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Graduate Named UAH Outstanding
Electrical Engineering Student of the Year
Crystal Laws has been selected by The University of Alabama in
Huntsville as the Electrical Engineering Program Outstanding
Undergraduate Student for 2008. Crystal was nominated for this
award by UAH Faculty in the Electrical and Computer Engineering
Department, and selected by a vote of the Executive Committee of
the College of Engineering. She was honored at the Engineer’s
Week Dinner at the UAH Bevill Conference Center and Hotel.
Crystal began her college career at Northeast Alabama Community
College. She enrolled in Intermediate College Algebra in the
Learning Logic Lab then completed Precalculus Algebra,
Precalculus Trigonometry, Calculus I, Calculus II, Calculus III,
Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Statistics, Physics I,
Physics II, Chemistry I, Chemistry II, Organic Chemistry I, and
Organic Chemistry II. She completed these courses at Northeast
before transferring to UAH.
Crystal was an officer in Mu Alpha Theta and worked for the
college as a math tutor. Greg Millican, Chair of the Math and
Science Division, said of her, “Crystal is very deserving of
this award. She was a pleasure to teach and is an exceptional
person. Crystal’s success demonstrates that students who
complete their freshman and sophomore level math and science
courses at Northeast are going to leave us prepared for their
junior and senior level courses.” Crystal has worked as a
research assistant while at UAH and is presently employed as an
Engineering Aide for the Aviation Missile Research Development
and Engineering Center.
Tonie Niblett, Dean of Student Services, who also worked with
Crystal in her capacity as math tutor said, “I just think that
it is the most marvelous thing Crystal was selected as the
Outstanding Electrical Engineering Student at UAH. I am so proud
of Crystal and have been a witness to her hard work in building
one of the best science and math backgrounds that I have ever
seen. She has expressed to me many times how impressed her
engineering instructors at UAH are with her math and science
background.”
Crystal’s health led her mother to home school her from grades
seven through twelve. Crystal said, “Beginning in ninth grade I
taught myself in the areas of math and science, which was very
difficult.” During her first semester of college she became very
discouraged in chemistry. Crystal credits Ed Behel, her
chemistry instructor, with encouraging her to stay in school.
“The instructors at Northeast helped me believe in myself and
let me know that I can accomplish whatever I set out to do in
life. By beginning my college career at Northeast, I was able to
transfer to UAH and do very well in all of my classes.”
While Crystal was at UAH her mother was involved in a serious
automobile accident with an eighteen-wheeler. Crystal said, “I
would go to class and afterwards go stay at the hospital each
night she was there. I did all of my homework at the hospital.
This was really hard on me because I was working 40 hours a week
and taking six classes while going to the hospital to check on
my mom each night. If anybody were to tell me anytime before
2002 that I would graduate from UAH with a Bachelor of Science
Degree in Electrical Engineering in 2008, I would have told them
they were out of their mind. I cannot believe I am where I am
today. I can only think that God knew where he was leading me
because everything seems to have been like a miracle. Everything
just seemed to happen at the right time.”
For more information about mathematics and sciences at NACC, go
to the division webpage of
Mathematics and Sciences.
Pictured with Crystal Laws are three of her
former math and science instructors at Northeast Alabama
Community College. Left to right: Tonie Niblett, Dean of Student
Services and Crystal’s instructor in Intermediate Algebra;
Crystal Laws, the UAH Electrical Engineering Program Outstanding
Undergraduate Student for 2008; Greg Millican, Chair of the Math
and Science Division and Crystal’s instructor in Precalculus
Algebra and Calculus I, II, and III; and Mike Bearden, Math and
Physics Instructor and Crystal’s instructor in Precalculus
Trigonometry, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, and
Physics I and II.
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