually, outside of coursework or formal university teams.
Requirements
- Awarded to one or more outstanding individual undergraduate speakers per academic school year (not available to M.Eng. or Ph.D. students)
- Must be declared majors in Cornell Engineering
History of This Award
Roger K. Berman, a founding member of the advisory council for the Engineering Communications Program, had a lifelong passion for effective communication. As a student at Cornell University, he was the editor of Cornell Engineer. His work at Bellcore reinforced his belief in the importance of communication skills for young engineers, leading him to join the communications council to help shape students’ education.
In 1994, a fund was established in his memory to honor his dedication to helping engineers succeed. The prize is awarded annually to a student in the Engineering Communications Program for the best oral presentation.
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The Fuertes Medal Memorial Prize for Public Speaking
For teams.
Requirements
- Teams are comprised of three or more individuals
- All team members are undergraduate declared majors in Cornell Engineering (not available to M.Eng. or Ph.D students)
History of This Award
The Fuertes Medal Memorial Prize for Public Speaking was established in 1912 in Civil Engineering. Named after Estevan Antonio Fuertes (1838-1903), who was born in Puerto Rico and educated in Spain and New York, Fuertes became a founding dean of Civil Engineering at Cornell. He was dedicated to promoting cutting-edge thinking in technical fields, emphasizing the importance of communicating innovation.
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The Douglas Whitney Prize for Engineering Student Presentations
For individual speakers or teams.
The Douglas Whitney Prize recognizes quality multi-modal, innovative, or alternative forms of traditional presentations. Entries should make interesting use of video or alternative formats to promote technical work, concepts, or projects associated with Cornell Engineering coursework.
Requirements
- Either individual undergraduate students or teams that are comprised of three or more people (competition is not available to M.Eng. or Ph.D students)
- Individual entrants must be declared majors in Cornell Engineering
- For team submissions, the majority of members must be majors in Cornell Engineering
History of This Award
The Douglas Whitney Prize, established in 1987, aims to promote and recognize excellence in undergraduate student presentations within Cornell Engineering.