Alex Nguyen, who recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, has been selected to win a prestigious $10,000 Tau Beta Pi Graduate Fellowship for the 2020-2021 academic year. Nguyen is the outgoing vice president of the Kentucky Alpha Chapter of Tau Beta Pi at the University of Kentucky.
As vice president, Nguyen was responsible for organizing and executing the chapter’s most visible events, including Monte Carlo Night, and was in the middle of planning the annual Tau Beta Pi Awards Banquet when it was cancelled.
In addition to his leadership and service in Tau Beta Pi, Nguyen served as vice president for Alpha Phi Omega, the national co-ed service fraternity. Nguyen led the fellowship program for his Alpha Phi Omega chapter and was instrumental in finding APO volunteers to staff this year’s MATHCOUNTS competition. Nguyen typically took the lead on any event that had a social aspect such as dances, picnics, etc. He was also finance chair for UK Alternative Service Breaks. Most recently, Nguyen was voted as the Most Outstanding Senior by the members of the Tau Beta Pi Chapter.
Like Tau Beta Pi’s outgoing president, James Obute, who also received a Tau Beta Pi Fellowship, Nguyen has opted to use his $10,000 fellowship at the University of Texas at Austin this coming fall.
The Tau Beta Pi Fellowship Program was created for the advancement of engineering education and the profession. It is one of the oldest graduate fellowships still in existence dating back to 1928. It is awarded to a small select group of students and can be used to help cover a year of graduate study at the institutions of the fellow’s choice. Tau Beta Pi fellows are free to do graduate work in any field which will enable them to contribute to the engineering profession.