Bernstein named student marshal for spring 2016 commencement
4/12/2016
Nicole J. Bernstein will be the student marshal for the chemical engineering baccalaureate degree program at the Penn State College of Engineering spring commencement ceremony on May 6. Bernstein will receive a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering with a minor in engineering leadership development.
She has chosen Michael Janik, professor of chemical engineering and John J. and Jean M. Brennan Clean Energy Early Career Professor in the College Engineering, to be her faculty escort.
College of Engineering student marshals are selected for their outstanding academic achievement and contributions to engineering student life.
Bernstein is the daughter of Denise and Brad Bernstein of Chadds Ford. She is a 2012 graduate of Unionville High School.
A Schreyer Scholar, Bernstein completed an honors thesis titled “Density Functional Theory Study of Carbon Dioxide Electroreduction on the Fe (100) Surface.”
Her academic honors include: the President’s Freshman Award, the President Sparks Award, The Evan Pugh Scholar Award (both junior and senior years) and the Larry Duda Undergraduate Research Award.
Bernstein was the recipient of the Department of Chemical Engineering Scholarship, College of Engineering Scholarship, Myriant Scholarship for Excellence in Bio-Energy, the Paul Morrow Endowed Scholarship for Academic Achievement and the Schreyer Honors College Academic Excellence Scholarship.
She was an active member of the William and Wyllis Leonhard Engineering Scholars Program and Omega Chi Epsilon, the National Honor Society for Chemical Engineering.
Bernstein’s internship experiences included Chesapeake Energy, where she worked as a facilities engineering field intern; and Chevron where she worked as both a deepwater exploration and projects HES intern and an energy technology company process engineering intern.
Her undergraduate research experience included work on two projects; one with Penn State in which she in which she developed methods for the calculation of potential barriers of electrochemical systems; the other in collaboration with Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, in which she studied the flux and retention of membranes.
Bernstein’s extracurricular activities included Engineering Ambassadors (2013-2016); working as a teaching assistant at Penn State (2014-2016); and the Grand Challenge Scholars Program, of which she served as a founding member (2015).
In September 2015, as part of the Grand Challenge Scholars Program, Bernstein was selected to attend The Second Global Grand Challenges Summit in Beijing, China.